Apple MacBook Pro A1297 (Feb 2011)

• The MAC address of the Wireless card is not printed on the case of the unit. But the Apple OSX operating system (installed by default on the unit) requires a network connection, before it will allow itself to be used initially. This makes it awkward to determine the unit's MAC address until after the initial setup (which was presumably done using a wired network connection instead).
• The unit boots a 64-bit kernel by default. The trouble is, some very commonly used business software hasn't been updated to include the 64-bit kernel extensions necessary to work with a 64-bit kernel (e.g. the Cisco VPN), yet Apple make no mention of this quirk in their release notes.
• There is no Apple support for providing a "middle click" (button 2), which is often used in GNU/Linux (e.g. as "paste"). This can apparently only be accomplished using third-party software (see below).
• There is no full-duplex audio hardware device (there is no audio device which is capable of simultaneous playback and recording). Recording musicians would benefit from such a device, as it would make it possible to use Ardour without needing to connect an external Firewire audio interface (but not the Tascam FW-1082, which does NOT work because it apparently needs power over Firewire and the Mac Book Pro Firewire port does not provide any power, unlike the Firewire ports in an iMac).

CPU

• Core i7-2720QM, Intel Core i7.

Memory

• 8GB (4GBx2), can be upgraded to 16GB (8GBx2). The memory type is PC3-10600 DDR3 1333 MHz SO-DIMM 204 pin CL9, and CL11 will work too with no noticeable difference.

Using 32-bit kernel extensions

• Cisco VPN.
• The drivers for the Tascam FW-1082.

Acting as NFS client to Ubuntu 15.04 NFS server

service statd start

statd     6315     1  0 21:52 ?        00:00:00 rpc.statd -L

-o vers=4 

Middle Click (button 2)

Keyboard Quirks

• The Home, End, PgUp and PgDown keys are missing, but you can use instead:
  • Fn Left Arrow key as the Home key
  • Fn Right Arrow as the End key
  • Fn Up Arrow as the PgUp key
  • Fn Down Arrow as the PgDown key
  • Fn Enter as the Insert key (this is often used for Shift Insert to paste in Linux, so the equivalent would be Shift Fn Enter on the Apple keyboard).
• The delete key actually sends a Backspace event, whereas Fn delete sends a Delete event (you can check this using xev).
• The fn key occupies the position usually reserved for the Control key: here, the DoubleCommand utility (which is an extension to System Preferences, not an Application) can help, as it can be confugured so that the fn key acts the same as a control key by checking the setting Function Key acts as Control Key. Unfortunately, enabing fn as a control key messes up the fn delete behavior (delete the character on the right, instead of on the left), so it's best to also check the Shift-Delete acts as Forward Delete. To apply the settings, press the Activate button.
• The Play/Pause key (which is used by the free Cog music player) will unfortunately also launch the dreaded Apple iTunes program, even if you have no interest in using iTunes.

Apple OSX quirks

  To log on to this computer remotely, type "ssh username@dhcp-4lp9-4lp10-east-198.35.175.205.hqdhcp.mycorp.com".

Ubuntu in VirtualBox

Ubuntu on raw Apple hardware

• Partition your internal drive as usual using BootCamp from within OSX.
• Boot from the net-install for Ubuntu (not from the traditional installation media).
• Install as usual, but since you have only one partition (created by BootCamp), don't allocate any swap space. Just give the entire partition to root.
• When the installation gets to the end, choose /dev/sda3 as the destination for GRUB. You can see that this is the correct location by pressing Ctrl Alt F2 and looking where the /target filesystem is mounted by the installer.
• Note: You don't need to install rEFIt into your OSX, you can use it directly by booting it from CD, see rEFIt. But you don't really need to run rEFIt at all for a basic OSX and Ubuntu dual-boot setup. Instead, you can just hold down the Option key when starting up: a menu will come up offering the choice of Windows (which is actually Ubuntu).
• In Ubuntu, currently, the trackpad can be configured (a little) using gnome-mouse-properties and clicking the Touchpad tab. For example, two-finger scrolling can be enabled.
• The wired network and the Intel HD-3000 graphics work immediately.
• The display and keyboard backlight brightness can also be adjusted.
• Overall, quite usable.
• Beware: the screen began flickering (even in OSX) after running Ubuntu for a few hours. This was while using the default Intel HD 3000 driver, not the proprietary ATI fglrx driver. The flickering behavior persisted afterwards in OSX for quite a while (scary!).

Update: Ubuntu 14.04 on MacBook Pro A1297

apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
apt-get install b43-fwcutter

synclient ClickFinger3=2
synclient TapButton3=2

sudo apt-get install amarok

export LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0
inkscape

sudo apt-get install plasma-nm
sudo apt-get install network-manager
sudo apt-get install network-manager-openconnect

/usr/bin/kde-nm-connection-editor

Compiz Quirks

• A new Compiz quirk in Ubuntu Natty (11.04): when you change System -> Preferences -> Windows -> Titlebar Action to "Maximize Vertically", it maximizes the window both vertically and horizontally when you double-click on the window's title bar, instead of just maximizing it vertically. You can work around the problem using this idea, by assigning a keyboard shortcut using the gnome-keybinding-properties program (by navigating to its Window Management subsection to find the Maximize Window Vertically action and assigning a keyboard shortcut for it). Don't enable the endearing Wobbly Windows plugin if using this workaround, as they don't work well together in VirtualBox: for example, a vertically-maximized xterm will move, gradually "walking" entirely off the screen, all by itself!

• proc_cpuinfo: /proc/cpuinfo