precontitions:

•  author has limitied english knowledge
• 27" imac i5, 11,1, late 2009
• linux mint 11 installed and running
• small macosx (10.6.x) partition with snow leopard installed
• libgcrypt11-dev and libusb-dev installed (you can use synaptic to install these packages)
• courage to use the command line
• hint: i use linux mint in the language german; so you have to adapt some commands
• hint: all commands will be red-bold

procedure:

• open firefox and go to https://launchpad.net/isight-firmware-tools/
• on the right side you will find download links. download: isight-firmware-tools-1.6.tar.gz
• open the application terminal using the linux mint menu
• in the terminal type:
• command 1: cd ~/Downloads
• command 2: mkdir -p Software/SourceCode
• hint: you are completely free to create another path in order to compile the firmware tools! i like it to compile software within my download folder.
• command 3: mv isight-firmware-tools-1.6.tar.gz Software/SourceCode
• command 4: cd ~/Download/Software/SourceCode
• command 5: tar xzf isight-firmware-tools-1.6.tar.gz
• command 6: cd isight-firmware-tools-1.6
• hint: libgcrypt11-dev and libusb-dev must have been installed! without these packages i got error messages during the compile process and the compile process hasen't finished.
• command 7 (on a single line): ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc && make && sudo make install
• hint: now you should have the firmware tools in order to extract the apple firmware for the isight camera.
• hint: the next step is to copy the AppleUSBVideoSupport file (firmware for the built-in isight camera) from the macosx partition to the linux mint 11 download folder:
  • first mount the macosx partition using the gnome file-manager (sorry i don't know the exact name of the gnome file-manager; but i think you know what i mean.). in the left column of the gnome file-manager you should see the macosx partition. right-click it and mount it (in german "einhängen").
  • be careful: DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN THE MACOSX PARTITION! ONLY COPY THE FILE!
  • now go back to the application terminal.
• command 8 (on a single line): cd /media/MacOSX/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBVideoSupport.kext/Contents/MacOS/
• hint: you have to repalce MacOSX with the name you have choosen for your macosx partition.
• hint: i could have made mistakes in writing the long path, so use the tab-key to auto-complete directory entries of the path.
• command 9: cp AppleUSBVideoSupport ~/Downloads/
• command 10: cd ~/Downloads
• hint: now you can umount the macosx partition. for that use the gnome file-manager. right-click, unmount (in german "aushängen").
• hint: now we are going to extract the firmware.
• command 11: sudo ift-extract --apple-driver AppleUSBVideoSupport
• hint: you will find the extracted driver isight.fw in /lib/firmware.
• now shutdown your imac and then restart your imac. do not a reboot!
• finally you have to install software, that can use your built-in isight camera. for that, i used synaptic in order to install cheese.
• run cheese in order to watch your smiling face.

all credits go to: étienne bersac (maintainer of isight-firmware-tools), the authors of mactelsupportteamappleisight, mredding et al. (members of "ubuntu forums").

kind regards