MacBook Pro 13″ Ubuntu Linux Drivers & Installation

Ubuntu Linux made its way onto my 13″ MacBook Pro this week via external storage. While installing, I was armed with just the laptop itself and a wireless-only internet connection, a real problem given that Ubuntu doesn’t detect the WLAN card out of the box.

I put together a disc to get the machine up and running which includes the DKMS package and the WLAN & nVidia display drivers. It’s not a full collection of files needed to get the laptop playing perfectly with Ubuntu, but it takes care of the most important core functionality.

You can get hold of the ISO by following this link, and I’d also highly recommend reading up on this page, although I’ve outlined and expanded on what I consider to be the most useful pieces of information from it below. I used Ubuntu 11.04 on a 13″ MacBook Pro 7,1 for everything in this post.

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Install Linux to and Boot from a USB Drive on Your MacBook

I, like millions of others, use Mac OS X as my main operating system. It’s fast, reliable and secure, and the computers it runs on are undeniably the best designed and built machines available on the market. There are many options available to users who need the added flexibility of running Linux or Windows alongside OS X, perhaps through SSH or by using a Virtual Machine. Sometimes, though, you need a full, non-virtualised OS environment to work in, and while Boot Camp is great it’s not ideal for someone like me who rolls with a very fast, but very small, SSD boot drive.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to install Linux to any external USB device and boot your Apple computer from it. I’ll be working with Ubuntu 11.04 32-bit and a MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Guides elsewhere online seem to only help you if you happen to already have a Linux box to work with – my tutorial only requires one Macintosh computer. All the software used herein is open source and free of charge.

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Make Your Own MacBook eReader / Tablet

…also known as the DIY-iPad.

I don’t know if it’s the frustration of having to read hundreds of pages on my laptop or my burning desire to enhance the lives of others which drives me to create innovations like this. Sometimes you’re just blessed with a life changing idea. Instructions below.

Introducing the MacBook Pro eReader:

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