aster.cloud aster.cloud
  • /
  • Platforms
    • Public Cloud
    • On-Premise
    • Hybrid Cloud
    • Data
  • Architecture
    • Design
    • Solutions
    • Enterprise
  • Engineering
    • Automation
    • Software Engineering
    • Project Management
    • DevOps
  • Programming
    • Learning
  • Tools
  • About
  • /
  • Platforms
    • Public Cloud
    • On-Premise
    • Hybrid Cloud
    • Data
  • Architecture
    • Design
    • Solutions
    • Enterprise
  • Engineering
    • Automation
    • Software Engineering
    • Project Management
    • DevOps
  • Programming
    • Learning
  • Tools
  • About
aster.cloud aster.cloud
  • /
  • Platforms
    • Public Cloud
    • On-Premise
    • Hybrid Cloud
    • Data
  • Architecture
    • Design
    • Solutions
    • Enterprise
  • Engineering
    • Automation
    • Software Engineering
    • Project Management
    • DevOps
  • Programming
    • Learning
  • Tools
  • About
  • Software
  • Tech
  • Tools

Bring An Old MacBook Back To Life With Linux

  • root
  • January 19, 2021
  • 3 minute read

It takes about an hour to make an outdated Mac useful again with Fedora.

Recently, I stumbled on an old MacBook Pro 13″ from late 2011, with a 125GB SSD and 8GB RAM. I’ve taken this machine on trips around the world, and back in the day, I ran many a session, workshop, or demo to share all the AppDev goodness from JBoss technologies.


Partner with aster.cloud
for your next big idea.
Let us know here.



From our partners:

CITI.IO :: Business. Institutions. Society. Global Political Economy.
CYBERPOGO.COM :: For the Arts, Sciences, and Technology.
DADAHACKS.COM :: Parenting For The Rest Of Us.
ZEDISTA.COM :: Entertainment. Sports. Culture. Escape.
TAKUMAKU.COM :: For The Hearth And Home.
ASTER.CLOUD :: From The Cloud And Beyond.
LIWAIWAI.COM :: Intelligence, Inside and Outside.
GLOBALCLOUDPLATFORMS.COM :: For The World's Computing Needs.
FIREGULAMAN.COM :: For The Fire In The Belly Of The Coder.
ASTERCASTER.COM :: Supra Astra. Beyond The Stars.
BARTDAY.COM :: Prosperity For Everyone.

After verifying that its battery works, charging it up, and reinstalling a new OS X, it turns out that the Safari browser version is limited to an old security specification, which means it can’t connect to a lot of HTTPS sites now. This renders this solution defunct.

What to do with this old thing?

It’s been a few years since I worked solely on Linux workstations as a developer. I specifically worked on Fedora, so I decided to try to install the latest version on this MacBook Pro.

It took me just over an hour to get Fedora 33 working on this laptop with the steps below.

 

Download Fedora 33 and create a live USB

The first step is to find the right way to install Fedora. This machine has a CD slot, so you could burn an ISO and boot from it, but I chose to go straight to a bootable USB option.

I got on my other MacBook and visited the Fedora Workstation site, which links to Fedora Media Writer. Click on the icon for your machine type (in my case, the Apple logo), and you get an installation package.

 

Fedora Media Writer download screen

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Start installing it to see a graphical user interface (GUI) that guides you through the process. Select the Fedora Workstation 33 option:

Read More  Understanding Linus's Law For Open Source Security

 

Fedora Workstation download in Fedora Media Writer

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Next, select the Create Live USB option in the top-right corner:

 

Create Live USB button

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

The image will start to download, and you will see a drop-down menu to select where to install it:

 

Downloading Fedora Workstation

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Plug in a USB stick with enough space available, then after the download finishes, you can select and install the image on it. Once it’s finished, close the GUI and remove the USB stick.

 

Install Linux

Insert the USB stick you created into the port on the left side of your MacBook Pro, and restart it while holding down the Option (or Alt) key just to the left of the Cmd key. This opens a menu of options to start the machine; use the EFI option, as that’s the USB image.

The laptop will boot from the USB device, and you can follow the normal Fedora installation process. It helps if you can plug the MacBook Pro into a network cable connection, as the Broadcom WiFi device will not work out of the box.

 

MacBook Pro

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

You should get the opportunity to install Fedora to your hard drive and put it on your machine permanently.

 

Installing Fedora on MacBook Pro

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Once the installer completes, reboot your machine, and Fedora 33 should now be the option to boot from.

 

MacBook Pro booting into Fedora

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

The only thing missing is a WiFi driver, so keep your network cable connected to install the development packages for the kernel you are running and to build the broadcom-wl driver for that kernel.

Read More  The Biggest Free-To-Play Cash Cows Of 2019

Verify the card you need for WiFi:

<span class="co4">$ </span><span class="kw2">lspci</span> <span class="re5">-vnn</span> <span class="re5">-d</span> 14e4:

There will be several items in the output, including something like:

Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries….

