Radeon driver for Linux on 2006 MacBook Pro

[Raging Dufus]

I've discovered a few things by booting from the Live DVD.

First, using some of the commands you folks have helped me with, I've figured out the correct driver to use. Screenshots of Terminal while booted into the Ubuntu 18.04 Live DVD:



So now I know what I need to be working with. I just need to figure out how to remove the open source driver Ubuntu loads on install (whilst ignoring my rage at the @#$&%!!! fact that it loads the damn thing in the first place, when clearly Ubuntu is capable of detecting my hardware and loading the right driver... but anyway...), and then install the correct radeon driver identified above.

Or, maybe I don't - I've discovered something else of interest. I tried booting from the Live DVD three times this morning, and on the first two attempts I ended up with a black screen. The first time, I shined a light through the Apple logo on the back and could see the boot had been successful; it had reached the Ubuntu desktop, but apparently my display's backlight wasn't working. On the second attempt, same story. I wondered why this was so, since I'd successfully booted from the Live DVD last night, all the way to a fully lit display.

Then I realized that last night, I hadn't had the machine connected to the Internet prior to boot... whereas this morning, I'd connected an ethernet cable before startup. So I pulled the ethernet cable, gave it another shot, and voila! I arrived at a backlit, fully functional Ubuntu. I then reconnected the ethernet cable and had networking capabilities.

Here's my theory: when Ubuntu is installed with networking enabled, and with the option to update as it installs, it somehow breaks itself (at least on my hardware). No backlight from the Live DVD, no accelerated graphics from the full install. To test this theory, I'm going to wipe Ubuntu completely, then reinstall - without updating on install, without even a connection to the Internet - and see what happens. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

[Raging Dufus]

Success!



I installed Ubuntu from DVD without networking, without third-party drivers, just a normal installation. It loaded the correct graphics driver, identified the MBP's built-in display right off and gave its native resolution with accelerated graphics.

I ran software update and the settings survived! I now have a fully updated Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS 64-bit, with smooth animations and video, and a functioning backlight. In fact, as far as I can tell, everything works.

I may try eOS or something else later, but for now I'm happy.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

 

[bobesch]

@Raging Dufus: Congrats, great detective work! - Makes me really curious.
Did you install with the help of BootCamp or does it just work on a free partition? So far I 've installed Ubuntu only as VM in Fusion, but that way the latest versions unfortunately lack on performance ...
Running a native Linux machine on an early intel-book is quite a tempting idea and maybe the next thing I'd like to try ...

 

[Raging Dufus]

@Raging Dufus: Congrats, great detective work! - Makes me really curious.
Did you install with the help of BootCamp or does it just work on a free partition? So far I 've installed Ubuntu only as VM in Fusion, but that way the latest versions unfortunately lack on performance ...
Running a native Linux machine on an early intel-book is quite a tempting idea and maybe the next thing I'd like to try ...

I didn't use Boot Camp at all, just used Disk Utility to carve out a separate partition on my main drive and put Linux there. The only unusual step I took was to put a 64-bit OS onto a Mac with 32-bit EFI, which a lot of these early Intels have. The Core2Duo's can boot a 64-bit OS, the problem is overcoming the 32-bit EFI to get one installed. That's what MLPostFactor/MacPostFactor patches offered by @dosdude1 and others accomplish, to get Mountain Lion and later versions of Mac OS running on these machines. Matt Gadient accomplished something similar with Linux, and I used his instructions and an Ubuntu download available here:

Linux DVD images (and how-to) for 32-bit EFI Macs (late 2006 models) | mattgadient.com

Apple's 32-bit EFI implementation on late 2006 Macs makes it tricky to get 64-bit Linux distros installed. Tricky, but not impossible...

mattgadient.com

 

[FrankieG4]

Hi @Raging Dufus , would you explain the exact step you took to make the x1600 working on ubuntu 18.04? How did you manage to boot ? If i do not use nomodeset in kernel args during install process it shows black screen.. please help! I have the same machine (mbp2,1) thanks ..

 

[Raging Dufus]

Hi Frankie, welcome to the forums. Sorry for the delayed reply, I'm just now seeing your post.

The key to my success with the Ubuntu installation was in not connecting to the Internet. Disable all networking capabilities - if an ethernet cable is plugged in, unplug it; if you're connected to WiFi, disconnect, or just don't connect in the first place. Then boot from the Live DVD and you should see that Ubuntu identifies your hardware and loads the correct drivers.

Now, install it that way - disconnected - without enabling networking, without selecting the option to update during install, and without loading third-party drivers. You should see that once the install completes, everything works. You can then update Ubuntu and all of your settings/drivers should survive.

In any event, that was my experience.

 

[DeadlineX]

The key to my success with the Ubuntu installation was in not connecting to the Internet

Hi, I'm just on the same road now, so does it mean, that you didn't follow to all those tips from the first page? Does it mean you really booted from CD, didn't connect to Internet, when be asked, and everything works OK? Am I correct in my understanding?
Also did you use the "ready-to-use" CD image from the link you posted above?
Thank you.

