mbp-2016-linux VS mbp-fedora

Is this website out of date? Saying audio and wifi not working on several models still. Looks like it was updated a few years ago though.

Check this site for the status of Linux support on different Macbook models

I ran arch on a macbook (14,3 i think) for a few years and in addition to the wikis, this guide was useful: https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux especially the link to wifi issues which got mostly solved with some hex editing: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=193121

That used to be a good solution in like 2015, but there are generations of Macbooks whose Linux support never includes working WiFi or audio: https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux

So far I'm underwhelmed, mostly because of the (understandable) limited support of Apple hardware, e.g., Touch Bar, Touch ID, etc. (As an aside, I've found this GitHub repo very helpful: https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux )

According to https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux the touch bar is "partially working". That link's got tons more information so check that out.

To boot from a USB stick, simply hold down Option after you turn the computer on and wait for the USB to show up in the boot picker. That said, all MacBooks after 2016 don't really have the best hardware compatibility with Linux due to missing drivers.

According to this, there's no supported firmware for the BCM4364 card. Does this mean I have no hope of using Arch without an ethernet cable? Is there any way to revert back to MacOS and take the firmware from there?

There is an Fedora iso with the kernel already patched with drivers here. https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora If you go here https://wiki.t2linux.org you’ll find instructions for other distros as well. There’s an Ubuntu kernel (which works in PopOS), Endeavour, Manjaro, also apple keyboard, touchbar, WiFi, audio drivers for whichever distro but you have to do them individually and go through some steps to copy the drivers from your Mac to the EFI, then from there to your Linux install. They made scripts to make it less of a pain. By far the easiest for me was the pre made ISO of Fedora.

This worked on my 2020 Macbook Pro: https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora

I personally run https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora on my macbook pro 2019 I still dual boot because as stated in the notes you still need macos around to do certain updates and if the system fails you need it to recover the system. But it works surprisingly well, and Fedora is a solid distro.

You need kernel patches to run linux well on those macs. You’ll probably need to use https://github.com/mikeeq/mbp-fedora/releases/tag/v5.13.12-f34-mbp15

I used this MacBook-ready Fedora version.