How do you solve a problem like Maria a[n old] MacBook?

As it turns out, you don't. At least not fully. The mid-2014 MacBook Pro I am using to type this is working well. Even at 12 years old, for what I use it for (browsing, writing little blog posts like this, and drawing little choo-choo trains in OpenTTD), the computer is up to the task.

I switched Linux distributions on it the other day, from elementaryOS to Debian 13. While I like what they've done with elementaryOS, I missed the Gnome experience. It doesn't hurt that Debian/Gnome feels much faster.

There's just one problem: the Broadcom 4360 drivers to make the wifi work properly (be it elementaryOS or Debian) aren't exactly stable. It's with some regularity that I have to disconnect from wifi and reconnect to get things moving again. The wifi hangs frequently.

Since I'm really at the very frontier of my Linux knowledge (enough to get things going, not enough to fix more challenging annoying problems), after finding little joy searching, the only clear solution I can think of would be to reinstall macOS.

That's not a problem-free solution either: the last version supported is "Big Sur", which no longer receives security updates and is unlikely to even authenticate with all iCloud services much longer.

So unless some update fixes the problem, I'll just be ready to hit the wifi button in the Gnome panel at various intervals.

And really, this will all be moot soon enough: once I can sit again, I can do my computing at my desk where my mac mini lives.

July 9, 2026