Getting MacBook Pro 2018 T2 to work with ArchLinux (dualboot)

There was a lot of hype about the fact that due to the new T2 chip, it is impossible to install linux on the new 2018 MacBook with a touchbar. As time went on, and by the end of 2019, third-party developers implemented a number of drivers and kernel patches for interacting with the T2 chip. The main driver for MacBook models 2018 and newer implements VHCI (operation of the touch / keyboard / etc.), as well as the functioning of sound.



The mbp2018-bridge-drv project is divided into 3 main components:

• BCE (Buffer Copy Engine) - establishes the main channel of communication with T2. VHCI and Audio require this component.
• VHCI is a USB virtual host controller; a keyboard, mouse, and other system components are provided by this component (other drivers use this host controller to provide more functionality.
• Audio - driver for T2 audio interface, currently only audio output through MacBook's built-in speakers is supported

The second project is called macbook12-spi-driver , and it implements the possibility of the input driver for the keyboard, SPI trackpad, touchbar for MacBook Pro late 2016 and later. Some drivers for the keyboard / trackpad are now included in the kernel, starting with version 5.3.



Support was also implemented for devices such as wi-fi, touchpad, etc, using kernel patches. Currently the kernel version is 5.3.5-1

What works at the moment

1. NVMe
2. Keyboard
3. USB-C (Thunderbolt was not tested, when the module loads automatically, it suspends the system tightly)
4. Touchbar (with the ability to turn on the Fn keys, backlight, ESC, etc.)
5. Sound (built-in speakers only)
6. Wi-Fi module (via brcmfmac and only through iw)
7. DisplayPort via USB-C
8. Sensors
9. Suspend / Resume (partially)
10. etc ..

This tutorial is applicable for macbookpro15.1 and macbookpro15.2. The article was taken from the github in English from here . Not all of this article worked, so I had to look for a solution on my own.

What you need to install

• USB-C USB dock adapter (at least three USB inputs for connecting a mouse, keyboard, usb modem or phone in tethering mode). This is only necessary in the early stages of installation.
• USB keyboard
• USB / USB-C flash drive at least 4GB

1. Disable the ban on loading from external media

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330

https://www.ninjastik.com/support/2018-macbook-pro-boot-from-usb/

2. Allocate free space using Disk Utility

For convenience, I immediately allocated 30GB to the disk, formatting it to exfat in Disk Utility itself. Partitioning a physical disk into Disk Utility partitions .

3. Form an iso image

Options:

1. You can go the simple way and download the finished image with the kernel 5.3.5-1 and the patches from aunali1 link to the finished image
2. Create an image yourself through archlive (you need a system with archa distribution)
   
   
   
   Install archiso
   
   
   
   

   pacman -S archiso
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   

    cp -r /usr/share/archiso/configs/releng/ archlive cd archlive
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   Add the repository to pacman.conf:
   
   
   
   

    [mbp] Server = https://packages.aunali1.com/archlinux/$repo/$arch
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   Ignore the original kernel in pacman.conf:
   
   
   
   

    IgnorePkg = linux linux-headers
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   Add the necessary packages, at the end we add the linux-mbp and linux-mbp-headers kernel
   
   
   
   

    ... wvdial xl2tpd linux-mbp linux-mbp-headers
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   Change the script to work in interactive mode (replace pacstrap -C with pacstrap -i -C):
   
   
   
   

    sudo nano /usr/bin/mkarchiso
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   

    # Install desired packages to airootfs _pacman () { _msg_info "Installing packages to '${work_dir}/airootfs/'..." if [[ "${quiet}" = "y" ]]; then pacstrap -i -C "${pacman_conf}" -c -G -M "${work_dir}/airootfs" $* &> /dev/null else pacstrap -i -C "${pacman_conf}" -c -G -M "${work_dir}/airootfs" $* fi _msg_info "Packages installed successfully!" }
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   We form an image:
   
   
   
   

    sudo ./build.sh -v
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   Press Y to skip the ignored packages, then write the iso image to the usb flash drive:
   
   
   
   

    sudo dd if=out/archlinux*.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   

4. First boot

Reboot with the inserted flash drive and keyboard. Press options when the apple appears, select EFI BOOT.



