Can't connect to WiFi on Linux PoP OS, on dual boot 2014 MacBook Air Big Sur

Question

Can't connect to WiFi on Linux PoP OS, on dual boot 2014 MacBook Air Big Sur

Hey everyone. Hoping a Linux expert can help out here. I want to run Linux PoP OS on my older MacBook Air. It's an early 2014 running Big Sur. After a LOT of work and time spent, I was able to properly figure out and install Linux PoP OS 22.04 LTS onto the drive as a dual boot setup. MacOS has a large partition, Linux PoP is smaller. But it works! Hoorah!

But now I have a BIG problem. Linux PoP OS is not able to find or connect to the WiFi. Which is weird, because when I open terminal in PoP OS and type in the command: sudo lshw -c network, it brings back a bunch of information. And in that info, it says I DO have a WiFi card and a Driver. Here is a photo of what it spits out when I type in that command:

So all over the internet, I'm getting conflicting ways to solve this problem. A lot are saying I need to somehow tether my Macbook to a phone's hotspot and download the correct driver for my NIC. Or if I can't do that (which I can't, because Apple won't let us), to buy a USB WiFi dongle to get on the internet?! Which if it comes to that, I'm just going to abandon this whole project.

But it says I have a driver installed. It says: driver=bcma-pci-bridge latency=0. So not sure why I would need to download a driver if it says I already have one.

And if I boot back into MacOS, the WiFi works just fine. And even if I log into the WiFi and connect at the boot up screen (where I'm choosing between MacOS and Linux PoP OS), it doesn't stay on or connect in PoP OS?! This is so frustrating and just hoping a Linux/Apple expert can help?

Thank you

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Sep 13, 2024 1:30 PM

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Answer 1

HWTech

Level 9

60,758 points

Sep 13, 2024 6:14 PM in response to SuperWookie68

I haven't used Ubuntu in decades (Pop OS is based on Ubuntu) so I cannot give you exact instructions, just pointers. I'm not sure how the current Ubuntu (or Pop OS) handles their software repositories for the drivers. Plus WiFi drivers have been a pain since the beginning.

Your laptop is using the Broadcom "BCM4360" chip. However, that chip number may not be quite enough since some of them may utilize a different driver so you may need to use a command which can return the hex code identifiers for the WiFi chipset which contains the manufacturer code & exact chip number XXXX YYYY. I've used the "lspci' command with "-vv" and/or "-nn" (it has been some years & I don't currently have access to a working Linux system to confirm). If you need this level of detail, then use something like:

sudo  lspci  -vv  |  grep  -i  'net'

The Debian documentation typically contains a well documented article for correctly identifying which WiFi driver should be used for a specific WiFi chip (sometimes there may be two options, but one is better). Unfortunately the Debian website & documentation can be hard to locate (I just tried and could not find the correct page, unfortunately my Linux laptop with all my bookmarks & notes has a hardware issue so I cannot give you a direct link). The names of the Debian driver packages may be different for Ubuntu/PopOS, but it should be easy to figure out their equivalent package. You can also use information on the Arch Linux documentation to assist you in configuring WiFi even though the two systems are different....they will only differ in where the configuration files are located and the package names, but they can be a great as a general guide to point you in the right direction.

Many times you can just search for "BCM4360" using 'aptitude'. It has been a few years since I last used Linux due to the afore mentioned hardware failure, so this command may not be correct:

aptitude  search   'bcm4360'

or maybe:

aptitude  search '~d bcm4360'

This or some similar command should provide you with the Ubuntu/PopOS packages which have a 'BCM4360' driver. Is one of them already installed? If so, then you may just need to try configuring the network interface. Sometimes the GUI apps can be used, but other times they may be buggy or quirky. If you are trying to connect to a hidden SSID, then unhide it since it may not be possible to connect to it while it is hidden. Sometimes you may need to use the command line utilities to configure the Wifi (not sure which one to recommend since there are a couple of ways to do so), or you may need to manually edit the WiFi configuration file.

Hopefully this will get you started & pointed in the right direction.

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