I am running Linux on my macbook pro and it has a Broadcom BCM4360 wifi card. Problem is that the driver for it is proprietary (or more accurately, mostly proprietary with some of the source code available), quite outdated, and I couldn’t get it to work with Linux kernel v6.9.5.

I am running Gentoo Linux on my macbook with a custom kernel. I previously had wifi working, but then I reinstalled Gentoo (because I wanted to do full disk encryption), copied over the kernel config file from my previous install (which I knew had working wifi), migrated it to a newer kernel version (plus added support for full disk encryption) and now the wifi drivers won’t even compile.

So, I was thinking of replacing the current wifi card with something that has modern and open-source drivers for it. Is it possible to do that on a Macbook pro 11,2 (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)? If so, are there any compatible wifi cards with open source drivers for Linux?

  • @Jesus_666
    7•5 months ago

    I wouldn’t bet on it. The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module in there doesn’t seem to have a standard form factor so even if you can slot in a standard module you might not be able to connect the antenna wires. Also, this MBP came out just around the same time as M.2 so you’ll probably have to go for an older mPCIe module.

    A USB adapter is the far safer bet.