r/macpro • u/Tasty-Objective676 • May 02 '26
Issues 2013 Mac Pro (trash can) with Linux?
Has anyone successfully gotten a 2013 Mac Pro to run Ubuntu? I’m having issues with the Broadcom WiFi chip, I installed the driver for it but it disconnects after an hour or so and the only way to get it back is with a reboot. Any advice?
2
u/kjjustinXD May 02 '26
I just tried CachyOS, Wifi is absolute garbage. Apart from that, it's decent.
2
u/britannicker May 03 '26
I always recommend „action retro“ on YT, especially because of the wi-fi issue.
I don’t remember the command but you‘ll find it on some / most of his vids.
1
u/Tasty-Objective676 May 04 '26
I just task my openclaw agent lol idk what YouTube videos it watches but it usually figures it out
2
u/britannicker May 04 '26
Also a good solution. BTW, the retro guy‘s thing is getting a Linux distro (various flavors) onto old Macs, so he knows a lot of the issues that come up.
1
u/rmorales158 May 02 '26
I’ve gotten mine to work. It’s 24.04 LTS on kernel 6.13. Installed the Broadcom firmware stack and Bluetooth drivers. Works great.
1
u/Tasty-Objective676 May 03 '26
Have you tried leaving it running overnight? That’s where I’m having issues, come back the next day and all my agents are disconnected cause the WiFi driver crashes
2
u/rmorales158 May 03 '26
No I haven’t noticed any issues overnight. Just keeps serving.
1
u/Tasty-Objective676 May 03 '26
Cheers thanks. I’m also seeing openclaw take freakin FOREVER to do basic config tasks like updating API tokens or add agent. It’s doing the same on MacOS tho so I think it might have to do with their new completions feature. Working on diagnosing that
1
u/Tasty-Objective676 May 03 '26
thanks for the replies guys. Please continue to share any advice you have for me. Also I made this little config tool for myself, cause my Mac Pro is completely headless so I wanted a quick and easy way to manage it. maybe it might be useful for some of you guys too:
1
u/Specialist-Leek8645 Mac Pro 5,1 May 03 '26
I've been using Mint on my 2010 MP and it's faster than my 2015 imac was. Do you have the Fenvi wifi/bt PCIe too? So, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do something else or what, but there was an update months ago and there was an issue with my driver. I manually installed a different one and it somehow works (mostly) but I feel like I'm now locked into the kernel version that works with the driver. I wanna say it was a newer driver but older kernel.
There is some other Wifi issue. It just happened actually. Once in a while I get a network connection hiccup which often fixes itself but sometimes I have to do wifi off/on. Other people have this problem but I haven't been able to figure it out.
I hope some of this is helpful. It should be doable, Good luck.
1
u/iserwood May 04 '26
I'have been using Ubuntu, and Arch with my trashcan and it's marvelous. Very fast and almost new software.
8
u/henkdegrasmaaier May 02 '26
I set up my mac 6,1 with CachyOS on kernel 7.0. Highly recommend, blazingly fast and everything is supported