Another go at the 2007 Plastic Macbook - Linux Distro

[comda]

Greetings MR!

A month or so ago i posted about me sorta reviving my old 2007 Macbook with a few tries of Linux. I got Linux Mint running fairly well besides the SLOW boot times (yes i know im running spinning rust but almost 3 minutes boot time is WOW).

Regardless, Im seeing that the main struggle with this machine is the pesky X3100 GPU which doesnt seem to like many distributions as anything remotely graphical is glitchy. Even opening up all the apps list is glitchy. Its like the Core 2 Duo is keeping up fine, but the Graphics card is not having it.
I had everything running under linux Mint except for the trackpad right click which i couldnt quite figure out honestly. But my drive died.

Im back with yet another hard drive ( i know i need a SSD but holding out for now) and was wondering what Linux Distribution would you recommend to get the best web browsing machine here? Running Ubuntu 18.04 right now and its still graphically glitchy as can be honestly.

I did have OSX Mountain Lion on here through X post factor, but i couldnt do much on it. Spotify wouldnt work, web browsers kept freezing and crashing it was kinda a mess. I was considering Lubuntu but i feel thats a bit too old. Just stick with Linux mint or is there another light weight fun option like a different Ubuntu version or something else?

All help and suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Amethyst1]

Maybe antiX or MX? They are based on Debian and use light(ish)weight desktop environments which aren't graphically intense.

 

[kencu]

I use the very latest 64bit Ubuntu 21.04 on my 2006 MacBook 2,1 with very reasonable results. The fan comes on more than some newer systems, but that's about it.

It has 4GB and a 240G SSD in it.

To initially install Ubuntu using the DVD required a slight modification to the DVD due to the 32bit EFI, but that was it, the rest is stock.

that mod is here:

GitHub - demonicsweaters/make_single_eltorito.c: This is a small c program to create bootable 64 bit linux disks for 32 bit EFI Macbooks (assuming they have 64 bit processors)

This is a small c program to create bootable 64 bit linux disks for 32 bit EFI Macbooks (assuming they have 64 bit processors) - demonicsweaters/make_single_eltorito.c

github.com

Ubuntu recently defaulted to Wayland, which didn't seem to work right on this machine, so I switched the default back to X. I also tweaked the trackpad to finally get it perfect; can give you those instructions if you get that far.

 

[rampancy]

I use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on a 2.1 Ghz and a 2.4 Ghz MacBook 4,1 (with the same X3100 as yours); on both MacBooks it works and was installed perfectly, straight out of the ISO (which I downloaded and burned on another MacBook 4,1 running OS X 10.7.5.).

The installer on the ISO also importantly includes non-free drivers like the ones for the Broadcom WiFi card too, which I found didn't seem to be included on the Lubuntu and Linux Mint ISOs that I used.

Before you try Linux again though, I really recommend getting an SSD for it (and a working battery too). Using Linux on the stock 5400 rpm hard drive with the Mac running on a dead battery was really painful.

 

[comda]

I use the very latest 64bit Ubuntu 21.04 on my 2006 MacBook 2,1 with very reasonable results. The fan comes on more than some newer systems, but that's about it.

It has 4GB and a 240G SSD in it.

To initially install Ubuntu using the DVD required a slight modification to the DVD due to the 32bit EFI, but that was it, the rest is stock.

that mod is here:

GitHub - demonicsweaters/make_single_eltorito.c: This is a small c program to create bootable 64 bit linux disks for 32 bit EFI Macbooks (assuming they have 64 bit processors)

This is a small c program to create bootable 64 bit linux disks for 32 bit EFI Macbooks (assuming they have 64 bit processors) - demonicsweaters/make_single_eltorito.c

github.com

Ubuntu recently defaulted to Wayland, which didn't seem to work right on this machine, so I switched the default back to X. I also tweaked the trackpad to finally get it perfect; can give you those instructions if you get that far.

Mine is a 3,1 so i am ok to use the X64 editions correct?

And yes for the trackpad. Please and thank you. I couldnt get right click to work. I found a google page showing the code, but had no clue how to use or implement it. However it still in general feels a little odd.

 

[comda]

I use Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on a 2.1 Ghz and a 2.4 Ghz MacBook 4,1 (with the same X3100 as yours); on both MacBooks it works and was installed perfectly, straight out of the ISO (which I downloaded and burned on another MacBook 4,1 running OS X 10.7.5.).

The installer on the ISO also importantly includes non-free drivers like the ones for the Broadcom WiFi card too, which I found didn't seem to be included on the Lubuntu and Linux Mint ISOs that I used.

Before you try Linux again though, I really recommend getting an SSD for it (and a working battery too). Using Linux on the stock 5400 rpm hard drive with the Mac running on a dead battery was really painful.

