MacBook-OBS-Linux/README.md

MacBook OBS Linux

Video Guide

Two scripts for getting a MacBook set up for screen recording and streaming on Linux:

1. facetimehd-installer.sh — Install the FaceTime HD camera driver
2. obs-performance-script.sh — Optimize OBS performance on Linux Mint

FaceTime HD Camera Installer

Gets the built-in FaceTime HD camera working on Linux for older MacBooks (2012-2017 models with the Broadcom 1570 PCIe camera).

Compatible Models

• MacBook Air (A1466, A1369, and similar)
• MacBook Pro (2012-2017 models)
• iMac (2012-2017 models)

Note: Newer MacBooks with T2 chip or Apple Silicon are NOT supported.

Supported Distros

• Ubuntu 20.04+
• Linux Mint 20+
• Debian 11+
• Fedora 36+

Usage

chmod +x facetimehd-installer.sh
./facetimehd-installer.sh

Do NOT run with sudo — the script uses sudo internally where needed.

What It Does

Step	Action
1	Detects your distro and kernel version
2	Checks Secure Boot status (driver won't load with SB enabled)
3	Installs build tools (gcc, kernel headers, DKMS)
4	Removes any previous facetimehd installations
5	Downloads and extracts camera firmware from Apple's driver
6	Downloads, patches (for kernel 6.x), and builds the kernel module
7	Installs via DKMS (auto-rebuilds on kernel updates)
8	Blacklists conflicting bdc_pci module
9	Loads the module and verifies camera appears at /dev/videoN

Secure Boot

The facetimehd kernel module is unsigned. If Secure Boot is enabled, the module won't load. Options:

1. Disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI (recommended)
2. Sign the module yourself (advanced)
3. Try anyway (will likely fail)

Troubleshooting

# Check if module is loaded
lsmod | grep facetimehd

# Check kernel messages
sudo dmesg | grep -i facetime

# Check for video device
ls /dev/video*

# Test with a camera app
cheese

OBS Performance Script

Temporarily optimizes your Linux Mint system for OBS recording/streaming by disabling compositor effects and setting performance-mode CPU/GPU.

Usage

chmod +x obs-performance-script.sh
./obs-performance-script.sh

This launches OBS with optimizations applied. When you close OBS, all settings are automatically restored.

What It Optimizes

Setting	Change	Why
Compositor	Disabled	Frees GPU from rendering shadows, transparency, animations
Fullscreen unredirect	Enabled	Bypasses compositor for fullscreen apps
VSync	Disabled	Reduces GPU overhead and input lag
CPU governor	Performance	Maximum clock speed for encoding
GL threading	Enabled	Better OpenGL performance
PulseAudio latency	30ms	Better audio/video sync

How It Works

1. Saves your current desktop settings
2. Applies performance optimizations
3. Launches OBS with GPU-friendly environment variables
4. Waits for OBS to close
5. Restores all original settings

Your desktop will look plain while OBS is running (no effects/transparency) but returns to normal the moment you close OBS.

Works With

• OBS installed via apt (obs-studio)
• OBS installed via Flatpak (com.obsproject.Studio)

Uninstalling

FaceTime HD Camera Driver

# Unload module
sudo modprobe -r facetimehd

# Remove DKMS module
sudo dkms remove facetimehd/0.6.13 --all

# Remove files
sudo rm -rf /usr/src/facetimehd*
sudo rm -f /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-facetimehd.conf
sudo sed -i '/facetimehd/d' /etc/modules

# Remove firmware
sudo rm -rf /lib/firmware/facetimehd

OBS Performance Script

Just delete the script — it doesn't install anything permanently.

Credits

• patjak/facetimehd - FaceTime HD camera driver
• patjak/facetimehd-firmware - Firmware extractor
• OBS Studio - Open source streaming/recording
• Linux Mint - Target distribution for OBS script

License

This project is provided as-is.