Broadcom dropped from Sonoma Beta

[gatorback]

I have outfitted two Optiplex Micros and a trio of Elitebooks with Broadcom BCM94360NG M.2. Said desktops / laptops arrived with Intel Wifi / BT and have limited functionality (no Air-drop), when Opencore is outfitted with appropriate kexts.

My reading indicates that Sonoma has dropped support for Broadcom and have seen an example on youTube, where the user disables SIP (I'd really like to avoid disabling SIP). OOB + Airdrop = nice.

Given that there are "Intel BT/Wifi" kexts that work without disabling SIP, isn't this possible with a similar set of Broadcom kexts? Ideally this would be possible and Air-Drop would work.

Maybe the better solution is to find a M.2 Wifi/BT device that is OOB with Sonoma (preferably the same as whatever is in the final Intel MacBook Pro?

 

[Edhawk]

Yes, Sonoma has dropped support for the natively supported Broadcom WiFi/BT cards we all use. As Apple have dropped support for any system older than a Kaby Lake iMac/MBA/MBP (except for iMacPro). None of the CFL or newer Apple systems use these removable Broadcom WiFi/BT cards. They all use soldered WiFi/BT cards, which we can’t purchase.

Yes, there is a kext that works with Intel WiFi/BT cards in the Sonoma Beta OS. This is still under development but is unlikely to include any new or previously unsupported features, such as Airdrop.

Hopefully, when Sonoma is out of Beta testing and released for general public usage the Acidanthera team will release an update for AirportBrcnFixup.kext that will allow our Broadcom WiFi/BT cards to work in Sonoma, without the need to disable SIP or any other built-in security features.

I doubt the Acidanthera team have the time or inclination to release an update for the kext while the OS is still in Beta testing, as Apple could change things related to WiFi before they release the GM version of Sonoma. Which would/could make any work they have undertaken during the beta phase worthless.

Well that is my hopes and thoughts on the matter. Only time will tell if I am close to the truth.

 

[gatorback]

@Edhawk, thank you for the thoughtful reply. It would seem that sticking with Ventura for the next two years will retain airdrop functionality. As nice as it would be to run the latest, I am not ready to go from OOB to disabling SIP (OLCP).

Do Broadcom models, under the AirportBrcnFixup.kext umbrella, feature Airdrop functionality? If yes, then there may be hope for my existing Broadcom BT/WiFi

 

[trs96]

It would seem that sticking with Ventura for the next two years

Note that Broadcom Wifi/BT doesn't work in the latest point update of Ventura either. Thank Apple devs for that.

 

[gatorback]

Note that Broadcom Wifi/BT doesn't work in the latest point update of Ventura either. Thank Apple devs for that.

13.5.1 drops Broadcom Wifi/BT? If that is the case, the Elitebook can remain where it is, because they do not have ethernet. The ethernet desktops are still compatible, but I guess there are no guarantees.

 

[Edhawk]

I'm running Ventura 13.5.1 on my Dell OptiPlex 3050 (Kaby Lake i7-7700) and the Broadcom WiFi/BT card works just fine. See screenshots below. Serial Number and MAC addresses blanked out.







So not all Broadcom WiFi/BT cards are dysfunctional in the latest point release of Ventura.

All I have in the config.plist for the WiFi/BT card is AirportBrcmFixup.kext and the country code boot argument, so the code is set to GB not DE.

 

[trs96]

So not all Broadcom WiFi/BT cards are dysfunctional in the latest point release of Ventura.

I'm guessing that they will all be dysfunctional with Ventura by the time Sonoma is ready for public release.

 

[frontgear]

I'm running Ventura 13.5.1 on my Dell OptiPlex 3050 (Kaby Lake i7-7700) and the Broadcom WiFi/BT card works just fine. See screenshots below. Serial Number and MAC addresses blanked out.

So not all Broadcom WiFi/BT cards are dysfunctional in the latest point release of Ventura.

All I have in the config.plist for the WiFi/BT card is AirportBrcmFixup.kext and the country code boot argument, so the code is set to GB not DE.

I have the BCM94360CD WiFi/BT card (same as Fenvi t919) and, although it works fine with 13.5, upon sleep/wake, BT seems to disappear and requires a reboot in order to work again. I believe @Stork is having the same issues, even with 13.5.1.

Could you please share the boot-args for country code that you use for your Broadcom WiFi/BT?

 

[Edhawk]

This is the Country code boot arg:

brcmfx-country=XX

Change the country code from ‘XX‘ to US, CN, #a, GB, DE, FR, IT or any other two digit country code.

 

[Edhawk]

I'm guessing that they will all be dysfunctional with Ventura by the time Sonoma is ready for public release.

That is my expectation, if the AitportBrcmFixup.kext Devs haven’t been able to create a fix.