My experiences with Macbook Air 6.1 (2013 model) and OpenSUSE Leap 41.1.

English Hardware
#1

Hello everyone,

So it’s been a few years since my last post reporting about my experience with OpenSUSE 13.1 on my macbook air 6.1 (2013) model, and since I just installed version 42.1 I thought that I write a quick note about it just in case there are any other macbook air fans out there who are interested in trying.

So, how do you install? Easy!

  1. use dd to copy the image to a usb memory stick.
  2. Insert usb stick, reboot and hold down the alt/option key to select booting from usb stick.
  3. Start installation.

NOTE:
3.1. The mouse will not work, but it is quite easy to go through the installation with keyboard only. After installation, mouse will work.
3.2. The wireless (broadcom) will not be detected by default, and the b43 driver will not work either.
3.3. For some strange reason, xfs file system on /home will not work. I changed to ext4 on /home and there was no problem at all to continue.

Once install is done, proceed with the following:
4. Obtain the broadcom-wp and broadcom-kmp rpms from software.opensuse.org and install them manually. There will be some complaints about dependencies, but just ignore that.
5. Obtain a copy of NetworkManager (wicked did not work for me out of the box) rpm and install manually.
6. Now the network is up and running! =)
7. Edit /etc/resolv.conf and setup nameserver 8.8.8.8 or any other you prefer, in case it is not configured for you by dhcp.
8. Install git.
9. To fix a bug where the screen brightness doesn’t work properly after suspend, obtain a copy of Patriks own driver by running “git clone git://github.com/patjak/mba6x_bl”.
10. Install make, gcc and kernel development headers.
11. Follow the readme file. Works quickly and painlessly. =)

Bonus:
12. For those of you who have unpleasant work laptops, and prefer to create a work VM, just download VMware player 12.5 from https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads and follow the instructions. Works brilliantly and without any problems. That way I can use my work windows laptop on my mba under opensuse, without having to dual boot or bother with other weird solutions. Reason for vmware is good and easy tool for converting a work machine to a vm.

That’s about it. Since I ran into most of these problems with 13.1 they were fixed quickly. A huge thank you to the opensuse team, for a very nice and comfortable distribution that I can run on my macbook air without too much trouble.

Best regards,
Dan

#2

Hello everyone,

Just a small note in case any other macbook people experienced the same trouble as me after upgrading and security patches. What happened was that suspend on laptop lid close stopped working and this is how you fix it:

  1. Edit /etc/systemd/logind.conf.
  2. Enable line that says “HandleLidSwitchDocked=suspend”.
  3. Save.
  4. Run “sudo systemctl restart systemd-logind”.
  5. Problem fixed.

That’s all.

Best regards,
Dan