This is about documenting getting Linux running on the late 2016 MPB's; the focus is mostly on the MacBookPro13,3 (15inch model), but I try to make it relevant and provide information for MacBookPro13,1 and MacBookPro13,2 (13inch models) too. I'm currently using Fedora 25, but most the things should be valid for other recent distros even if the details differ. The kernel version is 4.9.x (after latest update).

The state of linux on the MBP (with particular focus on MacBookPro13,2) is also being tracked on https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux .

• Booting (i.e Grub etc)
• Recognizes disk on MacBookPro13,3; MacBookPro13,2 and MacBookPro13,1 need kernel patch
• Keyboard, touchpad, and basic touchbar functionality
• HiDPI detection
• Accelerated video
• Screen brightness control
• WiFi in a very limited fashion
• USB
• Sensors (install lm_sensors package)
• Camera

• Suspend/Resume
• Keyboard backlight (always off)
• Audio (two cards show up, and intel driver is loaded, but no sound)

• Thunderbolt
• DisplayPort
• Bluetooth

One kernel param necessary to boot properly: intremap=nosid. E.g.

sudo sed -i 's/\(GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=.*\)"/\1 intremap=nosid"/' /etc/default/grub
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

Also, MacBookPro13,1 and MacBookPro13,2 (13inch models) have the Apple NVMe controller and hence need the attached kernel patch (if running a kernel < 4.11) in order for the disk to be correctly recognized (MacBookPro13,3 uses a Samsung NVMe controller which is automatically detected correctly). Instead of patching you can also do the following (for distros using something other than dracut to create the initrd you'll need to adjust the 2nd and 3rd lines appropriately):

echo 'install nvme /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install nvme $CMDLINE_OPTS; echo 106b 2003 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/nvme/new_id' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/nvme.conf
echo 'force_drivers+="nvme"' | sudo tee /etc/dracut.conf.d/disk.conf
sudo dracut --force --kver <kernel-version>

If you are booting a live CD or similar with a kernel < 4.9 then you will also need to add the nomodeset kernel parameter to your kernel line; you will then not have proper HiDPI detection or accelerated graphics.

For this we need the drivers from https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver.git (a clone of https://github.com/cb22/macbook12-spi-driver which includes a preliminary touchbar driver and keyboard fixes). The following commands set this up.

First some extra packages:

sudo dnf install git kernel-devel

Get and build the driver:

git clone https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver.git
pushd macbook12-spi-driver
git checkout touchbar-driver-hid-driver
make
sudo mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/custom/
sudo cp applespi.ko appletb.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/custom/
sudo depmod
popd

Next we need to set the proper dpi for the touchpad:

sudo cp ...the-attached-61-evdev-local.hwdb... /etc/udev/hwdb.d/61-evdev-local.hwdb

You can test the drivers by loading them and their dependencies:

sudo modprobe intel_lpss_pci spi_pxa2xx_platform applespi appletb

You'll want these loaded on boot, so rebuild the initramfs:

sudo mv /boot/initramfs-`uname -r`.img{,.orig}
sudo mv ...the-attached-keyboard.conf... /etc/dracut.conf.d/keyboard.conf
sudo dracut

Finally, reboot to make sure it all works correctly:

sudo reboot

Note: on distros using mkinitramfs instead of dracut you'll want to do the following instead of using keyboard.conf

• add the modules (listed in keyboard.conf) to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

Screen brightness control works out of the box on MacBookPro13,1 and MacBookPro13,2, but requires a kernel patch on MacBookPro13,3 (see also Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux#2). The following will create and install the patched apple-gmux:

mkdir apple-gmux
pushd apple-gmux

curl -o apple-gmux.patch 'https://bugzilla.kernel.org/attachment.cgi?id=192601'
curl -o apple-gmux.c 'https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/plain/drivers/platform/x86/apple-gmux.c?id=refs/tags/v4.9.11'

patch < apple-gmux.patch

echo -e '
obj-m += apple-gmux.o

all:
\tmake -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=`pwd` modules
' > Makefile
make

mod=$(ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/apple-gmux.ko*)
sudo mv $mod{,.orig}
sudo cp apple-gmux.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/
sudo depmod

popd

sudo reboot

The touchpad defaults to using the bottom-left corner for right-clicks - to get 2-finger right click, install the Gnome tweak tool and change it in there.

The brcmfmac driver is automatically loaded. However, there are a number of issues with it:

• it only does 2.4GHz - no 5GHz channels are visible
• it has an extremely low sensitivity - you must be within a few feet of the base station, and even at 5 feet distance it shows a weak signal.
• it stops working after 10 or 15 or so minutes; turning WiFi off, waiting a several minutes, and then turning it back on generally gets it working again. Maybe a thermal issue?

Bug report: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=193121

The amdgpu driver works well and is automatically loaded on MacBookPro13,3. On the 13 inch models the use of the intel needs to be forced (see first comment below).

For MacBookPro13,3 you need the following:

echo "options uvcvideo quirks=0x100" > /etc/modprobe.d/uvcvideo.conf

For MacBookPro13,[12] see Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux#15.