Solved: Mac Book Pro - late 2011 - no wi-fi driver after installed

[MR Keys]

Hello everyone, this is my first post. Also am new to the Linux world.

So after trying out different Distributions of Linux, I finally settled on Mint – Mate-64bit, latest release. I have it installed on two PC’s which worked out of the box with wi-fi just fine. I should mention that I am blind and currently use the screenreader: Orca which can be found in many Distributions.

Cutting to the chase, this old Mac Book Pro - late 2011, which I have connects to wi-fi from the live USB just fine, once I go into the: driver manager and tell it to use the alternative driver I believe. However, when I install it to the hard drive, and open up the: driver manager again, it tells me that I am offline, that I should connect the Mint USB installer which I do but no matter what, I can not get that wi-fi driver to show up on installed system.

So am at a loss of how to fix this issue. I can't even go online to send anything to the forum with the MBP.

Hoping you fine folks, can assist me in fixing this and if not, well then at least we tried.

I finally, settled on Mint-Mate because I like how it provides: stability, reliability and responsiveness across all kinds of hardware. Hence, I would like to get it working on my MBP late 2011 model if at all possible.

Note, Ubuntu Gnome and Mate worked with the wi-fi just fine. As did other distributions which I tried but names escape me at the moment.

with kind regards

[absque fenestris]

Hi MR Keys
my workaround with a somewhat older MacBook was to connect my smartphone via USB cable and download the corresponding Broadcom driver in thethering mode.

Ah yes - Welcome to the Mint Forums !

[hollingwood]

Hi
When I installed Mint 20.1 Cinnamon to my mid 2012 Macbook Pro, I found that there was no wifi driver installed at all, similar to your situation.
I found out it has a Broadcom module, and quite simply found the driver in Synaptic "bcmwl-kernal-source" and installed that using synaptic. This has worked and given me full operation on wifi.
I was able to get on line via network cable direct from the router in order to download the driver.
If your Macbook Pro 2011 has the same module, this might work.

[MR Keys]

Good news, with the help of the last two posts. I was able to gain internet access by using my iphone. with the only difference being that I used bluetooth instead of USB. After I had access, I proceeded to open up the Synaptic app, performed a key-word search for: Broadcom then found the driver that Corresponded to the same name of the: driver, found in the driver manager app on the live installer. Once this was installed, I then disconnected my connection from the phone, found my wi-fi network, and now so far, internet seems all good!

I would like to take this opportunity, in thanking the people who gave me the main key words in fixing this issue. Synaptic plus connecting via phone temporarily. Without these key bits of info, I wouldn’t had figured it out.

Out of curiosity, why isn’t this wi-fi driver found in Linux Mint by default? Where as other distributions I had no trouble connecting at all.
Regards

[hglee]

Note, Ubuntu Gnome and Mate worked with the wi-fi just fine.

Greetings, MR Keys.

Mint 20 currently comes with kernel 5.4. The latest point-release of Ubuntu 20.04 comes with kernel 5.8, so it may also include additional wi-fi drivers.

[MR Keys]

Interesting. So how often does Mint update the kernel? In this case, up to: 5.8

[hglee]

Interesting. So how often does Mint update the kernel? In this case, up to: 5.8

I expect that the next point release of Mint will catch up to Ubuntu.

To install kernel 5.8: Launch Update Manager, there click View > Linux Kernels > Continue. Select 5.8 and install the top version listed. Reboot.

[MR Keys]

Indeed let's hope that to be the case. I will now mark this topic as solved.

Thanks for all involved. You have been a great help!