Have you read this? https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Apple/MacBookAir/6-2
There is a link to the webcam kernel module there: https://github.com/patjak/facetimehd/wiki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
Have you read this? https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Apple/MacBookAir/6-2
There is a link to the webcam kernel module there: https://github.com/patjak/facetimehd/wiki
Thank you! The webcam is working fine now. still can't figure out the audio but I'll keep messing with it
Thank you for the help @infeeeee@lemm.ee @BaumGeist@lemmy.ml - I believe the issue with the audio is hardware related. I reinstalled Mac OSX using the built in recovery tool and that does not detect the sound card either. So sometime in between it being used last and me installing Ubuntu on it the hardware failed. I don't think I will bother replacing the logic board as it is a 10 year old laptop and is otherwise working just fine.
Regardless, it's good to be using Linux again!