 

[Raging Dufus]

Hi, I'm just on the same road now, so does it mean, that you didn't follow to all those tips from the first page? Does it mean you really booted from CD, didn't connect to Internet, when be asked, and everything works OK? Am I correct in my understanding?
Also did you use the "ready-to-use" CD image from the link you posted above?
Thank you.

Hi DeadlineX, welcome to the forums.

Your understanding is correct. For whatever Linux variant you're using, if everything works when you're booted from the LiveCD (or DVD or USB or whatever type of media you're using), just don't connect to the internet when you install. If you're connected to the internet while you're booted from your Live media, disconnect before you install and leave it disconnected until the installation is complete. What gets installed should then be a carbon copy of the environment you were booted into from the Live media, so if everything worked in the Live environment, it should all work the same way once it's installed. Then, once the installation is complete, networking can be connected and updates can be performed without breaking anything.

And yes, I did use one of Matt Gadient's ready-to-use Linux images. If you're using one of the applicable Macs (with 32-bit EFI; see the list of machines at the link I posted), then that's what you should do too. Have fun and good luck!

 

[DeadlineX]

if everything works when you're booted from the LiveCD (or DVD or USB or whatever type of media you're using)

Hmmm.... Do you wish to say that you didn't use "nomodeset" parameter, when you booted? As for me, I can't avoid to use it. Otherwise the booting process just hangs.

I have almost the same MacBook: 15" late 2006 MACBOOK2,2
The ISO image pointed above has no 32bit bootloader, therefore it can be used with CD-ROM drive only. But my CD-drive is dead long time ago. So, I've created bootable Flash drive with 32-bit EFI loader. I've booted from it and I see the startup menu, but it has no 'nomodeset' options, so I've added one for "Live Ubuntu" menu item and for "Install Ubuntu" as well. The live system works ok, though without real graphic driver. It's because of "nomodeset" parameter, as I believe.
Then I've tried to install the system to HDD. It aborts with error message "Can't install 'grub-efi-ia32-bin' to '/target'". I've repeated it once more and get the same result. So, the installed system is not bootable.

Then I've tried to investigate the problem and made attempt to install this package manually:
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /target/boot/efi sudo mount --rbind /dev /target/dev sudo mount --rbind /etc /target/etc sudo mount --rbind /sys /target/sys sudo mount --rbind /proc /target/proc sudo mount --rbind /run /target/run chroot /target apt list grub-efi-ia32
It returns the package I need.
But when I tried to install it returned an error:
"Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/grub2/grub-efi-ia32-bin_2.02-2ubuntu8.14_amd64.deb"
And this file is really absent in that directory, though there are many similar around.

I've downloaded some similar files with another digits at the end, and browsed them with dpkg --contents, but none of them contains the GRUBIA32.EFI, as well as BOOTIA32.EFI, which both are definitely required.

Of course, I could add the 32-bit bootloader from flash drive, but it's not from Ubuntu. My idea was to make "native" Ubuntu installation.

And I doubt my problem with graphic card will be resolved, as it is not resolved when I'm booting from flash drive.

So, I'm puzzled

 

[Raging Dufus]

Hmmm.... Do you wish to say that you didn't use "nomodeset" parameter, when you booted? As for me, I can't avoid to use it. Otherwise the booting process just hangs.

I said what I wished to say. I didn't select any particular parameters; I simply let Ubuntu choose what to install on my machine. I never had to input anything in particular to get it to install or to boot. The only difference - for me - between installing while connected to the internet, and installing without an internet connection, was that in the former case the graphics driver Ubuntu installed would not provide my MBP's native display resolution. The latter case (installing without internet) resulted in a graphics driver that did support my MBP's native resolution, which was the same driver utilized by Ubuntu's LiveDVD environment.

As for the rest of your post, I'm sorry but I'm at a loss. I'm no Linux expert, and I no longer have the MBP that was the subject of this thread, so I'm afraid I can't duplicate your experience. Hopefully someone else here can be more useful to you. Good luck!

 

[crammedberry]

I managed to get the graphics working properly, although using a slightly different method.

Initially I also tried to install Linux on a late 2006 MBP with the x1600 and 3GB ram. I couldn't replicate @Raging Dufus's results as the 18.04 live DVD wouldn't boot without nomodeset (tried downloading it straight from Ubuntu and modding it as well as the prepared live DVD – neither worked). I tried installing 18.04, 20.04, and 22.04 (all modded) without success. I also tried just installing Debian as it supports 32 bit processors still and I thought the graphics problem might have something to do with the weird 32 bit EFI and 64 bit mix of the other distros as some posts indicated, but I couldn't get the graphics to work properly on anything. I would have been fine with nomodeset except for the fact that the screen resolution was messed up and I couldn't get it to work properly at full resolution no matter how many configuration files I modified.

