Since this laptop is well beyond EOL according to Apple, but the hardware is still decent, I figured I’d install Linux on it and keep using it as long as I could.

So far Ubuntu has been the only ditstro I tested that finds the wifi out of the box. And the fewer things I need to try fixing the better.

I’m outlining the process here for when I inevitably need to reinstall – or an upgrade causes something to break again.

Step 1 – Install Ubuntu

That’s pretty much it – just install Ubuntu like normal. Let the wizard do it’s thing.

Step 2 – Disable Suspend

At least in my case, suspend continuously cased the partition to eat itself. So, it goes into the bin.

Using terminal, edit the following files:

/etc/UPower/UPower.conf

Scroll down and uncomment

IgnoreLid=true

Next up:

/etc/systemd/logind.conf

Make sure to uncomment and set the following

HandleLidSwitch=ignore

Now, reboot. I’m not entirely certain which of the above is what actually works, but I got the desired result so that’s good enough for me.

Step 3 Make Sound Go Beep and/or Boop

I used the following to make the sound do sound things –

https://github.com/davidjo/snd_hda_macbookpro

I did have to install git

sudo apt install git

And I had to install what I think was the Linux kernel source

sudo apt install linux-source-6.11.0

Other than those two things, I was able to use the instructions on github without any issues.

 

That’s it.

Anything else is installing normal daily software and whatnot.