Debian on a Mac Mini: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 10:54, 19 February 2021

First try...

It should be surprisingly easy according to this page...

~~debian-8.6.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso~~ Go here and download the first dvd iso of the latest release.
I am installing on this Macmini 3,1.
The internal DVD "Superdrive" would not accept the freshly burned DVD so i attached my external USB DVD and that worked... Apple optical drives suck ;-)
Non free firmware (b43/ucode11.fw) is needed to make the wireless NIC work according to the install dvd. I opted to not supply this during DVD install.

It worked like a charm... question now isfor what purpose i should use it ;-)

Second try...

I started over and installed without any graphical desktop because i never use that on unix/linux systems.

When trying to set up wlan0 i discovered that iwconfig, wich is part of wireless-tools, were missing after i installed the non-free b43 wireless firmware.

http://wiki.debian.org/iwconfig was a big help too...

Third try

This might help: Mac Mini (late 2012) will not show any wireless networks.

 sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer

Then configure the wireless interface as appropriate.

This is what dmesk looks like when the WLAN interface driver works:

fmj@minibian:~$ sudo dmesg |grep b43
[    3.933890] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4331 WLAN found (core revision 29)
[    3.934307] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 9, Type 7 (HT), Revision 1
[    3.934316] b43-phy0: Found Radio: Manuf 0x17F, ID 0x2059, Revision 0, Version 1
[    3.934317] b43-phy0 warning: 5 GHz band is unsupported on this PHY
[    3.936382] b43 bcma0:1: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ucode29_mimo.fw
[    3.936601] b43 bcma0:1: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ht0initvals29.fw
[    3.936831] b43 bcma0:1: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ht0bsinitvals29.fw
[    3.977886] b43 bcma0:1 wlp2s0b1: renamed from wlan0
fmj@minibian:~$

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-It seems surprisingly easy when reading this page https://wiki.debian.org/MacMiniIntel
-* Debian 8.6.0 amd64 iso.
+== First try... ==
-* I am installing on [http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=ym9063pd19x this mini].
-* Non free firmware ([https://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx b43/ucode11.fw]) is needed to make the wireless NIC work according to the install dvd.
+It should be surprisingly easy according to [https://wiki.debian.org/MacMiniIntel this page]...
+# <strike>[http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/8.6.0/amd64/iso-dvd/ debian-8.6.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso]</strike> Go [http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/ here] and download the first dvd iso of the latest release.
+# I am installing on [http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.0-early-2009-nvidia-specs.html this Macmini 3,1].
+# The internal DVD "Superdrive" would not accept the freshly burned DVD so i attached my external USB DVD and that worked... Apple optical drives suck ;-)
+# Non free firmware ([https://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx b43/ucode11.fw]) is needed to make the wireless NIC work according to the install dvd. I opted to not supply this during DVD install.
+It worked like a charm... question now isfor what purpose i should use it ;-)
+== Second try... ==
+I started over and installed without any graphical desktop because i never use that on unix/linux systems.
+When trying to set up wlan0 i discovered that [https://wiki.debian.org/iwconfig iwconfig], wich is part of [http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=wireless-tools wireless-tools], were missing after i installed the non-free b43 wireless firmware.
+[http://wiki.debian.org/iwconfig http://wiki.debian.org/iwconfig] was a big help too...
+== Third try ==
+This might help: [https://askubuntu.com/a/353993 Mac Mini (late 2012) will not show any wireless networks].
+  sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer
+Then [https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse configure] the wireless interface as appropriate.
+This is what dmesk looks like when the WLAN interface driver works:
+<pre>fmj@minibian:~$ sudo dmesg |grep b43
+[    3.933890] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4331 WLAN found (core revision 29)
+[    3.934307] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 9, Type 7 (HT), Revision 1
+[    3.934316] b43-phy0: Found Radio: Manuf 0x17F, ID 0x2059, Revision 0, Version 1
+[    3.934317] b43-phy0 warning: 5 GHz band is unsupported on this PHY
+[    3.936382] b43 bcma0:1: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ucode29_mimo.fw
+[    3.936601] b43 bcma0:1: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ht0initvals29.fw
+[    3.936831] b43 bcma0:1: firmware: direct-loading firmware b43/ht0bsinitvals29.fw
+[    3.977886] b43 bcma0:1 wlp2s0b1: renamed from wlan0
+fmj@minibian:~$</pre>
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