Just make a live usb of the distro you want to use and check it out. If mint has no live usb usr amother distro, most have. Just use a big one. Since mint is just ubuntu it should be good
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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linux mint's "installers" can boot into a live environment.
Another vote for trying a live distro. If the live version detects all your computer's hardware, it will detect it when you install it for real.
You can absolutely use Mint as a live system.
If it is a computer, it is compatible
You may just need some extra bits in addition to the base ISO
IIRC the Broadcom website has the latest Linux drivers on there if the kernel doesn't support it out of the box, so grab a copy of those and put them on a USB.
As others have said, you could get a live distro to test it out before you install
Also keep in mind that laptop wifi cards are usually easily replaceable, so if you end up with that being the only problem it's usually cheap and easy to solve
this
these cards are about $ 5-12 and i pull them from junk laptops all the time
not the "easiest" thing to solve but well within the abilities of somebody who can build a PC
If you happen to have a nice enterprise laptop, you can usually access the card very easily. For example HP EliteBook laptops (which are sort of nice laptops, but with a bad keyboard) you won’t even need any tools to open the bottom lid. Lenovo ThinkPad laptops tend to require a screwdriver. Never actually swapped a wifi card on either of these, but I guess there could be one more screw holding the card in place. Definitely doable, and it won’t take too long.
Contrast that with HP Pavilion or Acer Aspire TrashBooks. Yes, I have opened a few of those, and I regret every minute of it. Normally, you need to disassemble the whole thing before you get to even see the parts you need to swap. It’s not quite as painful as opening Apple hardware, but it’s not far behind. Verdict: 2/10, would not recommend.
yeah word to the wise, avoid HP notebooks even if they have that fancy AMD APU you want, they are a nightmare
Not all laptops have replaceable wireless cards. If you have a thinner machine they probably soldered it on. But I can’t find any rhyme or reason to what manufacturers do and don’t solder.
Even thicker laptops...I have an HP Envy (that I hate and I want another Lenovo 14")...wifi card is bios locked. I can only replace with another Intel AC card.
Interesting, I don't think I've ever seen a laptop where it was soldered.
My Thinkpad P1's is soldered :( At least that came with a good Intel Wireless card.
But somehow on my T14s (a much smaller machine) it wasn't soldered.
But then on the bigger T14 it is soldered. So I have no clue what is going on at Lenovo. At least the machines with good wifi cards are soldered, and the shit ass ones are
You can get broadcom to work, it means adding the missing driver.
For example in NixOS its adding a line in the hardware/config file then running a rebuild.
For Ubuntu there appears some steps spelled out lower in this thread https://askubuntu.com/questions/55868/installing-broadcom-wireless-drivers
Some distros publish their known working hardware lists https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Hardware
Mostly just try Linux on it 😹 Don't install it just run from a flash drive or something
Use Ethernet on the Mint install to get internet and update the kernel to the latest 6.14. Maybe it'll then be supported
i used a live bootable usb stick to play around before i installed it; the one thing i had an issue with is my display drivers but simply updating using software manager (i think specifically the kernel or something; it's been a while so I cant remember for sure) fixed it
On my wifés 2012 MacBook Pro, I had the same broadcom related problem and installing Rpm fusion solved it https://ostechnix.com/how-to-enable-rpm-fusion-repository-in-fedora-rhel/
Generally speaking, most if not all hardware running Win 10 will be able to work on any Linux distribution making a few exceptions where external drivers can be found. Normally though, this will not be necessary as it will be pre baked into the kernel with no interference from you
That being said - Mint runs an older version of the kernel compared to the current state of desktop Linux and may not contain certain drivers for hardware that came out after that specific kernel version was released. You can use a distro that favors being up to date over long term support, such as Fedora or Arch (if you’re willing to put up with setting up Arch) if that crops up. But generally, if you’re running win 10 still this shouldn’t be a problem
Without knowing your hardware, i can’t really say more though. Just try mint or any other distribution on a live usb and if it works there, then it will work when installed
Also sometimes with a wireless issue there’s an easy workaround.
The ancient Broadcom WiFi module is the most problematic aspect of my 2012 MacBook Pro, but I got a fully Linux compatible tp-link USB wifi adapter for about £10.
If you have an AMD graphics card (or use Intel graphics), one of the biggest pain points is already nonexistent. If on the other hand you have a NVidia card, getting that to run often comes with (recurrent) pains. What is your graphics card?
Well, mine is a Nvidia 4060 Ti, and I don't have the money to change.
It's still workable for sure.
Above all, memorize one thing: When you update, and then reboot, keep an eye on the computer during reboot, especially during the early stages. That's because every month or so, when the drivers have gotten updated, you will be presented with a (often blue) screen about MOK Enrolment, i.e. you need your UEFI that the new drivers are trustworthy. If you miss this screen, you'll boot into a black screen or so without anything telling you what the error is, and to fix it you'll have to enroll those keys manually -- this is not prohibitively difficult, but annoying. (That's if you have UEFI secure boot enabled. If you have it disabled, there is practically no pain at all, ever. You lose a bit of security though. Personally I have it disabled.)
Isn't secure boot unnecessary if nobody else has physical access to the computer?
I think so, yes.
You could dig into the Linux hardware and see if your system is listed there, and how compatilble it is
Generally when you have the newest and shiniest components, the conservative distros don't have an up to date kernel.
You can force some of them to use a newer kernel, IIRC I did that once on Mint.