My trusty 2014 Macbook Air got the its “walking papers” from Apple a while back. There would be no further operating system updates that would work on this machine. That struck me as being a pity because the hardware was great!
Debian 11 had been out for a while and I naturally wante
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d to install it on the Macbook but I was stumped about what to with getting the machine online. Then I remembered that I could use my iPhone as a hot spot….
So, how did it all go?
Well, I booted the Macbook with the DVD reader/writer plugged and the LXDE version of Debian in the drive. I held down the C key and held my breath as the machine went through its boot sequence. Success! I was able to get Debian 11.3 installed.
I plugged in my iPhone, set it up to be a hotspot and then moved two files that I got from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQxEI-3itZw over to the Macbook using a USB key. These documents allowed me to install all the firmware (plus extra) needed by Debian to go wireless.
I also had to install ConMan app which is a network manager for LXDE which I learned about here: https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse#How_to_use_a_WiFi_interface.
Quite apart from that all went very well. The Debian installation served quite nicely until I learned about Chrome OS Flex…I wanted to give that a try next!
Addendum: The link to the youtube video is now listed as private. I’m not sure what is going on at that site. And last October Debian passed a resolution regarding non-free firmware that might make most of this post irrelevant going forward. However, I decided to post this little project anyways because perhaps someone will find it useful and a source of inspiration.
Here is what you need to do:
Enable the | MAIN CONTRIB NON-FREE | repositories on your system. You can do this by editing your sources using this command in your terminal: sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list and adding MAIN CONTRIB NON_FREE to the end of each line.
EXAMPLE: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free
Then copy the firmware list below to your home directory and run the following commands to enable and install.
sudo dpkg –add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dselect
sudo apt-get install $(cat ~/Firmware.list | awk ‘{print $1}’)
The firmware list is as follows:
firmware-amd-graphics install
firmware-ath9k-htc install
firmware-atheros install
firmware-bnx2 install
firmware-bnx2x install
firmware-brcm80211 install
firmware-cavium install
firmware-intel-sound install
firmware-intelwimax install
firmware-ipw2x00 install
firmware-ivtv install
firmware-iwlwifi install
firmware-libertas install
firmware-linux install
firmware-linux-free install
firmware-linux-nonfree install
firmware-microbit-micropython install
firmware-microbit-micropython-doc install
firmware-misc-nonfree install
firmware-myricom install
firmware-netronome install
firmware-netxen install
firmware-qcom-media install
firmware-qcom-soc install
firmware-qlogic install
firmware-realtek install
firmware-samsung install
firmware-siano install
firmware-sof-signed install
firmware-ti-connectivity install
firmware-tomu install
firmware-zd1211 install
hdmi2usb-fx2-firmware install
midisport-firmware install
sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw install
ubertooth-firmware install
ubertooth-firmware-source install
arm-trusted-firmware-tools install
atmel-firmware install
bluez-firmware install
dahdi-firmware-nonfree install
dns323-firmware-tools install
broadcom-sta-common install
broadcom-sta-dkms install
broadcom-sta-source install
bluetooth install
bluez install
bluez-cups install
bluez-firmware install
bluez-obexd install
bluez-tools install
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth install
pulseaudio-module-gsettings install
pulseaudio-module-zeroconf install
mesa-utils install
mesa-utils-extra install
mesa-va-drivers:amd64 install
mesa-va-drivers:i386 install
mesa-vdpau-drivers:amd64 install
mesa-vdpau-drivers:i386 install
mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64 install
mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 install
vulkan-tools install
vulkan-validationlayers:amd64 install