Yup! Kali is a rolling distro built on Debian Testing, not Stable, annual releases. It can be used as a desktop OS, but still has pen testing and other security tools as their main focus
True. but you have to keep a much closer eye on when it's safe to update. that was my solution while running Debian Sid (unstable) on my other MacBook for awhile (I really wanted KDE 6 before Trixie was officially released), but believe me this approach gets old. I eventually relented and set it to Debian Stable once Trixie was official. I'm looking for a more stable approach to a rolling release cycle that allows the kernel to upgrade when it's available, without also breaking the wifi. another commenter suggested the broadcom module might be replaced by the intel iwd driver, which I definitely need to try.
Please do! For stability's sake, I recommend installing a distro that follows an annual, stable release cycle such as Debian or Linux Mint. Mint famously has the required support for most hardware right out of the box, allowing for a easy experience.
very possibly! I'm not 100% certain what is actually breaking there that seemingly gets solved after "some time" has passed. you might be on to something!
Sorry, I think you misunderstood me. My point is that holding back the kernel indefinitely is an issue, especially in a rolling release distro. the broadcom module is always significantly behind the kernel, so allowing the kernel to upgrade in a rolling release cycle will frequently break wifi that relies on that module. However, another commenter has suggested that broadcom module might be replaced by the intel iwd driver, which I'm definitely going to try.
you certainly make a good point, and replacing the hardware has definitely been a popular suggestion. fwiw, this MB Air was just a free hand-me-down, so I'm specifically using it to distro hop and fart around with different Linux distros on old Mac hardware that I have no attachment to
Interesting. I actually tested Endeavour OS on this MB Air specifically (as well as my main MB Pro, but several years back) and the wifi was not natively supported out of the box. I was able to get it working by installing the broadcom module, but it still broke with the next kernel update. Another commenter has suggested replacing the broadcom driver with Intel iwd; I need to give that a shot. Endeavour seems a very approachable way to run Arch on MacBook hardware if I can solve this wifi problem more permanently.
a common suggestion has been to replace the hardware. my intent here was just to shed some light on the fact that kernel updates frequently break modules like this one, which I suspect folks with more compatible hardware may not be as aware of. if you buy Linux-friendly hardware to begin with, Linux life is super chill. That's not always the case with old, hand-me-down hardware though.
that's a fair point I hadn't really considered. it's a kinda dumb reason to roll dual wifi hardware and I'd hate to give up one of only two usb ports, but that would technically solve my complaint. def worth considering!
I don't see much love for Debian Stable + KDE in this thread, but that's what I installed for my wife and she absolutely loves it. Don't underestimate the power of a "boring" but rock solid foundation specifically designed not to break. Users new to Linux migrating away from Windows often really appreciate that.
Yup! Kali is a rolling distro built on Debian Testing, not Stable, annual releases. It can be used as a desktop OS, but still has pen testing and other security tools as their main focus