Apple
MacBook Air 13-inch (Early 2015)
Fourteen Early 2015 owner reports establish a workable Linux laptop with unusually good Arch coverage. Omarchy reaches the desktop, but Broadcom Wi-Fi, the camera and suspend still need informed maintenance.
Bottom line
Omarchy is viable on the Early 2015 13-inch Air, but it is not maintenance-free. Two direct Omarchy owners reached the desktop, and the display-scaling defect reported in August was later fixed by an Omarchy update. The remaining risks are structural: BCM4360 Wi-Fi and the FaceTime camera use out-of-tree drivers, while suspend has regressed or needed workarounds in several Linux reports.
If you already own one, keep a snapshot and a USB network fallback before kernel updates, then test Wi-Fi, camera and repeated lid-close cycles after each major update. If you are buying one, get 8 GB of memory, verify the battery and exact year, and pay only enough to justify a dual-core laptop whose network and camera support live outside the kernel.
What is reported
12 findings with cited evidenceInstall and boot
Two owners reached Omarchy 4.0.x desktops, and owners have installed Arch, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu and CachyOS on the same release. EFI boot works; older reports show that GRUB may not preserve a convenient macOS entry even when Apple's Option-key picker still works.
Installation itself is well established. A dual-boot plan needs separate care, and recovery media should include a network path that does not depend on the built-in Broadcom adapter.
Desktop and graphics
Intel HD Graphics 6000 drives working Omarchy and Arch-family desktops on the internal panel. Older Debian and Arch/Openbox owners needed Xorg or compositor changes, but the August Omarchy scaling report was later closed after its owner said an update fixed the problem.
Current desktop operation is established. The older Xorg fixes document how support evolved; they are not instructions for today's Hyprland session.
Internal display and brightness
The 1440-by-900 panel and brightness controls work in current Arch-family reports. Omarchy initially made several dialogs too large, but the reporting owner said an Aug. 30 update fixed the defect; the project did not identify the exact fixing release.
Do not apply the old scale-of-1 workaround unless the oversized-dialog problem returns. The resolution is now the latest direct Omarchy result.
Keyboard, hotkeys and backlight
Arch owners report the keyboard, function keys, keyboard backlight and display-brightness controls working. Older Debian and Fedora notes required mapping or helper software, showing a historical setup cost rather than a current failure.
The evidence favors working input controls on Arch. Neither direct Omarchy report inventories every key, so this is an Arch result rather than an Omarchy guarantee.
Touchpad and pointing
The exact Early 2015 Arch guide lists the trackpad as working, and Apple's specification identifies the built-in Multi-Touch trackpad.
This is one direct Linux working report. It does not enumerate gestures or establish current Omarchy gesture behavior.
Fingerprint and biometrics
Apple's specification lists no fingerprint reader or other biometric sensor on this model.
There is no biometric device for Omarchy to support; use a password or another software authentication method.
Not applicableSourceWi-Fi and Bluetooth
BCM4360 works with Broadcom's wl driver, but owners across Arch, Debian and Omarchy report failures after kernel or package changes. Recovery has required the matching kernel headers, an LTS driver pair or a patched DKMS build, depending on the failure.
Arch now ships broadcom-wl-dkms 6.30.223.271-49, which builds against Linux 7.2, but the affected Omarchy owner has not reported an exact-machine retest with that stable package. An open Omarchy pull request would switch the project to the DKMS package; it has not shipped.
Speakers, microphone and audio
The exact Early 2015 Arch guide lists internal audio as working. None of the other retained exact-model owners reports an audio failure.
That is positive Arch evidence, not a current Omarchy speaker-and-microphone test. The absence of another complaint is not additional proof.
Camera
Three exact Early 2015 owners report working video after installing the reverse-engineered FaceTime HD driver and extracted Apple firmware. The camera is not an in-kernel, works-out-of-the-box device, and one owner linked the loaded module to frequent hibernation hangs.
The active facetimehd project merged a Linux 7.2 build fix on Aug. 25. That keeps the driver buildable; it does not remove the firmware step or establish camera and suspend behavior on current Omarchy.
