Debian bookwork 12.4 installation wifi card not being detected

[Exeonz]

Hey thanks for your time in advance. I'm trying to install debian bookworm
12.4 on MacbookAir7,2 that doesn't have an ethernet port and the installer
doesn't recognize it's wifi card and what drivers it needs for the card to
work. From searching the web I found that it uses Broadcom BCM 4360
wireless network adapter and requires broadcom-sda-dkms firmware drivers to
function. The installer doesn't detect the wifi card and none of the
drivers from the select list work and when I use 2nd bootable USB formatted
as FAT32 with broadcom-sda-dkms firmware drivers saved to root and firmware
folder it doesn't accept drivers and gives out error "ethernet card not
found" I've looked through entire debian wiki and other wikis and forums
like arch wiki and found no answers anywhere. I have successfully installed
ubuntu on this macbook air and it works just fine with the wifi card. Could
you please shed some light on how I can possibly install debian on this
macbook air.

Some other things that I've tried that didn't work.
Every available driver from the install list.
Older non-free debian version 11.8.0 because I thought it would have
drivers but it didn't work either.
Downloading all firmware from https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/firmware/
onto USB formatted as FAT32 in root and firmware folder
Using command like during installation for extra option to load drivers off
USB. (this command doesn't seem to work on bookwork 12.4)
https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware



*Installation+Archive+USBStickpreseed/early_command="modprobe vfat ; sleep
2 ;mount /dev/disk/by-label/FIRMWARE /media ;cp -a /media/firmware /lib"*
Using rtl8812au-5.2.20 firmware drivers
Ripping out firmware drivers from ubuntu install that works fine with this
wifi card and putting it on same USB
*bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu10~22.04.1_amd64*

[Timothy M Butterworth]

Post by Exeonz
Hey thanks for your time in advance. I'm trying to install debian bookworm
12.4 on MacbookAir7,2 that doesn't have an ethernet port and the installer
doesn't recognize it's wifi card and what drivers it needs for the card to
work. From searching the web I found that it uses Broadcom BCM 4360
wireless network adapter and requires broadcom-sda-dkms firmware drivers to
function. The installer doesn't detect the wifi card and none of the
drivers from the select list work and when I use 2nd bootable USB formatted
as FAT32 with broadcom-sda-dkms firmware drivers saved to root and firmware
folder it doesn't accept drivers and gives out error "ethernet card not
found" I've looked through entire debian wiki and other wikis and forums
like arch wiki and found no answers anywhere. I have successfully installed
ubuntu on this macbook air and it works just fine with the wifi card. Could
you please shed some light on how I can possibly install debian on this
macbook air.
Some other things that I've tried that didn't work.
Every available driver from the install list.
Older non-free debian version 11.8.0 because I thought it would have
drivers but it didn't work either.
Downloading all firmware from https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/firmware/
onto USB formatted as FAT32 in root and firmware folder
Using command like during installation for extra option to load drivers
off USB. (this command doesn't seem to work on bookwork 12.4)
https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware
*Installation+Archive+USBStickpreseed/early_command="modprobe vfat ; sleep
2 ;mount /dev/disk/by-label/FIRMWARE /media ;cp -a /media/firmware /lib"*
Using rtl8812au-5.2.20 firmware drivers
Ripping out firmware drivers from ubuntu install that works fine with this
wifi card and putting it on same USB
*bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom-0ubuntu10~22.04.1_amd64*

Try installing Trixie
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/amd64/iso-dvd/. Debian 12
is starting to show its age. It uses the LTS kernel 6.1. You really have
two choices:

1. Install Debian Bullseye with a working USB WiFi adapter. Configure
Debian backports and upgrade the kernel and install the needed drivers.

2. Install Debian Testing (Trixie). Trixie has a much newer kernel and the
latest drivers. It also contains newer versions of the other software as
well. I ran Debian testing for Debian 12 for a little over a year until
Bullseye was released!

[Exeonz]

I just tried using Trixie and it's the same issues. Seems that the
installer isn't even recognizing wifi card at all  so no matter what
drives I give it refuses to use them. *No Ethernet card was found on the
system.* I think my only option is using wifi usb adapter that works, I
already tried using usb wifi adapter that I had at hand but didn't work
because it too uses proprietary driver.

[Andrew M.A. Cater]

I just tried using Trixie and it's the same issues. Seems that the installer
isn't even recognizing wifi card at all  so no matter what drives I give it
refuses to use them. *No Ethernet card was found on the system.* I think my
only option is using wifi usb adapter that works, I already tried using usb
wifi adapter that I had at hand but didn't work because it too uses
proprietary driver.

If you can find someone to help who has a wired network or you can run an
Ethernet cable to your wifi router - a USB to Ethernet adapter and a cable
should work. Once you have that in place, you should be able to get
the appropriate dkms package, build the module for the Debian kernel
and it should all be fine.

If tethering to an Apple phone can work, that can also work but will
possibly be more difficult to set up. You will need the prerequisites
to build kernel modules - so probably at least the Debian build-essential
package and kernel headers.

Andy