I tried Ubuntu 20.04 and just found it graphically laggy. I have it on a DVD from the other year. Tried Ubuntu out during the dang Lockdowns and Loved it.

Im not sure what non-free drivers you're referring to honestly. For Mint i had to go to the drivers center after connecting to ethernet and it found my Wifi card. Ubuntu i had Wifi out of the box but yea, graphically its horrid.

I'll give it a go with a SSD. Funny you mention battery. I actually have a OEM essentially new battery in it from a few short years ago actually. Main reason i wanted to try and give this laptop some life. The battery is barely at 100 cycles and is 100% health, so i feel bad letting it rot away.

I'll grab a fresh Copy of 20.04 and a SSD and give it another go.

 

[kencu]

for the trackpad on the MacBook 2,1 I found installing this software was helpful:

xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

and then I made up a little script to set the options I tweaked

$ cat ktpad
synclient FingerHigh=53
synclient FingerLow=25
synclient RTCornerButton=0
synclient RBCornerButton=0
synclient VertScrollDelta=38
synclient TapButton1=0
syndaemon -i 2 -t -d

and I run that once after I boot the machine. Works well for me, feels very much like the trackpad feels when I'm in 10.7.5 (the dual-boot option I have). The right mouse button is available as a two-finger click.

I know there is a way to somehow make that run automatically when I log in -- I just haven't spent the needed time to sort that out. Perhaps someone here can tell me where I put that code for it to automatically be used.

As mentioned before, Ubuntu defaults to Wayland now, and that just didn't work right when it came out a few months ago on this machine, so I found the one-liner change needed to put it back to X instead. I haven't tried Wayland since; maybe it'll work now on the 2,1 -- not sure, as I'm happy as I am. Writing this on that machine right now, in fact.

 

[rampancy]

I tried Ubuntu 20.04 and just found it graphically laggy. I have it on a DVD from the other year. Tried Ubuntu out during the dang Lockdowns and Loved it.

Im not sure what non-free drivers you're referring to honestly. For Mint i had to go to the drivers center after connecting to ethernet and it found my Wifi card. Ubuntu i had Wifi out of the box but yea, graphically its horrid.

I'll give it a go with a SSD. Funny you mention battery. I actually have a OEM essentially new battery in it from a few short years ago actually. Main reason i wanted to try and give this laptop some life. The battery is barely at 100 cycles and is 100% health, so i feel bad letting it rot away.

I'll grab a fresh Copy of 20.04 and a SSD and give it another go.

YMMV, but I found Ubuntu 20.04 LTS fairly responsive and usable. Not quite as snappy as a fresh install of 10.6, but IMO fast enough as can be expected of a modern operating system on 10+ year-old Apple hardware with anemic integrated graphics. I figure that less-than-stellar speed is a decent tradeoff to make for security updates and access to software like Zoom and up-to-date versions of Firefox/Chrome. Another factor is that I had 4 GB RAM and an SSD.

The Broadcom WiFi card that shipped with some A1181s needs a proprietary non-free (e.g. non open-source) driver. It isn't usually included with Linux distros that try to emphasize FOSS software. Yes, I could have gotten the driver over Ethernet, but my Airport Express is currently in a part of my home that's really difficult to reach.

Also, if you're really feeling that Ubuntu is too laggy for you, there are instructions out there to replace the DE from Gnome to something lighter like KDE or LXDE.

 

[kencu]

Updated the MacBook 2,1 to Ubuntu 21.10 and it continues to work extremely well. The browsers are responsive, videos play (not always perfectly at full screen, but what do you expect from 2006 hardware?). I can download, install, and use Zoom, Chrome, and Spotify for 64-bit linux from their respective sources. All the software I try to install and use works, except for some things that require a newer OpenGL standard than this ancient GPU can support.

It even runs the current QT6 Creator, with the entire QT6 and QT5 development environments installed. Amazing.

Only thing I noticed moving from Ubuntu 21.04 to 21.10 was that the "Show Applications" feature takes a bit longer to bring up the installed applications than it did in 21.04. That feature was redone, I note.

I wind up using this laptop almost every day, as it turns out.

I initially set it up to dual boot MacOSX 10.7, but I have not actually used MacOSX 10.7 on it in months and months now, and I guess I'll sort out how to delete that partition and grow the Ubuntu partition to the full disk size.

 

[NewbiePPC]

I like Xubuntu, is light, with a SSD fly, and is easy to modify like Mac Os. Ubuntu is fine but quite heavy in visuals that I dont need.
In my macs its painfull have a multiboot system (that weird EFI - Bios emulation) for that reason I use LTS and just move on those releases.