Have successfully gotten latest Manjaro release working beautifully on other setups in past 24hrs (upgrade to Dell Optiplex, an old Acer netbook, and even my aging MacBookPro c. 2011), I cannot get my iMac’s internal PCI Broadcom BCM4364 to function on a fresh (external hard drive) install - i.e., it will not recognize its internal wifi.
[FWIW, despite what the inxi dump says below, it is not a laptop, it’s an iMac desktop (2019 or so)… in case that distinction matters?]
So far I’ve tried various fixes: installing broadcom-wl-dkms; trying linux515-rt-broadcom-wl with 5.15 kernel; even tried downgrading to kernel 5.10.83 in connection with older broadcom drivers at one point. Haven’t found a working combination just yet.
Any suggestions appreciated.
[BTW, I can’t get any audio on this iMac working either. “No output or input devices found” when I click on the Mute/Speaker icon in the tray.]
A couple of years ago I tried to get Linux running on various Apple hardware - maybe I didn’t have enough persistence - but I learned that I would never waste my time on a potential fruitless endeavour - and I would advise - if someone asked - don’t waste your time.
Of course you should do exactly what you like and think is fun. There is an article on Arch Wiki which states is is written for 20" and 24" iMac - maybe you can find help in it
I appreciate the sentiment. My 2011 MacBookPro 13" is running Manjaro beautifully (wifi & sound included) - plus an attached display tablet driving Krita.
This is what tempts me to make Linux accessible on my desktop iMac 2019 21.5" - but so far the wifi and sound remain unresponsive.
I’ve followed your links above and will explore what @cscs notes above too.
Meanwhile, I think I’ll give a pure no frills Arch installation a try on the iMac… or perhaps even a simple Debian/KDE install and see if the mystery drivers magically appear.
I am also aware that earlier Apple hardware generally is easier to convert than newer Apple products.
As example of one of my attempts is my MacBook Pro 2017 (with touch bar) - which can be made to boot but requires external mouse and keyboard - and - at the time there was no working solutions for the touch bar - and working without function keys - is a tough challenge.
Another early attempt of mine was a iMac mini - but it turned out to be a 32-bit system - it was a pain to even boot a 32-bit Manjaro - yes - a long time ago.
Another attemp in the local community was a macBook Air - it was one of those systems where the newer macOS wouldnøt run so we tried to get Ubuntu running on it - without much success.
So I came to the conclusion - leave Apple products to run macOS - however if you have the persistence - like the urge to be challenged beyond your current knowledge - you have my utmost and sincere respect.
Kind of off-topic
Apple doesn’t like when other systems finds their way to Apple branded hardware - they have all sorts of protections to prevent booting unauthorized devices and even their macOS has built-in obstacles put in place to prevent the OS from being installed on non Apple branded hardware.
Every time something is circumvented by entreprenouros hackers - they put in another - it’s like decrapping windows 10 - then getting updated to win11 and finding Microsoft put in new phone-home addresses and domains - and new tracking systems to replace the circumventeded methods.
It is like Don Quixote figting windmills - you cannot win, you have lost your mind and die from fever.
@linux-aarhus Thanks for the wise words, earned through experience.
“Experience” is that thing you needed just a few hours before you got it.
So I’ve tried repeatedly to get my 2019 iMac to behave nicely under even a clean Arch install using archfi/archdi scripts. It’s a mild form of success… still not really a terribly happy chunk of hardware - and still no wifi (nor sound). And the lush Retina screen is under-utilized at best.
On my 10 yr old MacBookPro, Manjaro runs like a dream. Far better than High Sierra OS which is the most current MacOS that Apple will provide (permit?) on this 2011 model.
As a result, I’ll be upgrading the RAM on the laptop to 16 gig, swapping out the original HD for a faster SSD, and replacing the battery. Probably change the carburetor and transmission fluid while I’m under the hood while considering snow tires.
I’ve also successfully deployed Manjaro on a MacMini of similar vintage (c. 2011) and a Dell Optiplex 710 (original Win10) - both of which run beautifully. A clean Arch install on an ancient underpowered Acer Netbook went smoothly too, but the CPU is so lame it’s hardly worth turning it on.
I guess since this iMac desktop is typically my daily driver, I’m okay leaving it as an “Apple” - but that’s not really my preference now that I see how delightful the Manjaro/Arch experience can be. Alas.
In short, based on this experience I now know that trying to convert Apple gear to Linux is fraught and has cost me 3-4 days I will never get back. Perhaps even more … once I forget what I’ve experienced and try again?
Though I only found mention of that resource on some other answer.
I have no idea whether thats a decent source.
Since you have the macOS you should be able to retrieve the firmware files directly from there.
(at which point just achieve placing them in the directory as shown in the second step above)
As a noob I have managed to get Manjaro to run on an 2008 imac, a modded 2009 mbp (still my daily driver) and a 2016 macbook air (redirected VM install to external SSD) which is used for video editing with DaVinciResolve.
There are some challenges, especially with the newer models, but “Arch Wiki linux on mac” has all the information that is needed for any particular hardware. If anyone has the chance to do a little research before purchasing a mac it should be quite painless.
… and being boneheaded this morning, I failed to use my special root powers With sudo I was indeed able to download/execute the file at the suggested link.
As it turns out, I now cannot even load Arch from its boot up partition anymore… now I get “[FAILED] Failed to start Load Kernel Modules.” message immediately after informing me of my /dev/sdb5; clean…" report.