Finally decided to convert to the penguin. I have live booted mint from a usb, without installing it yet, on a macbook pro 2017. But none of the WiFi networks in my apartment are showing, except for a few weak ones. Help a newbie out :)

Edit: To clarify it is not installed yet. Just used it from a live usb.

Edit 2: Used phone as tether for internet and went through all managers. But none had any updates that worked. I also tried installing b43 and after that wl. But both did nothing on the live usb boot, I assume since modprobe doesn’t do anything on a live boot. But I ain’t installing if it won’t even work on the live boot.

@RedNight left a link that suggests this macbook, version 14.2, wifi doesn’t work with linux. https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux

Final edit: Fedora also didn’t work. So it’s a hardware compatibility issue.

TLDR: If u have a macbook 2017 version 14.2 the wifi won’t work on linux so don’t try.

  • Eugenia@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    The machine is fully supported by Mint, but because it’s a non-free firmware driver, you will need to add either an ethernet cable, or a usb-to-ethernet adapter, or you could tether from your phone. Then you can install either the b43, or the wl driver (depends which chipset you have), and then wifi and bluetooth are going to work like a charm. I had to do the same on my mac mini. Apple uses broadcom chips that don’t have full open source bits, so they’re not part of the live ISO. You’ll first need to find another way to get to the internet, and then fetch the right files.

    • HotCoffeeOP
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      8 months ago

      I got internet by tethering my phone. After that I went through all the managers, tried installing b43 and after that wl. But both did nothing on the live usb boot. @RedNight left a link that suggests this macbook version wifi doesn’t work with linux. https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux