I have a 2017 15" MacBook Pro in my house. The battery's dying, the keyboard is a bit broken (t’s often turn into tt’s), and it wouldn’t even connect to Wi-Fi until I finally fixed it yesterday.
Then I had the bright idea to install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Linux) on it, since macOS runs painfully slow on this old machine. After about five hours of troubleshooting, I came to the frustrating conclusion: the version of Ubuntu I wanted to use just doesn’t play nice with this MacBook’s Wi-Fi hardware. I’d need to buy a $30 wireless adapter to get reliable internet. Ughhhh…
I don’t regret trying all of that, but I was definitely not having fun for most of it. I managed to get Wi-Fi working on one type of Ubuntu desktop environment (GNOME), but not the one that lets me install a Windows XP theme (XFCE). So I had to choose: working internet or retro aesthetic. At one point, I broke Wi-Fi completely. It wasn’t even an option anymore — and had to fix it all over again. The last 24 hours of my life (when at home) has involved endless Terminal commands, going in circles with half-working, half-outdated instructions online.
What’s next? I have got a MacBook Air from maybe 2011 sitting in Florida. That one might be a better Linux candidate. Apparently, it uses different Wi-Fi hardware that should “just work” with Linux. It also doesn’t have the awful butterfly keyboard, has backlit keys, and retro in a way I love. If I can get that old computer running smoothly on Linux, that’ll be great.
I was going to say I can’t wait to try it out, but Linux made me sleepy.
Listening: Pressure Machine - The Killers
๐ต๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฎ เซฎ꒰˶แต แ แต˶꒱แ
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