# PTB use with Linux on recent MacBook Pro

**URL:** <https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-use-with-linux-on-recent-macbook-pro/44>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [January 9, 2019, 10:26am UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-use-with-linux-on-recent-macbook-pro/44 "2019-01-09T10:26:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Allen\_Ingling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Allen\_Ingling](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/Allen_Ingling)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:26am UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-use-with-linux-on-recent-macbook-pro/44/1 "2019-01-09T10:26:01Z")

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Dear PTB users,

I'm planning to use PTB with dual-boot Linux on MacBook Pro because recent macOS seems not go well with PTB . As I read "Basic hardware requirements" \<http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements.html#basic-hardware-requirements\>, "(Intel Macs) may perform fine under Linux though." But I did not find any information of one's&nbsp;experience of using PTB on Linux in recent Mac hardware. Does someone have any idea?&nbsp;Now I'm planning to get the latest&nbsp;MacBook Pro 13-inch (Intel Core i5 or i7, 128MB eDRAM), which has&nbsp;Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 (probably it has only iGPU without dGPU).&nbsp;

This is my first time to use this Yahoo group. So I'm glad if you tell me better place to ask this kind of question when this topic is not suitable for here.

Thank you,

Yuki

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**Author:** ![mariokleiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@mariokleiner](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/mariokleiner)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-use-with-linux-on-recent-macbook-pro/44/2 "2019-01-11T23:27:07Z")

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Hi Yuki,  
  

> \> Dear PTB users,  
> \>  
> \> I'm planning to use PTB with dual-boot Linux on MacBook Pro because recent macOS seems not go well with PTB . As I read "Basic hardware requirements" \<[http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements.html#basic-hardware-requirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/requirements.html#basic-hardware-requirements)\>, "(Intel Macs) may perform fine under Linux though." But I did not find any information of one's experience of using PTB on Linux in recent Mac hardware. Does someone have any idea? Now I'm planning to get the latest MacBook Pro 13-inch (Intel Core i5 or i7, 128MB eDRAM), which has Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 (probably it has only iGPU without dGPU).  
> \>

That info on our website needs correction. I would not recommend  
buying any recent Apple hardware for running neuroscience experiments  
if you need reliability/precision/trustworthiness. macOS is pretty  
awful for that atm. and Apple outdid itself in recent years of making  
their hardware as incompatible and difficult as possible for  
alternative operating systems like Linux.  
  
As far as my reading goes, the 2018 MacBook/MacBookPro etc. are likely  
unusable with Linux at the moment. Things that won't work include  
sleep+wakeup, the builtin keyboard and touchpad, touchbar, onboard  
sound, wifi, and the internal SSD disc drive. Apparently one can boot  
from an external drive if secure boot is completely disabled, and  
connect external USB keyboard and mouse and sound cards etc., but that  
is kind of a pointless setup for a laptop. The only thing that would  
work is the graphics card. I've read that all new Apple computers with  
the new T2 chip, e.g., the new iMacs, are even more hostile by design  
to alternative operating systems other than macOS than old Apple  
computers were.  
  
The 2016/2017 MacBook(Pro)'s are also pretty awful wrt. Linux. See  
[https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux](https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux) for an overview of what  
works/partially works/doesn't work, and also of the manual steps  
required to make some things, e.g., keyboard/touchpad/touchbar work.  
Things like sleep+wakeup, onboard audio, wifi still don't work.  
  
I have read that the 2015 models are reasonably well working with  
Linux by now, but i haven't tested any Apple hardware more recent than  
2013, so i don't have any first-hand experience with it.  
  
There are laptops from other vendors with much better  
price/performance ratio and better Linux compatibility. Some vendors  
like System76 even sell laptops preinstalled and optimized for Linux.  
  
-mario  
  

> \> This is my first time to use this Yahoo group. So I'm glad if you tell me better place to ask this kind of question when this topic is not suitable for here.  
> \>  
> \> Thank you,  
> \>  
> \> Yuki  
> \>