Apple iMac A1419

User Support HCL Reports
1 
---
layout:
  'hcl'
type:
  'all in one'
hvm:
  'yes'
iommu:
  'yes'
slat:
  'yes'
tpm:
  'unknown'
remap:
  'yes'
brand: |
  Apple Inc.
model: |
  iMac15,1
bios: |
  432.40.8.0.1
cpu: |
  Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz
cpu-short: |
  FIXME
chipset: |
  Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller [8086:0c00] (rev 06)
chipset-short: |
  FIXME
gpu: |
  Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Tonga XT / Amethyst XT [Radeon R9 380X / R9 M295X] [1002:6938] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
gpu-short: |
  FIXME
network: |
  Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)
  Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM57766 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
memory: |
  32708
scsi: |
  APPLE HDD ST3000 Rev: AQ03
  APPLE SSD SM0128 Rev: PA0Q
  Ultra            Rev: 1.00
usb: |
  1
versions:

- works:
    'FIXME:yes|no|partial'
  qubes: |
    R4.1
  xen: |
    4.14.3
  kernel: |
    5.10.71-1
  remark: |
    FIXME
  credit: |
    FIXAUTHOR
  link: |
    FIXLINK

---

Remarks

  • sys-net appears to only work in paravirtualized (PV) mode
  • sys-net needs broadcom-wl proprietary drivers installed for BCM4360 wifi card to work.
  • Everything else seems to work quite nicely.

Attachments

Qubes-HCL-Apple_Inc_-iMac15_1-20211119-200041.yml (1020 Bytes)
Qubes-HCL-Apple_Inc_-iMac15_1-20211119-200041.cpiogz (10.0 KB)

2 Likes
4.1 Installation Fails on iMac (mid 2011)
2

Thank you @alzer89 for another HCL report, keep them coming!

@ninavizz maybe this one can get you reasonably excited? It’s running R4.1. :wink:

2 Likes
3

I need to open this to look at it, but I do have an archaic MacBook Pro I’d LOVE to format and turn into a 4.1 machine. Will totally look into this once I have some downtime, thx for flagging!!! <3

1 Like
4

@ninavizz, there are a few things I’ve discovered when trying to get things comfortable working on Apple hardware:

The wifi is usually Broadcom

  • If you don’t know what that means, you soon will :smirking_face:
  • People still haven’t figured out 100% how they actually work (they’re at about 80%)
  • As a result, you’re wholly reliant on the drivers that Broadcom made. “Take them and go, and stop complaining…”
  • They sometimes don’t play nice with Qubes OS…

There are usually only one or two USB buses

  • This makes USB passthrough a pain
  • If you want to give a Qube a USB port (for example, for a printer, gamepad, etc.), you have to also give it the internal keyboard and trackpad. So, you can pass through the printer, but then your face will go :flushed_face: as soon as your mouse suddenly stops moving.

Depending on how old the hardware is, they might be permanently vulnerable to certain exploits.

  • If you’re familiar with Spectre and Meltdown (a quick online search will get you informed), Intel have basically not patched the microcode for CPUs in most Apple hardware built before circa 2010.
  • There is a chance that your “archaic MacBook” has one of these CPUs.
  • In short, it means that things could potentially escape from your VMs.
  • It also means that Qubes OS 4.1 might not even boot on these machines, because the kernels use microcode that doesn’t exist on those CPUs. (I’ve encountered this on at least 6 Apple machines)

All of these issues have workarounds

  • Whilst it may not run as intended (and I definitely wouldn’t do anything mission-critical on them), there are definitely ways to get them to at least boot.
  • Don’t expect it to be a smooth ride, though :grin:

I’m more than happy to help you out in getting it up and running.

2 Likes
5

That Broadcom drivers hits hard :joy:
literally I cannot install any working OSS driver in my late 2014 27’’ iMac. Ethernet share same bus with usb, WiFi card is Broadcom, neither Linux nor BSD works well with Broadcom. Tried usb WiFi dongle, but It doesn’t work with BSD :upside_down_face:

1 Like