Discussion
(Almost) ready to turn my beloved MacBook Air 2013 - which is gathering dust on a shelf - into a #Linux laptop.
Only problem: multiple people might have swayed me to pick Arch Linux as the distro. #ArchLinux!!! I know NOTHING but from all the Linux memes I've seen over the years, I've always been intimidated by it.
Debating whether to go with it or #Mint or #Ubuntu. Thoughts?
Edit / update: it's now a toss-up between Mint and Fedora. I may try Arch on my Raspi4
@_elena Don't know much about Arch either, but Manjaro makes it quite beginner friendly.
@_elena REALLY good resource is Explaining Computers youtube channel, Chris used to teach computers and is REALLY good at explaining stuff and is a great teacher & AFAIK person in my conversations w him. He has series for beginners including https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8vmXvoVjZw&list=PL2m2YvnrOYxIsVz8Nvm1PpsBXdo7clAaR
YouTube
@_elena arch has a learning curve, manjaro, cachyos endeavoros are more suitable for beginners...they are arch based and have less bloat than ubunutu based systems
@_elena mint. It has some foibles but it works and it easier to fix than the non deterministic mess that is Arch.
Background : ran Arch, decided my time was more valuable and infinitely better with a working machine. Switched to Mint.
@_elena it's pretty easy to swap. My advice: start from mint/fedora/Ubuntu, stay on it some days and if you feel brave, you can go to Arch. Personally, I'm pretty happy with fedora kde
@_elena Q4OS with Trinity desktop environment won the 3 way tie for first place in my 6 months testing on old 2010 Asus UL30vt laptop. But have not tested with a Mac yet. Other 2 in the tie: MX XFCE & Manjaro XFCE (Manjaro is based on Arch but has "training wheels" so easier in some ways to get started with, I don't recommend ether Arch or Manjaro for beginners unless using on test machine). Lot of things I like about Q4OS but not sure if install on Mac is as easy as MX https://q4os.org/
@_elena Iβm using Ubuntu, and itβs very easy to admin.
@_elena Mint XFCE (Cinnamon is the desktop environment usually done with Mint, but again not great choice for older hardware XFCE is better on older hardware in my testing) https://linuxmint.com/download.php
@_elena MX XFCE (the XFCE part refers to Desktop enviornment TLDR the graphical interface aspect you work with, XFCE is lighter than KDE better choice for RAM limited machines like old Macbook Air) works really well on Intel Macs based on both my research and testing, have it on 2017 Macbook Air. https://mxlinux.org/
@_elena Fedora (Redhaaaaaat!) and CashyOS (I use arch btw) are my picks.
I also have an MB Air 2013 in my shelf. Maybe I should do the same. But tbh: I have no use for it. I have so many better Notebooks lying aroundβ¦
There is no good answer. My anecdotal experience is that Ubuntu just works in MacBook laptops. I also happen to like the simplicity of the gnome desktop, and the fact that online accounts just work (for Nextcloud, google drive, calendars, even outlook/exchange), seamlessly integrated into the file browser and the time/calendar/notifications.
Be mindful of a possible 30-second delay upon booting into Linux. This can be solved, depends on the MacBook model.
@_elena
I put Mint on all my devices. But those were all Windows. An HP laptop. An old Dell desktop and a Dell 17 inch laptop.
I'm quite happy with Mint.
@_elena
NetBSD? One of the few who are against GenAI in their code.
@_elena
I read your content so for /you/ I'll go one further and specifically recommend you try LMDE (Linux Mint, Debian Edition) instead of the Ubuntu default. Hopefully no need to expand on this. πΈ
I *also* suggest you try Fedora in order to gain the difference between the RPM style distro and the DEB style distro. These require (and will teach) different types of Linux skills having to operate their conceptual underpinnings.
In my travels (old now), one tends to "speak" to you more.