Subsystem: Apple Inc. AirPort Extreme…

Install a repository to pull the Broadcom stuff:

<span class="co4">$ </span><span class="kw2">su</span> <span class="re5">-c</span> <span class="st_h">'dnf install -y http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm'</span>

The next part is interesting: As you look at the running kernel, you’ll see v5.9.8-200.fc33, but you will use the development kernel packages to build your Broadcom wireless driver. So, you need to install v5.8.15-301.fc33 (available at the time of this writing). Check them using uname -r, and list the installed kernel packages using sudo dnf list kernel:

$ sudo dnf list kernel

kernel.x86_64                     5.8.15-301.fc33

kernel.x86_64                     5.9.8-200.fc33

Install the development packages:

<span class="co4">$ </span><span class="kw2">sudo</span> dnf <span class="kw2">install</span> <span class="re5">-y</span> akmods kernel-devel-5.8.15-<span class="nu0">301</span>.fc33

 

Installing development packages

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Install the Broadcom wireless package:

<span class="co4">$ </span><span class="kw2">sudo</span> dnf <span class="kw2">install</span> <span class="re5">-y</span> broadcom-wl

Build the kernel module:

<span class="co4">$ </span><span class="kw2">sudo</span> akmods

 

Building the kernel module

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Reboot your machine, and you should be able to view the wireless driver (wl) with:

<span class="co4">$ </span><span class="kw2">lsmod</span> <span class="sy0">|</span> <span class="kw2">grep</span> wl

Set up your wireless connection in Fedora:

 

Set up wireless connection

(Eric D. Shabell, CC BY-SA 4.0)

This article is a bit out of the ordinary for me, but I hope it might help someone else enjoy some fun on the weekend with some old hardware!

Going off the beaten path now… installing #Fedora on a macbook pro from 2011. Wish me luck! pic.twitter.com/zlsESnq2Px

— Eric D. Schabell (@ericschabell) November 22, 2020

 

Read More  U.S. Cellular, Qualcomm And Ericsson Achieve Extended-Range 5G Data Call Over mmWave

This feature is originally appeared in opensource.com


For enquiries, product placements, sponsorships, and collaborations, connect with us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

Our humans need coffee too! Your support is highly appreciated, thank you!

root

Related Topics
  • Apple
  • Fedora
  • Laptop
  • Linux
  • MacBook
You May Also Like
notta-ai-header
View Post
  • Featured
  • Tools

Notta vs Fireflies: Which AI Transcription Tool Deserves Your Attention in 2025?

  • May 16, 2025
Getting things done makes her feel amazing
View Post
  • Computing
  • Data
  • Featured
  • Learning
  • Tech
  • Technology

Nurturing Minds in the Digital Revolution

  • April 25, 2025
View Post
  • Software
  • Technology

Canonical Releases Ubuntu 25.04 Plucky Puffin

  • April 17, 2025
View Post
  • Software
  • Technology

IBM Accelerates Momentum in the as a Service Space with Growing Portfolio of Tools Simplifying Infrastructure Management

  • March 27, 2025
View Post
  • Tech

Deep dive into AI with Google Cloud’s global generative AI roadshow

  • February 18, 2025
Volvo Group: Confidently ahead at CES
View Post
  • Tech

Volvo Group: Confidently ahead at CES

  • January 8, 2025
zedreviews-ces-2025-social-meta
View Post
  • Featured
  • Gears
  • Tech
  • Technology

What Not to Miss at CES 2025

  • January 6, 2025
Vehicle manufacturing
View Post
  • Software

IBM Study: Vehicles Believed to be Software Defined and AI Powered by 2035

  • December 12, 2024

Stay Connected!
LATEST
  • 1
    Just make it scale: An Aurora DSQL story
    • May 29, 2025
  • 2
    Reliance on US tech providers is making IT leaders skittish
    • May 28, 2025
  • Examine the 4 types of edge computing, with examples
    • May 28, 2025
  • AI and private cloud: 2 lessons from Dell Tech World 2025
    • May 28, 2025
  • 5
    TD Synnex named as UK distributor for Cohesity
    • May 28, 2025
  • Weigh these 6 enterprise advantages of storage as a service
    • May 28, 2025
  • 7
    Broadcom’s ‘harsh’ VMware contracts are costing customers up to 1,500% more
    • May 28, 2025
  • 8
    Pulsant targets partner diversity with new IaaS solution
    • May 23, 2025
  • 9
    Growing AI workloads are causing hybrid cloud headaches
    • May 23, 2025
  • Gemma 3n 10
    Announcing Gemma 3n preview: powerful, efficient, mobile-first AI
    • May 22, 2025
about
Hello World!

We are aster.cloud. We’re created by programmers for programmers.

Our site aims to provide guides, programming tips, reviews, and interesting materials for tech people and those who want to learn in general.

We would like to hear from you.

If you have any feedback, enquiries, or sponsorship request, kindly reach out to us at:

[email protected]
Most Popular
  • Understand how Windows Server 2025 PAYG licensing works
    • May 20, 2025
  • By the numbers: How upskilling fills the IT skills gap
    • May 21, 2025
  • 3
    Cloud adoption isn’t all it’s cut out to be as enterprises report growing dissatisfaction
    • May 15, 2025
  • 4
    Hybrid cloud is complicated – Red Hat’s new AI assistant wants to solve that
    • May 20, 2025
  • 5
    Google is getting serious on cloud sovereignty
    • May 22, 2025
  • /
  • Technology
  • Tools
  • About
  • Contact Us

Input your search keywords and press Enter.