Suspend and resume
Results span dark-screen resumes, immediate wakes, partial suspend and hibernation hangs with the camera module loaded. The Arch guide marked suspend working in 2021, then moved it back to troubleshooting in 2023; a 2026 CachyOS owner calls suspend only partially working.
Sleep remains the largest daily-use risk. Kernel choice, wake-source changes, desktop and camera-driver state can all change the result, and no retained Early 2015 report establishes reliable current Omarchy suspend.
External displays and docks
Apple rates the Thunderbolt 2 and Mini DisplayPort path for an external display up to 3840 by 2160 while the internal panel remains active.
That is a manufacturer specification, not a Linux result. No retained Early 2015 report tests an external monitor, adapter or dock on Omarchy.
Evidence, no verdictSourceBattery, power and thermals
Period macOS review units ran 10 hours, 20 minutes at roughly 150 nits and 14 hours at 100 nits. An early Fedora owner reported roughly seven to nine hours after power tuning, while a 2026 CachyOS owner found a charging-state regression on the latest kernel that disappeared on LTS.
The review figures describe new batteries under different protocols, not current Omarchy runtime. Battery health, kernel choice and reliable suspend will matter more than the original rating on an 11-year-old machine.
Changes over time
17 dated events- Fedora owner establishes the first working baseline
An exact Early 2015 owner documented EFI dual boot, Broadcom Wi-Fi and a working Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter, with GRUB changes for brightness and keyboard layout.
- LTS kernel and matching driver stop intermittent Wi-Fi boots
An Arch owner whose adapter failed on roughly four of five boots reported stable Wi-Fi after switching to linux-lts and broadcom-wl-lts.
- Debian setup exposes Apple-specific work
An exact 2015 owner documented Broadcom drops, immediate wake, black-screen resume and the display and power tools used to make the machine practical.
- Arch install leaves macOS without a usable boot entry
Linux installed and booted, but one dual-boot owner could no longer start the intact macOS partition through the expected entry.
- Camera works with a hibernation cost
An i5-5250U owner reported working video but said lid-close hibernation hung at least half the time while the camera module was loaded.
- Arch guide records a broad working baseline
An exact i5-5250U guide listed installation, graphics, screen controls, keyboard, trackpad, Wi-Fi, audio, Bluetooth and webcam as working; suspend later returned to its troubleshooting list.
- Arch guide moves suspend back to troubleshooting
The maintained exact-model guide had marked suspend working in 2021, then changed it to 'used to work' in 2023 and retained that warning through its latest update.
- Ubuntu owner confirms video after driver and firmware setup
The camera was the only missing component until the owner installed facetimehd firmware and its out-of-tree kernel module, then confirmed video playback.
- Matching Debian headers restore the Broadcom driver
Wi-Fi disappeared on newer kernels because their headers were unavailable; installing matching image and header meta-packages restored wl and the wireless interface.
- CachyOS LTS kernel avoids a battery-state regression
The current kernel misreported charging state while LTS did not. The same owner revised suspend from broken to partially working, with power-button wake still required.
- Omarchy's broader Broadcom quirk excludes BCM4360
The merged change targets brcmfmac devices and explicitly leaves the MacBookAir7,2 BCM4360 on its separate wl driver path.
- Scale of 1 restores usable Omarchy dialogs
An Early 2015 owner replaced automatic scaling after Quickshell dialogs extended beyond the 1440-by-900 screen.
- FaceTime HD driver gains Linux 7.2 build support
The active camera project merged a kernel-API update. The change supports building the driver; it is not an exact-model Omarchy result.
- Omarchy update resolves the scaling report
The same owner who documented oversized dialogs said the latest Omarchy update fixed the problem. The exact fixing release was not identified.
- Linux 7.2 Wi-Fi regression and recovery documented
The kernel-specific module disappeared after update and the -48 DKMS package failed to compile; the owner patched the DKMS source and restored scanning and connectivity.
- Omarchy DKMS switch remains open
A pull request proposes replacing broadcom-wl with broadcom-wl-dkms in Omarchy's Mac paths. It has not merged or shipped.
- Compatible Broadcom DKMS revision reaches stable Arch
Arch moved broadcom-wl-dkms 6.30.223.271-49 into stable Extra. The package record does not establish an exact-machine Omarchy retest.