Next, you need to press the “e” key and enter module_blacklist = thunderbolt at the end of the command line. If this is not done, then the system may not boot, and the Thunderbolt ICM Error will crash.



Using fdisk / cfdisk we find our section (I have it nvme0n1p4), format and install the arch. You can use the official instructions or third-party .



We do not create the boot partition, we will write the bootloader in / dev / nvme0n1p1

After the environment in / mnt is fully formed and before switching to arch-chroot, we write:

 mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Add to /etc/pacman.conf:

 [mbp] Server = https://packages.aunali1.com/archlinux/$repo/$arch
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Install the kernel:

 sudo pacman -S linux-mbp linux-mbp-headers sudo mkinitcpio -p linux-mbp
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Put thunderbolt and applesmc in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

 blacklist thunderbolt blacklist applesmc
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Keyboard, touchbar, etc

Install yay:

 sudo pacman -S git gcc make fakeroot binutils git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git cd yay makepkg -si
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Install the modules for the touchbar:

 git clone --branch mbp15 https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver.git cd macbook12-spi-driver make install
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Add modules to autoload: /etc/modules-load.d/apple.conf

 industrialio_triggered_buffer apple-ibridge apple-ib-tb apple-ib-als
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Install the kernel modules for the keyboard. The repository anuali1 has a ready-made package, it is called apple-bce-dkms-git . To install it, write in the console:

 pacman -S apple-bce-dkms-git
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

In this case, the kernel module will be called apple-bce . In the case of self-assembly, it is called bce . Accordingly, if you want to register the module in the MODULES section in the mkinicpio.conf file, then do not forget which module you installed.



Manual assembly:

 git clone https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-bridge-drv.git cd mbp2018-bridge-drv make cp bce.ko /usr/lib/modules/extramodules-mbp/bce.ko
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Add the bce or apple-bce module to autoload: /etc/modules-load.d/bce.conf

 bce
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

If you want to use the Fn buttons by default, then in the /etc/modprobe.d/apple-tb.conf file we write:

 options apple-ib-tb fnmode=2
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Updating the kernel and initramfs.

 mkinitcpio -p linux-mbp
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Install iwd:

 sudo pacman -S networkmanager iwd
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

5. Bootloader

Once inside the chroot all the main packages are installed, you can proceed to install the bootloader.



I never managed to get grub to work. From an external usb drive, grub boots, but when you try to register it in nvme via

grub-install --target = x86_64-efi --efi-directory = / boot --bootloader-id = grub

the system crashed into kernel panic, and after rebooting a new item through options did not appear. I did not find any intelligible solution to this problem and therefore decided to try to implement the boot using systemd-boot.

1. We launch
   
   
   
   

    bootctl --path=/boot install
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
           
           
           
         
         
   
           
           
           
         
   
       
        

   
   
   and fly off to kernel panic. Turn off the MacBook, turn it on again, click options (do not turn off the usb-c hub with the keyboard)
2. Check that a new EFI BOOT record has appeared in addition to the external device
3. We select the download from an external usb-drive, as during the first installation (do not forget to write module_blacklist = thunderbolt)
4. We mount our disk and go into the environment through arch-chroot

 mount /dev/nvme0n1p4 /mnt mount /dev/nvme0n1p1 /mnt/boot arch-chroot /mnt
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

If it is necessary for the keyboard to work until the system is fully loaded (this is necessary if luks / dm-crypt encryption is used), then we write it in the /etc/mkinicpio.conf file in the MODULES section:

 MODULES=(ext4 applespi intel_lpss_pci spi_pxa2xx_platform bce)
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Updating the kernel and initramfs.

 mkinicpio -p linux-mbp
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Configure systemd-boot

We edit the file /boot/loader/loader.conf, delete everything inside it, and add the following:

 default arch timeout 5 editor 1
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Go to the / boot / loader / entries folder, create the arch.conf file and write:

 title arch linux /vmlinuz-linux-mbp initrd /initramfs-linux-mbp.img options root=/dev/<b>nvme0n1p4</b> rw pcie_ports=compat
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

If you used luks and lvm, then

 options cryptdevice=/dev/<b>nvme0n1p4</b>:luks root=/dev/mapper/vz0-root rw pcie_ports=compat
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Reboot on MacOS.

