kcirick's Arch Linux Blog

One thing that is not working very well on Macbooks is the fan control. On top of the machine running warmer than under OS-X, the fans don’t kick in until it’s very hot.

To remedy this, you can write a program to do this. I got a source code of existing package called cmp-daemon (http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=21391) and tailored it to my machine (The fan RPM is a linear function of CPU temperature, but you might want to change it to step function, for example).

The set-up is pretty simple. There is the source code cmp-daemon.c, and a bash script to start|stop|restart the daemon: cmp-daemon.sh (see attachments). Just follow these steps:

1. Edit cmp-daemon.c to your liking
2. Compile:

   $ gcc -Wall cmp-daemon.c -o cmp-daemon

3. Copy the compiled program:

   # cp cmp-daemon /usr/sbin/

4. Copy the daemon script (make sure it is executable):

   # cp cmp-daemon.sh /etc/rc.d/cmp-daemon

5. Start daemon:

   # /etc/rc.d/cmp-daemon start

   or edit /etc/rc.conf:

   DAEMONS=(.. cmp-daemon ..)

Attachments:
cmp-daemon.c (Download):
cmp-daemon.sh (Download):

I installed Arch linux on my macbook (dual boot with Snow Leopard, I dedicated 45GB to Arch with 5GB Swap).

A small hiccup so far, but things are working out so far. I still need to set up a few more things, but basic things are set up now. I think I will write up a wiki page once I am happy with everything.

Also, I found out that my macbook’s generation is Macbook4,2 (Late 2008 model) through wikipedia.