I wanted to run OpenClaw on native Linux hardware. The cheapest path? Repurpose my old MacBook Pro 2015 sitting in a drawer. I installed Linux Mint, rebooted, and immediately hit a wall, no Wi-Fi, no Ethernet port, no internet at all.
This is the first post in a short series. Here I cover getting Linux Mint fully online on a MacBook Pro 2015. The next post will cover installing and running OpenClaw on it.
Why a MacBook Pro 2015?
It’s the machine I had available. Mine is an i7 with 16 GB of RAM , still decent specs for casual use, but Apple stopped supporting it with macOS updates years ago. Linux Mint gives it a second life , lightweight, familiar, and well-supported. The catch is that Apple uses Broadcom Wi-Fi chips, and the proprietary drivers aren’t bundled with Linux Mint.
No Ethernet port on the MacBook means you can’t just plug in a cable and download the driver. You need a second machine or a workaround.
Identifying the Wi-Fi Chipset
After installing Linux Mint and booting in, I opened a terminal:
lspci -nn | grep -i network
Output:
Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter
The BCM4360 needs the bcmwl-kernel-source package: a proprietary Broadcom driver that Linux Mint doesn’t ship by default. Fair enough. But I had no internet to install it.
Downloading the Driver on Another Machine
I grabbed my other Linux Mint laptop and downloaded the driver package without installing it:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --download-only bcmwl-kernel-source
This saves the .deb files , including dependencies like dkms , to /var/cache/apt/archives/. That’s the key detail. You don’t need to hunt for individual packages; apt resolves everything for you.
I plugged in a USB drive and copied the relevant .deb files:
cd /var/cache/apt/archives/
cp bcmwl-kernel-source*.deb dkms*.deb /media/juan/USB/
One thing I learned: ignore any .tar.gz files in that directory. They’re source archives, not installable packages.
Installing the Driver Offline
On the MacBook, I mounted the USB, opened a terminal in that folder, and ran:
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
sudo apt -f install
Then loaded the driver:
sudo modprobe wl
Reboot:
sudo reboot
That was it. After reboot, Wi-Fi networks appeared in the system tray.
When It Doesn’t Work
If Wi-Fi doesn’t show up after reboot, check two things:
lsmod | grep wl
This confirms the wl module is loaded. If it’s not listed, run sudo modprobe wl again.
rfkill list
If any wireless device shows as “Soft blocked” or “Hard blocked”:
sudo rfkill unblock all
On my MacBook, everything came up clean after the first reboot. No rfkill issues.
Things to Watch Out For
Kernel updates break the driver. After a kernel update, the wl module needs to be rebuilt. Usually dkms handles this automatically, but if Wi-Fi disappears after an update:
sudo apt install --reinstall bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe wl
Keep the .deb files. I copied them to ~/drivers/ on the MacBook. If I ever need to reinstall Linux Mint, I don’t want to repeat the two-machine dance.
What I Learned
The hardest part of this whole process was realizing I needed a second machine. Once I had that, the actual fix took about ten minutes. The Broadcom driver situation on Linux is well-documented, but most guides assume you have internet access. The offline install path with apt --download-only is the trick that makes it practical.
The MacBook Pro 2015 runs Linux Mint smoothly. It boots fast, the display looks great, and with Wi-Fi working, it’s a fully functional Linux box.
Next up: installing OpenClaw and seeing how this old MacBook handles it.
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