Category Archives: Apple MacBook

Ubuntu Feisty on MacBook

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 27 April 2007 None comments

My first attempts to install Ubuntu in native mode on this laptop failed during the installation process. I gave Parallels a try. Parallels is environment to create virtual machines under MacOSX. I was able to install Ubuntu in a Parallels VM. Unfortunately, Parallels does not allow you to mount the local filesystems in the VM. Your HFS or NTFS partitions are only accessible through Samba, which really slows things down. This makes the environment unsuitable for real day-to-day work. I tried again to install Ubuntu Feisty on my MacBook.  The stock Feisty CD did not work right away. Ubuntu Edgy did, thanks to these instructions. I then upgraded to Feisty. The MacBook is now running Ubuntu Feisty in native mode.

There are still a few open issues:

  • From the Refit boot-up screen, selecting the Windows partition actually starts Linux. However, I can start Windows from the Grub menu.
  • Most of the time (but not all the time), the keyboard is unresponsive in Grub. It sometimes takes ten reboots to be able to use the keyboard. This is painful when you want to select an alternative kernel or Windows. I did implement the firmware update as recommended on the Refit site. It did not help.
  • Startup is sloooow, even on powerful hardware. See the other posts for comparative results. This is not typical to Ubuntu. Actually, it seems more a “feature” of all Linux distributions. I have noticed the same behaviour on the server I am running with CentOS 4.4.
  • WPA authentication often fails. This is apparently linked to the Gnome keyring manager. I do not have this issue with KDE. If I enter the details manually, it works.

If you have any suggestions to help solve these issues, your comments are most welcome.

MacOSX vs Linux vs MS Windows

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 27 April 2007 1 comments

I did some checks on the start-up time of the three operating systems I have on my MacBook. They are fairly equivalent in terms of functionalities. I could use either one to get the job done.

Comparision of start up times between different operating systems on same hardware
Operating System Startup time WLAN WPA Start up Total Shutdown time
MacOSX 20 sec 5 sec 25 sec 10 sec
MS Windows XP 54 sec 10 sec 64 sec 15 sec
Ubuntu Linux 7.04 70 sec 35 sec 105 sec 50 sec
Test conditions:
- MacBook Intel Core Duo 2 Ghz, 2 Gb RAM
- All operating systems set for automatic login with the user account

The job is not that difficult to handle. Mainly it consists of web browsing, e-mail and general documents. I have Firefox,Thunderbird and OpenOffice on all platforms. In the case of MacOS, I use NeoOffice instead. It nicely integrates with the Aqua GUI and does not require to load X11 to work, like the official OpenOffice version.

Further, with MacOS, I can close down the lid of my laptop and know it will work when I reopen it. With Ubuntu, I have a 50% chance (risk ?) to need to reboot and loose whatever work I was doing.

I guess I have a good reason to boot MacOSX more than the other two.

Local keyboard layouts under Windows

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 15 March 2007 2 comments

The new Apple Intel-based machines run Windows natively. Apple provides device drivers for the network interfaces, display, etc to work under Windows.

However, Apple and Microsoft seem to disagree on the layout of the Belgian AZERTY keyboard. Which means that if you select a Belgian French keyboard under Windows, you will not be able to use the “@”, “#” and “€” keys on the Mac right away.

Microsoft does have a keyboard layout editor which you can use to adjust the layout. If you do not want to spend an hour figuring out how it works, you can download my customised Belgian keyboard (MacBook layout). It includes a MSI installation package. Once installed, go the the regional settings in the Windows control panel and select “Belgian (Apple layout)”.

I am not 100% sure I spotted each and every key but at least the main ones are now in the right places. Should you find that some keys are missing, just let me know and I will update the layout. One final remark: there is no “AltGr” key on the Mac. You have to use “Ctrl-Alt” instead. So, the all important backslash (“\”) key under Windows is “Ctrl-Alt -<”, which matches the IBM PC layout.

I bought an Apple

Posted by Patrick Vande Walle on 15 March 2007 1 comments

I just bought an Apple MacBook, one of those classy black ones. Right now it runs MacOSX and MS Windows already. I will install Ubuntu Linux one of these days.

It makes a hell of a difference with my previous Fujitsu-Siemens laptop. It is way lighter and really runs on battery.

Stay tuned for more news.