My parent's 2013 iMac is entering support EOL, and they are planning to upgrade to new hardware. They have offered their old one to me. I have no use for iOS, so will probably want to put Linux on it to use as a home server.

Based on the specs they've given me, it's this one: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP687?locale=en_US , though I haven't been able to obtain the specific gpu and wifi chip models, and have no physical access to the system for now. http://linux-hardware.org is not proving very helpful, and I cannot run a probe.

What are the ramifications of installing Linux on a Mac? The specs look pretty standard, and appear to be fairly well supported by a semi-modern Linux kernel.

I glanced at the specs. Intel video usually works and plays well with Linux. The specs don't mention the wireless chipset; that might pose some issues, depending on what chipset is in use, but if you start out using a wired connection, you should be okay.

I'd suggest that, once you get your hands on the machine, you boot to some LiveCD/USBs of distros you are considering and test them out.

A web search for "install linux on mac" will turn up a number of useful links and articles.

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I tried cross-examining other Macs of the same year, and it looks like they're using Broadcom chipsets, but I couldn't nail down a model. Initially connecting won't be an issue as I have a well-supported USB wifi dongle.

That's my typical method. I was trying to get my ducks in a row beforehand, if possible.

Did that, and it was rather fruitless for that year/model.

So, it appears I'm kind of stuck until I get my little hands on it. Appreciate the help.

I've a boxof that vintage. Basically all the chipsets Apple is likely to have used are well supported with firmware, so relax.

I've found partitioning drives to support same-disk MacOS/Linux dual-boot installs to be painful to setup and manage, but simply erasing the drive and installing linux instead is pretty straight forward. The only complication is getting wifi (broadcom) to work, but you've already identified that, and the iMac does have a physical ethernet port if a wired connection is an option for setup.

One thought: I'd recommend using the iMac to create a bootable MacOS USB installer before you erase the OS. Those are so much easier and more reliable to use than Apple's internet recovery if you ever do decide to revert back to MacOS for any reason. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Having done this a few times, I can tell you that getting rid of the Mac OS will let you use better/newer/cheaper hardware. Had a 27" iMac, and it would only recognize 16GB of RAM, an Apple wifi card, and didn't support any hard/SSD's that weren't Apple.

But, since the wifi card was a simple PCI express card (like in any laptop), I grabbed one off Amazon for about $20, was able to address 32GB of RAM, and put a regular SSD in it. The only caveat was that I had to get a temperature sensor from OWC, because Apple tries to get you to ONLY use their drives...which (AMAZINGLY) have a proprietary plug on them for the temp sensor. So until I got it, my case fans were at 100% full-time. But, that was $40, and was able to use a cheap SSD with zero issues. Used openSUSE Tumbleweed on it, and it ran great...until one of my dogs knocked it off my desk and it shattered the screen.

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Some good info here. I thought about upgrading the HDD to an SSD, so I'll need to investigate the temp sensor issue, but I think the rest is plenty for setting up a server.

This is the one I needed, just for reference sake:
https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD12/

And I'll also say that while you've got the thing cracked open, the Apple wifi can also give you issues, speed wise. Also, their bluetooth module was (at least on mine) on the motherboard. A card like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N7474CS/ (granted, this one is old), takes care of both. You can get faster wifi, less issues, and update the bluetooth at the same time.

And maybe you shouldn't "diss" MacOS (OS/X): it is, after all, based on Mach® UNIX, which Apple continues to maintain as an open-source project. While there are some differences – command options that are or are not the same as Linux, and fundamental differences in how the operating system is stored and loaded – it's actually pretty good and will feel familiar.

Unfortunately, Apple won't allow you to install the latest MacOS versions on older hardware.

Probably the biggest headache is TLS versions and stuff that aren't recognized anymore by websites. But, there is an unofficial brew package manager for MacOS that allows you to install packages from a third-party source, and this works reliably.

(Full disclosure: I run on a current Mac, and use VirtualBox to run Linux in virtual machines.)

Apple like to tell you what you can & can'#t do. But there is also the little matter of cpus: The PC stayed X86, and just widened (16-64 bits)

Apple went 68K --> PPC --> X86_64 --> Arm. All meant substantial hardware redesign. Arm is also big endian, whereas x86 is little endian.

The personal data needs to be irrevocably destroyed, which requires a full wipe. I'm not dissing it, but I have no need/desire to use MacOS. Since the hardware is EOL and the OS can no longer be upgraded, I'm repurposing the system.

Below you will find some useful information. I will need to look at the temperature sensor problem because I considered replacing the HDD with an SSD, but other than that, I think everything else is sufficient for configuring a server.

There is no information, and this thread had been closed for a year. And the temperature sensor problem was clearly addressed above.