February 23, 2026
Driver’s Ed: AI vs Wi‑Fi
FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook. AI build one for me
AI revives dusty Mac’s Wi‑Fi — hype, Linux smugness, and Apple drama
TLDR: A tinkerer used AI to fill a missing Wi‑Fi driver on FreeBSD for a 2016 Mac, after manual efforts kept crashing. Comments split between “AI will make any hardware work,” “Linux has done this for years and Apple locks you down,” and warnings about unvetted AI code — enthusiasm with caution.
A tinkerer tried to resurrect a 2016 MacBook Pro’s Wi‑Fi on FreeBSD — a geeky alternative to Windows and macOS — by asking AI to port a Linux driver. Cue chaos: the code compiled, then face‑planted with kernel panics, and the plan shifted to getting an AI‑written spec. The comments lit up like a router at 3 a.m. One camp cheered, insisting we’re inches from “AI can brute‑force any driver.” Another camp rolled their eyes: “Linux has had workarounds for ages,” with a side of Apple‑shade for locking down hardware. It’s equal parts wow and we’ve seen this movie. Security folks crashed the party with a sobering vibe: beware “vibe‑coded” AI software you don’t audit. Meanwhile, practical nerds loved the idea: let bots handle the boring glue work, we’ll do the tricky bits. Asahi Linux fans chimed in, dreaming about better support for newer Macs. Jokes flew — “Driver’s Ed: AI Edition,” “Press F for FreeBSD Wi‑Fi,” and “Wi‑Fi necromancy” — while the subtext was classic internet drama: Apple vs. Linux vs. BSD, plus Claude vs. Pi in a friendly robot cage match. Want the facts? FreeBSD lacks a driver; AI might bridge the gap. Want the tea? The comments deliver it hot FreeBSD • brcmfmac • Asahi Linux
Key Points
- •A 2016 MacBook Pro running FreeBSD 15 lacks native support for Broadcom’s BCM4350 Wi‑Fi chip.
- •Common workaround uses wifibox (a Linux VM) with PCIe passthrough to run Linux’s brcmfmac driver.
- •The author tried AI-assisted porting of brcmfmac to FreeBSD via LinuxKPI, modeling on iwlwifi.
- •Compiled modules caused kernel panics and remained nonfunctional; LinuxKPI feature gaps led to growing FreeBSD-specific shims.
- •The effort pivoted from direct porting to generating a detailed, clean-room specification of brcmfmac focused on BCM4350 (PCI, client mode).