Screen turns black if I unplugged the charger

[cadurling]

I'm running Kubuntu 23.10 on a 2012 Macbook Pro. When it is plugged in and charging and I disconnect the charger the screen turns black and I'm unable to do anything. If I plug the charger back in the screen comes on again. If I start the computer without the charger plugged in it will also work fine, if I plugged the charger in again it still runs fine until I disconnect the charger again the screen will turn black.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Any help would be appreciated.

[cadurling]

I have installed Linux Mint on an identical 2012 Macbook Pro and I found the culprit. It has to do with installing pommed that controls the backlit for the Macbook keyboard. As soon as I installed that and unplugged the macbook the screen went black. I just uninstalled and unplugged the macbook and it is now working no black screen and the backlit is still working.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Welcome and it is good that you found the responsible package!

The only things I would recommend to additionally install for an older Apple MacBook Pro in any Linux distribution are

• mbpfan (to provide a better fan/heat contol - and configure it, of course)
  and
• powertop (to help disabling the auto-sleep of some components like possibly e.g. the trackpad's or Bluetooth's that might disturb your work - and configure your system with the help of it accordingly, of course)

PS: It would also help if you put "MacBook" or something like it in the title so others can find your solution - and mark it as "Solved".