this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2025
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My parents have this old 2015 MacBook Air that they wanted to use but couldn’t due to no security updates and slow running. I convinced them to let me load up fedora on it instead of junking it. They only really need it for some basic document writing, email, and web surfing so I figured this is perfect for them.

Made a bootable drive with Fedora 43 work station on it, figured gnome would be the most Apple like spin. Everything went super smooth until I realized that the WiFi drivers weren’t installed lol. I also didn’t have a Ethernet adapter for usb-a so I had to overnight it to me while my parents swore I bricked their Mac all night. Got the adapter this AM, hooked it up, installed the drivers and other necessary tweaks, and viola! This Mac has new life.

So far my parents are liking it and understanding it (even though my mom seems more excited about the snoopy wallpaper and Firefox theme, lol). Getting their emails on thunderbird was driving me crazy. Nothing to do with thunderbird, they just didn’t know their passwords smh. All in all not bad. To new Linux converts

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[–] anon5621@lemmy.ml 2 points 26 minutes ago

Webcamera also should not work btw, cause it need firmware which is not part of linux-firmware package also webcamera need color correction files ,I wrote 2 scripts which fix it,if u need webcamera let me know

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 1 points 26 minutes ago

Gnome is closer out of the box.

But you can make KDE work almost exactly like macOS. The top bar context menu, power menu, bottom dock, left-hand window buttons, etc.

It just involves changing a bunch of settings.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 18 points 6 hours ago

I’m confused. How did you save your parent’s Masters in Business Administration? /s

(Sorry. I can’t help but think that every time someone acronym’s Macbook Air.)

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 31 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

I got a laugh at the end as I have also experienced that the hardest part about converting parents to Linux is them not knowing their passwords.

[–] Wfh@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 hours ago

This. Migrating my father to Bluefin was absolutely eventless. Except the 8 hours of fighting over passwords. Because I'm supposed to know all his passwords, apparently.

[–] Kelp@lemmy.world 15 points 7 hours ago

Oh the pain. You should’ve heard the accusations of someone else changing their passwords…somehow. Yet they’ll both bring up me bricking the fam computer dl linkin park from limewire…like 20+ years ago lol

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 6 hours ago

That hardware still has plenty of power for basic use. It should be good for another 10 years running Linux.

[–] MrSoup@lemmy.zip 11 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Where did you got wifi drivers? From the repo? Why didn't you used a flash drive to pass them w/o an adapter?

[–] Kelp@lemmy.world 14 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I enabled the free and non free repos and entered

sudo dnf in broadcom-wl

That got everything working. I used the Ethernet method cause I am a noob and was not aware of using a flash drive until just now lol. Guess I got something else to learn

[–] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 2 points 29 minutes ago

You can also just hook your phone up via usb and enable usb tethering, allowing the PC to use wifi or mobile broadband via the phone.

[–] funkajunk@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Right? That was my first thought.

Sneakernet ftw

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Kelp@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

She’s starting off on the…right foot :) I still gotta finish her. Literally just haven’t done the right leg/foot armor

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 2 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

My 2015 MacBook Pro is still getting updates.

[–] Linearity@piefed.zip 1 points 41 minutes ago (1 children)

Dawg
My 2017 MacBook Air stopped getting security updates a year ago, I doubt yours does

[–] maccentric@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 minutes ago

If that’s a concern Ventura runs reasonably well via OCLP.

[–] LeFantome@programming.dev 7 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Without OCLP, the latest release of macOS that a 2015 MacBook Pro will run is Monterey (5 releases ago).

The final release of Monterey was July 2024. So no, it is not getting updates anymore. Worse, many programs require a newer release of macOS to run at all.

This is a perfect system to migrate to Linux. It will run faster, be more secure, and will have totally up-to-date software.

[–] maccentric@sh.itjust.works 1 points 24 minutes ago

I still run Monterey on my MBP 2015 and haven’t found anything that doesn’t work for me.

I tried using newer OSs via OCLP but they were notably less performant and I seem to dislike most of the design changes Apple is making of late (they keep hiding shit I use all the time)

I dual boot Linux mint on it now but I should try oclp because I love getting iMessages on it for work.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I haven’t had to go that route yet because they’re still doing security updates for the last os that’s officially supported on it.

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Really? I thought the last version for those was Monterrey and that that went EOL in 2024.

That reminds me; the other day a client walked up to the help desk I work at with a 2015 MBP still running El Capitan.

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Have you had luck with oclp?

[–] data1701d@startrek.website 2 points 5 hours ago

I’ve never even owned a Mac; I know about it because I’ve Hackintoshed a few times, so I’m familiar with OpenCore.