2010-07-23

Fedora 13 on MacBook Pro 5,5

Materials
MacBook Pro 13" (2009)
Fedora 13 i386 DVD (I don't wanna tackle x86_64 problems)
Internet access

Initial install
Install rEFIt on Mac OS X.
Reboot, and install Fedora using the DVD.
Reboot, and synchronzie the partition table in startup rEFIt menu.
Reboot, (I mean REBOOT) and choose the newly installed system.

Repositoies
Install the repo rpm from:
RPM Fusion free
RPM Fusion nonfree
Adobe i386
Configure Google repository according to this page.
Don't forget to sudo yum update!

Get things to work
Graphics card
sudo yum install kmod-nvidia-PAE
Note: the nvidia proprietary driver will not give you the fancy startup and shutdown animations.
Wireless
sudo yum install kmod-wl-PAE
MIT VPN
Create a VPN connection in NetworkManager, using Cisco AnyConnect, and point the gateway to vpn.mit.edu. (Yes, it simply works)
Exchange support
Exchange 2007
sudo yum install evolution-mapi (it seems it doesn't work in my case)
Pre 2007
sudo yum install evolution-exchange
Other apps
  • Utility
    sudo yum install flash-plugin
    sudo yum install alacarte # menu editor
    sudo yum install dia
    sudo yum install picasa
    sudo yum install unrar
    sudo yum install pitivi # video converter
    sudo yum install google-chrome-stable

  • Network analysis
    sudo yum install nmap
    sudo yum install ettercap-gtk
    sudo yum install wireshark-gnome

  • Others
    sudo yum install xiphos # the Holy Bible

Blender
Additional dependencies could be avoided if the python version matches the downloadable version (and currently it does).
Download from http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender, unpack, and it's ready to go.
VirtualBox
Download VirtualBox yum repo file: http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/virtualbox.repo.
Put it in /etc/yum.repo.d/. Then:
sudo yum install dkms
The default dependency resolver won't get the right PAE kernel source. Fix it:
sudo yum install kernel-PAE-source
sudo yum erase kernel-source
If you didn't install g++, do it:
sudo yum install gcc-c++
Finally:
sudo yum install VirtualBox-3.2
If output shows the kernel modules are not properly built, recheck the above vbox dependencies, and:
sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Rerun the above command if you had updated your kernel.
Drop vbox users into vboxusers group.
ATTENTION: before you hop in the vm, make sure the host key is accessible... there is NO "right control" in macbook's keyboard.

Results
Sound
Built-in speakers can't make any waves, but plug-in earphones do.
Fn keys
Brightness keys do display something on screen. But if you really want to adjust the brightness, do it in nvidia configuration panel.
No keyboard back-light.

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