mbp-fedora

Fedora ISO with Apple T2 patches built-in (Macbooks produced >= 2018).

All available Apple T2 drivers are integrated with this iso. Most things work, besides those mentioned in not working section.

Kernel - https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora-kernel

Drivers:

• Apple T2 (audio, keyboard, touchpad) - https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-bridge-drv
• Apple SMC - https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-etc
• Touchbar - https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver/tree/mbp15

Tested on: Macbook Pro 15,2 13" 2019 i5 TouchBar Z0WQ000AR MV972ZE/A/R1

Boot ROM Version:	220.270.99.0.0 (iBridge: 16.16.6571.0.0,0)
macOS Mojave: 10.14.6 (18G103)

How to install

• Turn off secure boot - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330

• Download .iso from releases section - https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora/releases/latest

  • If it's splitted into multiple zip parts, you need to join splitted files into one and then extract it via unzip or extract them directly via 7z x or 7za x
    • https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/40480/how-to-unzip-a-multipart-spanned-zip-on-linux

• Burn the image on USB stick >=8GB via:

  • dd - dd bs=4M if=/home/user/Downloads/livecd-fedora-mbp-201908181858.iso of=/dev/sdc conv=fdatasync status=progress
  • rufus (GPT)- https://rufus.ie/
  • fedora media writer (custom image option)- https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/download/
  • don't use livecd-iso-to-disk, because it's overwriting grub settings

• Install Fedora

  • Boot directly from macOS boot manager. (You can boot into it by pressing and holding option key after clicking the power-on button).
    • There will be three boot options available, usually the third one works for me. (There are three of them, because there are three partitions in ISO: 1) ISO9660: with installer data, 2) fat32, 3) hfs+)
  • I recommend to shrink (resize) macOS APFS partition and not removing macOS installation entirely from your MacBook, because it's the only way to keep your device up-to-date. macOS OS updates also contains security patches to EFI/Apple T2
    • HowTo: https://www.anyrecover.com/hard-drive-recovery-data/resize-partition-mac/ # Steps to Resize Mac Partition
  • You should use standard partition layout during partitioning your Disk in anaconda, because i haven't tested LVM scenario yet. https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora/issues/2
    • /boot/efi - 1024MB Linux HFS+ ESP
    • /boot - 1024MB EXT4
    • / - xxxGB EXT4
  • There will be an error on Installing bootloader... step, click Yes - It's related to efi=noruntime kernel arg

  # /tmp/anaconda.log
  13:39:49,173 INF bootloader.grub2: bootloader.py: used boot args: resume=UUID=8a64abbd-b1a3-4d4a-85c3-b73800e46a1e rd.lvm.lv=fedora_localhost-live/root rd.lvm.lv=fedora_localhost-live/swap rhgb quiet
  13:39:54,649 ERR bootloader.installation: bootloader.write failed: Failed to set new efi boot target. This is most likely a kernel or firmware bug.
  

• Put wifi firmware files to /lib/firmware/brcm/

  • tutorial - https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora-kernel/#working-with-mbp-fedora-kernel

• To install additional languages, install appropriate langpack via dnf dnf search langpack

• After login you can update kernel by running sudo update_kernel_mbp

• You can change mappings of ctrl, option keys (PC keyboard mappings) by creating /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf file and recreating grub config. All available modifications could be found here: https://github.com/free5lot/hid-apple-patched

# /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf
options hid_apple swap_fn_leftctrl=1
options hid_apple swap_opt_cmd=1

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

• To change function key mappings for models with touchbar see modinfo apple_ib_tb and use echo 2 > /sys/class/input/*/device/fnmode instead of the hid_apple options. See this issue

Not working

• Dynamic audio input/output change (on connecting/disconnecting headphones jack)
• TouchID - (@MCMrARM is working on it - https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/71#issuecomment-528545490)
• Thunderbolt (is disabled, because driver was causing kernel panics (not tested with 5.5 kernel))
• Microphone (it's recognised with new apple t2 sound driver, but there is a low mic volume amp)

TODO

• add Fedora icon to usb installer

• alsa/pulseaudio config

  • Dynamic audio input/output change (on connecting/disconnecting headphones jack)

  ## to manually change audio profile via PulseAudio cli execute
  # to headphones output
  pacmd set-card-profile $(pacmd list-cards | grep -B6 'alsa.card_name = "Apple T2 Audio"' | head -n1 | cut -d':' -f 2) output:codec-output+input:codec-input
  
  # to speakers output
  pacmd set-card-profile $(pacmd list-cards | grep -B6 'alsa.card_name = "Apple T2 Audio"' | head -n1 | cut -d':' -f 2) output:builtin-speaker+input:builtin-mic
  

• disable iBridge network interface (awkward internal Ethernet device?)

