AL on a MacbookPro10,1

Configs, Scripts, Tutorials & Tips
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I’m running AL successfully on an ancient MacBookPro. Here are some application and config notes

  1. When given the option, choose grub2 on booting the live ISO and use systemd-boot as the boot manager on install
  2. I booted the image from a ventoy disk and this worked ok
  3. Graphics is Nvidia GeForce GT 650M.
    • nouveau kmod works
    • nvidia 470xx (AUR, as recommended by ArchWiki) does not
  4. Wi-Fi is Broadcom BCM4331
    • on install choose standard kernel which installs the broadcom-wl kmod
    • if you add a kernel (eg zen), replace broadcom-wl with broadcom-wl-dkms
  5. Heat management
    • macfanctld or mbpfan-git (in AUR) are required to control the laptop fans
    • even with this, the case gets very hot
  6. calibre ebook app has some problems
    • ebook-viewer stalls when calling webkit to render an ebook
    • fix this by setting
      QTWEBENGINE_CHROMIUM_FLAGS="--disable-gpu"
  7. Default resolution is 2880x1800. This is tiny. Setting the resolution to 1920x1200 is usable (for my old eyes)

I’ve used XFCE4 and LXQT without any problems.

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Welcome @jt4201 !!!

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Tried 340 driver?

I use mbpfan. It works fine.

Not a big fan of calibre. Try foliate. It’s simpler.

You could try to change dpi setting and keep the resolution.

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Thanks for the tips.

I had to use the live image and arch-chroot to recover after the nvidia-470xx attempt so I’m not in a hurry to try nvidia again. I’ll keep 340 in mind if I decide to try again.

I do use foliate. It is an excellent ebook reader, but it’s library management is a little limited.

I may try mbpfan to see if it does a better job but I suspect that the problem is dust in the case and lack of thermal paste for the CPU.

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5

Thanks for the installation information.
Welcome to the forum.

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@jt4201 , Welcome aboard.

In addtion to the above;

Maybe that you have lots of stuff going on in there, never know.

Please post the output from this command from terminal, it might help to pinpoint the issue(s) here;

systemd-analyze blame
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Was it running that hot before installing AL !

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Welcome aboard @jt4201

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It’s always run hot. With the fan controller daemon, it is averaging around 51-58C. Without the fan control, it was in the 80-90 range.

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Hey cool on my end it also runs into the 50s C with some peaks over the 60s here & there when I have too many FF instances on .

Also; make sure that you don t have dust in around the fans & the inlets/outlets.

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with 50 FF tabs open. :joy:

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lol, you bad boy ! Wonder how you noticed that !

Always under 20 ! (j/k) Always under 10. Which is too much.I know lol

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Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the tips.