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

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    2 days ago

    MBA

    I’m glad he specified it later, but dereferencing the jargon the first time it’s used - especially an initialism often linked to something else - is much better.

    Hands up if you also saw “Masters of Business Administration” and were a little confused.

    • JargonWagon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      Same, I was incredibly impressed that installing Linux ended up getting them a masters degree in business admin, and then realized they meant Macbook Air. I was let down a little, but still happy to see life of technology extended further.

  • LeFantome@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    31
    ·
    2 days ago

    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.

    • Kelp@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      2 days 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

    • Elvith Ma'for@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 days ago

      Mine didn’t want to migrate and I had to build them a new PC with Win11 (their old one was barely able to run win 10 and had already some hardware problems, so a new one was on my bucket list for a while) - but… yeah the most time was spent tracking down all these passwords and accounts they were constantly using without knowing which email address and which password was used for the account…

        • Elvith Ma'for@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          15 hours ago

          I get the idea, and in general I love it - especially since they eliminate phishing in theory. BUT making my device my “password” now shifts the single point of failure from me forgetting my password to me protecting my devices from any kind of error/damage/data loss/… Collecting all passkeys in your Google Account is probably also not the best idea, considering how little chance you have to get your account back if it ever gets locked by a random event you may or may not have participated in.

          Having them device independent (e.g. in a password safe) is nice, though. But then, if I use my password safe right, I should already be somewhat protected from phishing, as my auto fill won’t trigger on a random phishing site.

  • anon5621@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    2 days 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

      • anon5621@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        2 days ago

        First one

        #!/usr/bin/env bash
        set -euo pipefail
        
        
        URL="https://updates.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/041-88431-20191011-e7ee7d98-2878-4cd9-bc0a-d98b3a1e24b1/OSXUpd10.11.5.dmg"
        RANGE=204909802-207733123
        OSX_DRV="AppleCameraInterface"
        OSX_DRV_DIR="System/Library/Extensions/AppleCameraInterface.kext/Contents/MacOS"
        FILE="$OSX_DRV_DIR/$OSX_DRV"
        
        DRV_HASH="f56e68a880b65767335071531a1c75f3cfd4958adc6d871adf8dbf3b788e8ee1"
        FW_HASH="e3e6034a67dfdaa27672dd547698bbc5b33f47f1fc7f5572a2fb68ea09d32d3d"
        
        OFFSET=81920
        SIZE=603715
        
        
        WORKDIR=$(mktemp -d)
        cd "$WORKDIR"
        
        echo "Downloading macOS driver..."
        curl -k -L -r "$RANGE" "$URL" | xzcat -qq -Q | cpio --format odc -i -d "./$FILE" &> /dev/null || true
        
        mv "$FILE" .
        
        echo "Extracting firmware..."
        dd bs=1 skip=$OFFSET count=$SIZE if=./$OSX_DRV of=./firmware.bin.gz &> /dev/null
        gunzip ./firmware.bin.gz
        
        
        echo "$DRV_HASH  $OSX_DRV" > firmware.sha256
        echo "$FW_HASH  firmware.bin" >> firmware.sha256
        
        sha256sum -c firmware.sha256
        
        
        TARGET_DIR="/lib/firmware/facetimehd"
        echo "Installing firmware to $TARGET_DIR (requires sudo)..."
        sudo mkdir -p "$TARGET_DIR"
        sudo cp firmware.bin "$TARGET_DIR/"
        
        echo "Done. Firmware installed."
        

        and second

        #!/bin/bash
        
        set -e
        
        BOOTCAMP_ZIP_URL="https://download.info.apple.com/Mac_OS_X/031-30890-20150812-ea191174-4130-11e5-a125-930911ba098f/bootcamp5.1.5769.zip"
        TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
        FIRMWARE_DIR="/lib/firmware/facetimehd"
        DAT_FILES=(
            "9112_01XX.dat:1663920:33060:479ae9b2b7ab018d63843d777a3886d1"
            "1771_01XX.dat:1644880:19040:a1831db76ebd83e45a016f8c94039406"
            "1871_01XX.dat:1606800:19040:017996a51c95c6e11bc62683ad1f356b"
            "1874_01XX.dat:1625840:19040:3c3cdc590e628fe3d472472ca4d74357"
        )
        
        
        for cmd in unzip unrar dd md5sum curl; do
            if ! command -v $cmd &> /dev/null; then
                echo "Missing required command: $cmd"
                exit 1
            fi
        done
        
        
        cd "$TMPDIR"
        echo "Downloading Boot Camp Support Software..."
        curl -L -o bootcamp.zip "$BOOTCAMP_ZIP_URL"
        
        
        echo "Extracting Boot Camp package..."
        unzip bootcamp.zip
        
        
        cd BootCamp/Drivers/Apple/
        
        
        echo "Extracting AppleCamera64.exe..."
        unrar x AppleCamera64.exe
        
        
        if [[ ! -f "AppleCamera.sys" ]]; then
            echo "AppleCamera.sys not found!"
            exit 1
        fi
        
        
        cd "$TMPDIR"
        
        
        echo "Extracting calibration data..."
        for entry in "${DAT_FILES[@]}"; do
            IFS=":" read -r filename skip count expected_md5 <<< "$entry"
            echo "Creating $filename..."
            dd bs=1 skip="$skip" count="$count" if=BootCamp/Drivers/Apple/AppleCamera.sys of="$filename" status=none
            actual_md5=$(md5sum "$filename" | awk '{print $1}')
            if [[ "$actual_md5" != "$expected_md5" ]]; then
                echo "Checksum mismatch for $filename (expected $expected_md5, got $actual_md5)"
                exit 1
            fi
        done
        
        
        echo "Copying .dat files to firmware directory..."
        sudo mkdir -p "$FIRMWARE_DIR"
        sudo cp *.dat "$FIRMWARE_DIR"
        
        
        echo "Reloading facetimehd module..."
        sudo modprobe -r facetimehd || true
        sudo modprobe facetimehd
        
        echo "Done. Please Reboot ."
        
        • Kelp@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          2 days ago

          You are awesome!!! That got everything working swimmingly well. Thank you sooo much

  • AstroLightz@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    2 days ago

    I like the snoopy wallpaper as well. I’m glad your parents seem to enjoy it (the wallpaper and the computer lol).

    Also, why is there a toothbrush on the right?

    • Kelp@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      Ah, that’s my gunpla toothbrush. I build Japanese model kits and the toothbrush is great for getting dust and plastic residue out of paneling and corners

  • Lettuce eat lettuce@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    2 days ago

    Love to see it! I got my parents onto Linux Mint about a year ago and it’s been great for them.

    Their home PC is way too old to upgrade to Windows 11, plus I didn’t want them subjected to Microsoft’s trash software and spying, so Linux it was.

    Themed it similar to Windows 10, even changed the “Start” menu icon to the Windows 10 logo so my parents felt safe using it lol.

    • Kelp@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 days ago

      Overly cautious and slightly tech illiterate. I’m working on the latter though!

    • Kelp@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      That’s for my girlpla kit to the right of the mba. I just have the right leg to finish lol. It’s the Ludens kit made by Kojima and Kotobukia. Really great kit so far. No fitment issues yes and tons of features