• disable not working camera device

  • there are two video devices (web cameras) initialized/discovered, don't know why yet

  ➜ ls -l /sys/class/video4linux/
  total 0
  lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 23 15:14 video0 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.4/0000:02:00.1/bce/bce/bce-vhci/usb7/7-2/7-2:1.0/video4linux/video0
  lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 0 Aug 23 15:14 video1 -> ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.4/0000:02:00.1/bce/bce/bce-vhci/usb7/7-2/7-2:1.0/video4linux/video1
  ➜ cat /sys/class/video4linux/*/dev
  81:0
  81:1
  

• verify brcmf_chip_tcm_rambase returns

Known issues

• Kernel/Mac related issues are mentioned in kernel repo
• Anaconda sometimes could not finish installation process and it's freezing on Network Configuration step, probably due to iBridge internal network interface

workaround - it's a final step of installation, just reboot your Mac (installation is complete)

• Wifi could have problems with connecting to secure networks (WPA2)

  • wpa_supplicant error - CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid= status_code=16

    • there are two workaround available:

      • you can stick with wpa_supplicant as wifi backend and you will need to reload broadcom module every time you connect to network

      ## Run as root
      modprobe -r brcmfmac; modprobe brcmfmac
      

      • or you can change your wifi backend to iwd (it's less problematic, it's crashing sometimes, but it's more stable than wpa_supplicant [with broadcom wifi])

      ### iwd is now installed by default installation instructions mentioned below are for older Fedora installations
      
      ## Run all commands as root
      # Change wifi backend which NetworkManager is using
      vi /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/wifi_backend.conf
      
      [device]
      wifi.backend=iwd
      
      # enable iwd autostart
      systemctl enable iwd
      
      # start iwd
      /usr/libexec/iwd
      systemctl start iwd
      systemctl restart NetworkManager
      
      ## If you want to switch back to wpa_supplicant just remove/rename `/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/wifi_backend.conf` file, i.e.:
      mv /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/wifi_backend.conf /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/wifi_backend.conf_iwd
      

• Macbooks with Apple T2 can't boot EFI binaries from HFS+ formatted ESP - only FAT32 (FAT32 have to be labelled as msftdata).

workaround applied - HFS+ ESP is reformatted to FAT32 in post-scripts step and labelled as msftdata

• efibootmgr write command freezes Mac (it's executed in Anaconda during Install bootloader... step) - nvram is blocked from writing

  • since macOS Catalina EFI is blocked even from reading, so access to EFI is blocked via adding efi=noruntime to kernel args

efibootmgr --c -w -L Fedora /d /dev/nvme0n1 -p 3 -l \EFI\fedora\shimx64.efi

• ctrl+x is not working in GRUB, so if you are trying to change kernel parameters - start your OS by clicking ctrl+shift+f10 on external keyboard

Docs

• Discord: https://discord.gg/Uw56rqW
• WiFi firmware: https://packages.aunali1.com/apple/wifi-fw/18G2022
• blog Installing Fedora 31 on a 2018 Mac mini: https://linuxwit.ch/blog/2020/01/installing-fedora-on-mac-mini/

Fedora

• https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LiveOS_image
• https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-and-using-a-live-installation-image/
• https://pykickstart.readthedocs.io/en/latest/kickstart-docs.html#chapter-1-introduction
• https://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?309843-Fedora-24-livecd-creator-fails-to-create-initrd
• https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA/Test_Days/Live_Image
• https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/How_to_create_a_Fedora_install_ISO_for_testing

Github

• GitHub issue (RE history): https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/71
• VHCI+Sound driver (Apple T2): https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-bridge-drv/
• hid-apple keyboard backlight patch: https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-etc
• alsa/pulseaudio config files: https://gist.github.com/MCMrARM/c357291e4e5c18894bea10665dcebffb
• TouchBar driver: https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver/tree/mbp15
• Kernel patches (all are mentioned in github issue above): https://github.com/aunali1/linux-mbp-arch
• ArchLinux kernel patches: https://github.com/ppaulweber/linux-mba
• ArchLinux installation guide: https://gist.github.com/TRPB/437f663b545d23cc8a2073253c774be3
• hid-apple-patched module for changing mappings of ctrl, fn, option keys: https://github.com/free5lot/hid-apple-patched

Credits

• @MCMrARM - thanks for all RE work
• @ozbenh - thanks for submitting NVME patch
• @roadrunner2 - thanks for SPI (touchbar) driver
• @aunali1 - thanks for ArchLinux Kernel CI
• @ppaulweber - thanks for keyboard and Macbook Air patches