Macbook Pro 13,2 Touchbar

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1

Hey Fedora People.
Im relatively new to the Linux “Game”. I use fedora Silverblue on my Main Desktop. Im verry satisfied how good everthin works for me. So I also want it on my mobile Computer.

I did some research before and found out it will be complicated with the touchbar (Macbook Pro 2016 13,2 with T1 Chip). Until i found this Article:

So i created a bootable USB and installed Fedora Workstation 43 on it (for easier testing than silverblue), i updated it and saw its now on kernel 6.18.7. But the touchbar keeps black :frowning:

Do missed something or do i have to configure something?

2

Welcome to Fedora @pukka922

Please check if there is a new firmware upgrade. To recognize Hardware the Bios needs to be able to communicate with the kernel.

Please open the Terminal and try:
fwupdmgr get-devices to see if there is a new firmware for the device.

3

@ilikelinux thanks for answering.
I got this output:

Screenshot From 2026-02-02 15-03-43
Screenshot From 2026-02-02 15-03-431280×920 53.9 KB

4

From what I can see, you could update some firmware for the storage devices. You might check in the Software app if you get something listed to upgrade there. You have to checkout if the repository for firmware (fwupd) is active.

However it not looks like that this update will help you with the touch bar.

Have you tried to install the touch bar with instructions like this:
Linux on MacBook Pro Late 2016 and Mid 2017 (with Touchbar) · GitHub

5

Thanks @ilikelinux for youre help. I think thats too much tinkering for now. I hoped it will work out of the box and i can use silverblue as a stable base system. Maybe i will try it again in some years :slight_smile: for now I’m happy with fedora silverblue on my workstation then.

6

This will probably not happen. Apple is closed source. If there is not an opensource dirver which will the Touchbar make available, this will not be included in Fedora in general.

Anyway, the note is for users which are comfortable to thinker, I do agree with that. If someone finds the instructions over this topic even better :wink: