Theese steps only work with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers.
Kernel Module In terms of kernel module, there’s nothing special on the MacBook Pro 11,3. Just use the apple_gmux kernel module.
This module let’s you change the brightness via /sys/class/backlight/gmux_backlight/brightness or your usual UI controls.
(The module itself does not work out of the box, read on)
Poke the hardware a little Run this command after every boot to finally get gmux brightness control working:
Disclaimer Everything you’ll read in this post is based on my personal experience. I can’t guarantee that any of that works on your machine. Please understand that there’s still the (small) possibility that you brick your Mac.
Apple does not support this setup - so you act ON YOUR OWN RISK!!!
Why? Why Linux on a Mac? I really love OS X. But I also hate it. The golden walled garden is sometimes really getting in the way.