mbp-ubuntu-kernel VS linux-mbp-arch

Download the .deb files from here (try the “alt” ones first) https://github.com/marcosfad/mbp-ubuntu-kernel/releases/tag/v5.7.19 and use sudo apt install FILENAMEHERE.deb.

You can use the mbp-ubuntu kernel, although it has not yet been updated with newer patches that are in mbp-arch, but you can build a kernel with those parches as described here. That keyboard/trackpad driver, apple-bce, is not in the main kernel yet. There are instructions for installing it as a dkms module here. In general, the t2linux wiki and the t2 linux discord server (linked to in the wiki a lot) are where the most up to date info on running linux on t2 macs is.

You’ll need to install an efi bootloader, i.e. grub, on a fat32 partition. If there’s an efi system partition on your external drive, then use that You probably will also want this patched kernel and keyboard trackpad audio and touchbar drivers, as described here.

If I remember correctly on my 2019 13” everything was working quite well except for the audio which would only output to the speakers and the wifi/Bluetooth not working. Battery was fine for me I can’t remember having to charge it more often than usual. Ubuntu on Touchbar Mac

You don't compile the kernel from scratch to solve this problem normally, or should I say ideally, unless you're referring to aunali1/linux-mbp-arch.

I have a macbook with the T2 security chip, so a few patches are needed for most of the hardware: https://github.com/aunali1/linux-mbp-arch I dunno if there are many other computers like this where you need patches for hardware compatibility.

But when I look at the patches to support T2 Macs, most of them haven't even once been submitted to the Linux Kernel Mailing List for review (or am I missing some mail archive?)

The specific display issue you’ve described there is probably the one fixed by https://github.com/aunali1/linux-mbp-arch/blob/master/2001-drm-amd-display-Force-link_rate-as-LINK_RATE_RBR2-fo.patch (this patch is in mbp-fedora)

You need this kernel patch to prevent that overscan. Have a look at https://wiki.t2linux.org for how to get that without compiling the entire kernel.

Does anyone happen to have info on how I might get things up and running? I have tried googling, but not finding much specific to Debian. What I have found points to MacBook Bridge/T2 Linux Driver, but my undersanding this is in the kernel from 5.7. Also found linux-mbp-arch but that is specific to arch, and wouldn't work on Debian yeah? Or could I run those patches against something to get a Debian compatible kernel?

I once installed Arch on a MacBookPro15,1 (2019). It worked but I was mainly experimenting with it rather than actually using it. I had to use a custom kernel https://github.com/aunali1/linux-mbp-arch but I think this is MacBook specific. WiFi, the touchbar and the Intel iGPU are among the things that caused me the most headache. Also, the keyboard and mouse don't work without the custom kernel. But I managed to get the system to work overall (incl. WiFi) and most of those issues don't affect iMacs, I guess.