What DID work was installing 14.04 LTS (downloaded from Ubuntu' servers and then modded using the iso program - option 2) and then updating and upgrading that via software update to 16.04 LTS, then 18.04 LTS, then 20.04 LTS, and finally 22.04 LTS. For some reason this method worked even when a direct install to any of the later versions wouldn't.

I have full graphics acceleration on 22.04 and it otherwise runs the system really well, which is amazing considering this laptop is now 15 years old!

I'm not entirely sure what it all means, but this is my inxi -Gx output:
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD RV530/M56-P [Mobility Radeon X1600] vendor: Apple MacBook Pro
driver: radeon v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display: wayland server: X.Org v: 1.22.1.1 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1
compositor: gnome-shell v: 42.4 driver: X: loaded: ati,radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa gpu: radeon resolution: 1440x900~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: ATI RV530 v: 2.1 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes

 

[hellothere231]

What DID work was installing 14.04 LTS (downloaded from Ubuntu' servers and then modded using the iso program - option 2) and then updating and upgrading that via software update to 16.04 LTS, then 18.04 LTS, then 20.04 LTS, and finally 22.04 LTS. For some reason this method worked even when a direct install to any of the later versions wouldn't.

Hey there, would you mind posting what variant of the Ubuntu 14.04 ISO you used? I've recently acquired a used MacbookPro2,2 and am having troubles booting with working X1600 graphics following your instructions, although I'm using a USB drive instead of DVDs (but I've got blank DVD-Rs on the way).

The machine always seems to hang after it loads the graphics drivers (I assume), or either of these two lines in the boot process:

fb: switching to radeondrmfb from EFI VGA

fb: conflicting fb hw usage radeondrmfb vs EFI VGA - removing generic driver

I've been using the same ISO program to modify my install images as well -- booting the image itself seems to work fine, it just can't get over that specific hurdle. Ran an extended AHT test, no errors were reported.

 

[hellothere231]

Turns out installing from USB was the issue, seems like the radeon drivers have trouble running under straight 32-bit EFI. Burned an Xubuntu 14.04.5 LTS DVD (patched with the ISO patcher) and it boots fine with working graphics on the X1600 MBP -- time to install and update!

 

[hellothere231]

Success with Xubuntu 22.04.1 LTS!

Performance is surprising given the age of the hardware; it handles basic tasks quite adequately, although at times it takes a few moments to catch up, as to be expected with older systems. On this install I chose to remove snapd to reduce general load on the system -- I've been doing fine thus far, but YMMV.
At most times, apps such as Chromium (Flathub) and Spotify (deb) deliver nice, smooth, weighted scrolling, and even the Discord (Flathub) Electron wrapper runs acceptably.
I was able to watch YouTube videos smoothly in 720p with around 40-60% CPU usage, using the enhanced-h264ify plugin to disable all codecs besides H264 -- Chromium reports that hardware-accelerated video decoding has been enabled:

Issues I've encountered as of Dec 10th, 2022:

• Newer (I assume) GTK programs, like the GNOME Calendar installed through Flathub, fail to launch.
• Unable to communicate with other devices on my Tailscale network.
  • Started working on its own 🤷‍♂️
• Had to reinstall my iSight firmware after updating to 22.04.
• Strange display brightness curve.
• Unable to suspend/return from suspend.
  • Fixed! In my case, I had to add radeon.dpm=1 to GRUB kernel config, then changed some XFCE4 settings:
  • In "Screensaver Preferences", only enable the following options; "Enable Screensaver", "Enable Lock Screen", "Lock Screen with Screensaver", and "Lock Screen with System Sleep"
  • In "Light Locker Settings", make sure "Enable light-locker" is disabled
    • on my machine, "Lock on suspend" is greyed out in the ON position:
    • 
  • In "Power Manager" -> "System", change "When laptop lid is closed:" to "Suspend"
  • In "Power Manager" -> "Security", enable "Lock screen when system is going to sleep"
  • MacBook can sometimes take up to 30-45 seconds to suspend -- be patient!
• Small, miscellaneous graphical artifacts
• Wonky power calibration -- sometimes cannot detect current battery level, when power cable is unplugged, or if battery is swapped
  • Could be because of aftermarket battery? Can't detect genuine one after swapping however, have to reboot
• NumLock turns on automatically; once after the initial LightDM greeter loads, and once again after login?

Distros I've also tried:

• antiX 22 x64 -- boots and installs with working radeon drivers and networking

So far I've installed a 500GB SATA SSD and installed new thermal pads -- aftermarket battery and 4GB RAM kit are both on the way, once those arrive hopefully I can squeeze even more mileage out of this machine. So far I am very pleased.

UPDATE: 1080p H264 YouTube video playback works as well! There is some frame drop but after letting it buffer it usually plays smoothly, although with the CPU pegged at between roughly 60-80% on average.