I have just installed Kali Linux on a Macbook Air. It had Mac OSX Monterey installed on it, but this was slow and clunky, installing Linux made it so much faster. The built-in WIFI hardware is not working on Kali Linux, but I can just install a USB Wireless adapter and this will allow monitor mode to capture a WIFI handshake. Why is Mac OSX slower than Linux on the same hardware? Maybe they slow it down to force you to upgrade to a newer laptop? But running Linux on a Macbook is very simple, just insert a USB drive and hold the option key when switching on the laptop and you may boot from the USB and load Linux. macOS Monterey is pretty recent, but maybe you need to purchase a new laptop to run it faster. But the MacBook keyboard works fine on Linux when it is configured properly. This is not too hard at all. At least running Kali Linux, a Macbook is more usable. The sound hardware works, and the SSD controller. it is only the built-in wireless that does not work. But no big deal.
This is the hardware available in the Macbook Air.
┌──(john㉿kali)-[~] └─$ lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Host Bridge -OPI (rev 09) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 6000 (rev 09) 00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller (rev 09) 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB xHCI Controller (rev 03) 00:15.0 DMA controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP Serial IO DMA Controller (rev 03) 00:15.4 Serial bus controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP Serial IO GSPI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP MEI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev e3) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #2 (rev e3) 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev e3) 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev e3) 00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev e3) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SMBus Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP Thermal Management Controller (rev 03) 02:00.0 Multimedia controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries 720p FaceTime HD Camera 03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Dual Band Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03) 04:00.0 SATA controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd S4LN058A01[SSUBX] AHCI SSD Controller (Apple slot) (rev 01) 05:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 Bridge [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] 06:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 Bridge [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] 06:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 Bridge [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] 06:04.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 Bridge [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] 06:05.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 Bridge [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] 06:06.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 Bridge [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] 07:00.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation DSL5320 Thunderbolt 2 NHI [Falcon Ridge 2C 2013] |
This is not bad hardware at all. The webcam is shown here, but it will not appear as a usable camera in Cheese. But who uses a webcam anymore?
I can get useful information about the laptop battery using the acpi command. This shows verbose battery data.
┌──(john㉿kali)-[~] └─$ acpi -V Battery 0: Discharging, 82%, 04:33:07 remaining Battery 0: design capacity 7150 mAh, last full capacity 6623 mAh = 92% Adapter 0: off-line Cooling 0: Processor 0 of 10 Cooling 1: intel_powerclamp 0 of 100 Cooling 2: Processor 0 of 10 Cooling 3: BAT0 no state information available Cooling 4: Processor 0 of 10 Cooling 5: LCD 0 of 100 Cooling 6: pch_wildcat_point no state information available Cooling 7: Processor 0 of 10 Cooling 8: x86_pkg_temp no state information available |
But, this is a good way to rejuvenate an old Macbook, the free Linux OS runs far better than the proprietary Mac OSX Monterey any day. Mac OSX is not as good as it used to be. The very old versions of Mac OSX looked better. The look of Mac OSX 9.2 is so far removed from the modern versions. I love the bar at the bottom of the screen with all of the shortcuts. And it may be run in a virtual machine easily. But I could not get an Internet connection working.