How to solve wi-fi problem on Macbook Air mid 2013? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 day ago by muhyb@programming.dev to c/linux@programming.dev

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cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/38558693

We have a Macbook Air mid 2013 and no matter what distro I tried, making wi-fi work was pain due to Broadcom drivers and not having ethernet port. Basically had to install the drivers via phone tethering.

However, probably because of the drivers, there are certain problems like disconnecting out of blue or really slow connection or cannot reconnect unless reboot the PC.

So I want to ask, if you have this Macbook and have Linux installed, which distro you're using it with? How is it?

Recently I installed Bazzite on a home computer and printers, Xbox controller, iPhone connection, everything the owners need worked out of the box. I'm wondering, would it also work fine with this Macbook too?

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[-] reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 23 hours ago

I want to preface this by saying I've never owned or used a Macbook.

But most of what I've read online regarding Linux on Macbooks ends up with Linux Mint. And most of the time, peoeple specifically mention it because of Wi-Fi issues being resolved.

I'm not sure if there's any additional steps or anything, but I hope this can somehow be useful to you.

[-] muhyb@programming.dev 2 points 12 hours ago

Yeah, I noticed that too. Though the reason I haven't installed it was that I already installed specifically a immutable distro because of the person who will use it. However I also tried Mint as a live ISO to see if that has the driver pre-installed, it didn't. Later I thought, if this is the same proprietary driver, distro choice won't matter. Then I found about blacklisting.

this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2025

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