6. Wi-fi setup

As it turned out, MacOS stores the firmware files for the wi-fi adapter in the / usr / share / firmware / wifi folder, and you can take them from there in the form of blobs and feed them to the brcmfmac kernel module. In order to find out exactly which files your adapter uses, open the terminal in MacOS and write:

 ioreg -l | grep C-4364
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

We get a long list. We only need files from the RequestedFiles section:

 "RequestedFiles" = ({"Firmware"="<b>C-4364__s-B2/maui.trx</b>","TxCap"="C-4364__s-B2/maui-X3.txcb","Regulatory"="C-4364__s-B2/<b>maui-X3.clmb</b>","NVRAM"="C-4364__s-B2/<b>P-maui-X3_M-HRPN_V-m__m-7.7.txt</b>"})
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

In your case, the file names may differ. Copy them from the / usr / share / firmware / wifi folder to the USB flash drive and rename it to the following view:

  maui.trx -> brcmfmac4364-pcie.bin maui-X3.clmb -> brcmfmac4364-pcie.clm_blob P-maui-X3_M-HRPN_V-m__m-7.7.txt -> brcmfmac4364-pcie.Apple Inc.-<b>MacBookPro15,2.txt</b>
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

In this case, the last text file contains the model name, if your model is not macbookpro15,2, then you need to rename this file in accordance with your macbook model.



Reboot into arch.



Copy files from the USB flash drive to the / lib / firmware / brcm / folder

 sudo cp brcmfmac4364-pcie.bin /lib/firmware/brcm/ sudo cp brcmfmac4364-pcie.clm_blob /lib/firmware/brcm/ sudo cp 'brcmfmac4364-pcie.Apple Inc.-<b>MacBookPro15,2.txt' /lib/firmware/brcm/
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Check the health of the module:

 rmmod brcmfmac modprobe brcmfmac
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

We make sure that the network interface appeared through ifconfig / ip.

Configure wifi via iwctl



Attention. Via netctl, nmcli, etc. the interface does not work, only through iwd.



Making NetworkManager use iwd. To do this, create the file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf and write:

 [device] wifi.backend=iwd
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Starting the NetworkManager service

 sudo systemctl start NetworkManager.service sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager.service
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

7. Sound

In order to make sound, you must install pulseaudio:

 sudo pacman -S pulseaudio
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Download three files:

• 91-pulseaudio-custom.rules
• apple-t2.conf
• AppleT2.conf

Move them:

  /usr/share/alsa/cards/AppleT2.conf /usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/profile-sets/apple-t2.conf /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/91-pulseaudio-custom.rules
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

8. Suspend / Resume

At the moment, 10/16/2019 you have to choose either sound or suspend / resume. We are waiting for the author of the bce module to finish the functionality.



To build a module with support for susped / resume, you must do the following:

 git clone https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-bridge-drv.git cd mbp2018-bridge-drv git checkout suspend make cp bce.ko /usr/lib/modules/extramodules-mbp/bce.ko modprobe bce
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

If you installed the ready-made apple-bce module from the anuali1 repository, you must first remove it and only then collect and install the bce module with support for suspend mode.



Also, you need to add the applesmc module to the blacklist (if you haven’t done this before) and make sure that the pcie_ports = compat parameter is added to /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf in the options line at the end.



At the moment, the touchbar driver crashes when you enter suspend mode, and the thunderbolt driver sometimes suspends the system for more than 30 seconds, and when you resume it, for several minutes. This can be fixed by automatically downloading problem modules.



Create the script /lib/systemd/system-sleep/rmmod.sh :

 #!/bin/sh if [ "${1}" == "pre" ]; then rmmod thunderbolt rmmod apple_ib_tb elif [ "${1}" == "post" ]; then modprobe apple_ib_tb modprobe thunderbolt fi
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

Make it executable:

 sudo chmod +x /lib/systemd/system-sleep/rmmod.sh
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
        
        
        
      
      

        
        
        
      

    
     

That's all for now. The result is a fully functional system, with the exception of some nuances with suspend / resume. No crashes and kernel panic has been observed for several days uptime. I hope that in the near future the author of the bce module will finish it, and we will get full support for suspend / resume and sound.