Installing Ubuntu on intel Macbook Pro 2017 with touchbar

Just some notes about fixing some issues while installing Ubuntu on Macbook Pro 2017

Fix Audio

Audio is not working by default after a fresh install.

GitHub - davidjo/snd_hda_macbookpro: Kernel audio driver for Macs with 8409 HDA chip + MAX98706/SSM3515 amps

Kernel audio driver for Macs with 8409 HDA chip + MAX98706/SSM3515 amps - davidjo/snd_hda_macbookpro

GitHubdavidjo

johndoe@mac ~> sudo apt install gcc linux-headers-generic make patch wget

johndoe@mac ~> sudo apt install linux-source-7.0.0

johndoe@mac ~/dev> git clone https://github.com/davidjo/snd_hda_macbookpro.git

johndoe@mac ~/dev> cd snd_hda_macbookpro/

johndoe@mac ~/d/snd_hda_macbookpro (master)> sudo ./install.cirrus.driver.sh


johndoe@mac ~/d/snd_hda_macbookpro (master)> sudo reboot

Fix Touchbar

> sudo apt install git dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r)

> git clone https://github.com/AJ-dev-i60/t1-touchbar.git
> cd t1-touchbar

> sudo ./install.sh
> sudo reboot

Fix Wi-Fi

Wifi actually works out of the box, but the signal strength is usually very bad. We'll try to fix that

johndoe@mac ~> cd /tmp
               wget -O brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt \
                     https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsoyer/MacBookPro14-2/main/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt
--2026-09-10 18:36:39--  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsoyer/MacBookPro14-2/main/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt
Resolving raw.githubusercontent.com (raw.githubusercontent.com)... 185.199.109.133, 185.199.111.133, 185.199.110.133, ...
Connecting to raw.githubusercontent.com (raw.githubusercontent.com)|185.199.109.133|:443... failed: Connection timed out.
Connecting to raw.githubusercontent.com (raw.githubusercontent.com)|185.199.111.133|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 6051 (5.9K) [text/plain]
Saving to: ‘brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt’

brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt    100%[=====================================>]   5.91K  --.-KB/s    in 0.04s   

2026-09-10 18:38:53 (163 KB/s) - ‘brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt’ saved [6051/6051]



johndoe@mac /tmp> sed -i 's/^macaddr=.*/macaddr=<your-wi-fi-cards-mac-id>/' brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt


johndoe@mac /tmp> sudo cp /tmp/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt \
                        "/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.Apple Inc.-MacBookPro14,2.txt"

johndoe@mac /tmp> sudo ln -sf \
                        "brcmfmac43602-pcie.Apple Inc.-MacBookPro14,2.txt" \
                        /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43602-pcie.txt
                     
                     
                     
johndoe@mac /tmp> sudo reboot