cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/34255100

Thought I’d create a distinct thread from the previous one asking about daily use, because I really do want to hear more on people’s pain points. Great to know people are generally sounding pretty positive in those posts who recently switched, but want to know your difficulties as well! This way old and new users can share their thoughts, hopefully to inspire a respectful discussion.

  • Beacon@fedia.io
    1·
    3 days ago

    I tried to install it on a friend’s 2012 macbook air, but the wifi didn’t work even after trying different distros and trying suggested answers like installing several additional wifi drivers.

    I realize 2012 is a quite old machine, but the reality is that many (most?) people are going to be trying Linux for the first time on their very old computers. So having showstopper failures on old machines probably leads to a good amount of people thinking Linux doesn’t work well.

    • jollyrogue@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Many of the chipsets used in older laptops don’t have Linux drivers or firmware for some chips. Oddly, more recently modern laptops have better support.

      The 2012 MacBook Air uses the Broadcom BCM943224PCIEBT2 chipset, which is flaky under Linux when it’s working. At least that was my experience with my Mac Mini. Broadcom doesn’t like people using their hardware, especially that era, so they’re a problem.

    • Mongostein@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      I had the same issue when installing on a similar MacBook. Plugging it in to Ethernet and running Driver Manager found me the driver I needed easily.