E: I AM NOT USING FEDORA. Please stop linking to guides for Fedora. They will not work. uBlue/Bazzite does not use dnf.

I got a free iMac. Installed Linux on an external drive. Bazzite, specifically. WiFi does not work. My research leads me to a problem with proprietary Broadcom drivers but no solutions. If you know how to get this working, your advice would be appreciated.

Also if there’s another distro that works “out of the box” on Macs with GNOME I’d be open to installing that as well.

E: “System information” says it is a

Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.111.1 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1772.1)

  • muusemuuse@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    This is probably not the best system for bazzite. Stick with something with a longer track record like Debian/ubuntu or better documentation like arch.

    Those old macs can get really pissy with Linux sometimes but it can be done. Their WiFi chips are incredibly obnoxious to deal with. Worst case scenario you can swap wifi cards in some those or even simply use a USB WiFi card instead.

    • Ulrich@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      if there’s another distro that works “out of the box” on Macs with GNOME I’d be open to installing that as well.

      • muusemuuse@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        8 days ago

        Google used to use Ubuntu on MacBooks though I’m not sure if that’s still the case. It has a reputation of being straightforward and well supported but not everyone likes what canonical is doing anymore.

        Fedora is weirdly more complex and its documentation isn’t as great as it looks on the surface. It’s worth a try but honestly documentation is more important than out of box support at this point.

        Arch needs a lot of handholding and it’s a bit of a handful but the wiki is amazing and frankly the best part of that particular distro. Unlike Ubuntu you would get a virgin GNOME experience more similar to fedora but it’s also easier to break things in arch than elsewhere so keep that in mind before you head down this road. Arch is an excellent education but not always a best place to live in.

        Start with Ubuntu if you want to see how that hardware is supported. If it is a pain in the ass in Ubuntu, it’s likely to be a pain in the ass elsewhere too. Consider using a usb wifi nubbin and just moving in with that.

        • Ulrich@feddit.orgOPEnglish
          0·
          8 days ago

          Ubuntu is literally the only distro that I object to LOL but I will give Linux Mint Ubuntu a try on this machine. I haven’t tried it before.

          • muusemuuse@lemm.eeEnglish
            0·
            8 days ago

            Mint is in a weird place right now with their transition to Wayland. It’s not complete yet and in my opinion it’s not ready for daily use.

            • Ulrich@feddit.orgOPEnglish
              0·
              8 days ago

              Well the Wifi on Mint worked out of the box but the cursor would flash in and out, the audio didn’t work, Steam wouldn’t launch and my webcam was constantly lit up for some reason.

  • HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org
    0·
    7 days ago

    My experience (from using Linux since 1998) is that the best way to use Linux is to get compatible hardware (that is, unless you want to develop device drivers). And this doubly and triple for laptops and graphics cards. Refurbished business Thinkpads are a very good option.

  • HexagonSun@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    8 days ago

    I have WiFi problems on most distros with my 2012 Retina MBP. Generally I can’t get it working.

    I didn’t have as many issues in the past, but the only two distros I can get it working on these days are EndeavourOS and Linux Mint.

    Mint requires installing the proprietary drivers after installation, which is easy to do.

    EndeavourOS is actually easier and works “out of the box” for me. But I need to change it to use WPA2 instead of WPA3 for it to work on my Mac, being as old as it is.

    • Ulrich@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      Mint requires installing the proprietary drivers after installation, which is easy to do.

      I could do that. I’ve never actually tried Mint before. Do you have a link or instructions?

      • HexagonSun@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        8 days ago

        From memory….

        If you open Driver Manager after installation it will say you need to either connect to Ethernet or insert the installation USB. Using the Installation USB is fine.

        It should then automatically detect you have a Broadcom WiFi module and just give you a checkbox you can click next to the correct driver.

        It will install the driver from the USB, say you need to restart and then you should be done! Upon rebooting your Mac should immediately recognise available WiFi networks and let you join them.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.world
    0·
    9 days ago

    Broadcom chips aren’t open source, and depending on which model of Mac you have, YMMV. Can you at least lock down the year or model number?