Looking to dip my toes into Linux for the first time. I have a 2016 Intel MacBook Pro with pretty solid specs collecting dust right now that I think I’m going to use. Research so far has indicated to me that the two best options for me are likely Mint or Elementary OS. Does anyone have any insight? Also open to other OS’s. I would consider myself decently tech savvy but I am not a programmer or anything. Comfortable dipping into the terminal when the need arises and all that.
Mint is full easy-mode. Definitely try that for your first. You can even run it off the USB as a live distro and get a feel for it. Go for the Gnome desktop version, it is prettier than XFCE, just a little heavier.
Mess around with that, break it, fix it, have fun.
There is no “gnome” version of linux mint, but they probably meant the “cinnamon” version (which I would also recommend for a newcomer).
Give fedora a try. It has everything you would need from a modern “vanilla” linux distro and no user telemetry tracking.
Another vote for Fedora. I run it on a 2008 Mac Pro daily just fine. Good luck.
To be fair, Fedora has opt-in telemetry. It’s 100% anonymized, though, and helps with development. I always say yes when I’m running a beta (like now).
That having been said, you should always check the privacy policies of any given distro. They tend to all be pretty up front about it (kinda hard to lie about it when anyone can check your source code…).
AFAIK, though, neither Mint nor Elementary collect telemetry by default, although they might have opt-in like Fedora. Both are based on Ubuntu LTS, but they also both scrape out so much stuff that they’re devoid of most of the Canonical junk.
Mint doesn’t by default, but it is based on Canonical’s Ubuntu which is not the most privacy friendly distro. Depending on how you install your software, some telemetry might go to Canonical.
No Linux distro “tracks” like Windows, Android, iOS or macOS do. This is nonsense. Fedora may introduce opt-something telemitry that will just help make the Distro better, and via one single setting you can always enable or disable it.
I have full data sharing on KDE and also report lots of bugs.
Pro-tip: set your username as “user” do avoid doxxing yourself uploading debug logs
Honestly, any general purpose distro will do fine. I’d watch a YouTube review of Elementary and Mint and see what you think. I’d also throw in Ubuntu and Fedora, as they run a more modern desktop that might be more interesting to you as a Mac user than Mint, which is Windows-like out of the box.
Keep in mind: choosing a distro is sort of like choosing your first car. It’s fine to have a taste, but don’t let the decision paralyze you, because 90% of learning to drive will be exactly the same regardless of what car you choose. Likewise, 90% of linux will be the same regardless of your distro.
Pick something and use it. Don’t listen to any of us (but my suggestion is PopOS)
I’ve been running Linux on my 2015 MacBook Pro for years, as well as my older Mac Mini which I still use.
I’ve tried all the distros and my recommendation is this:
- If you want your trackpad gestures to work on Linux like on macos, use a modern version of the Gnome desktop.
Don’t use Ubuntu or Fedora because they’ve been giving the community a hard time lately and are becoming too corporate.
Use opensuse, Debian, PopOS or EndeavourOS. They all offer the Gnome desktop which you’ll choose when installing.
Gnome also looks the most like macos if you want to retain that familiarity.
- If you don’t care about gestures or the look of macos I would highly recommend Linux Mint. It’s the distro I use because it’s very well done, has great features, is easy to use, reliable and fast.
It comes in two versions: Linux Mint which is Ubuntu based and LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) which is Debian based. I use LMDE 6 because I want to move away from Ubuntu, but either is fine. As a new user I’d recommend LM with the Ubuntu base.
Your iSight camera won’t work because it needs a proprietary driver which Apple doesn’t supply. There is a reverse engineered driver on GitHub over here: https://github.com/patjak/facetimehd/wiki
I’ve not tried it but apparently it works.
When installing whichever distro you will use, it’s important that you are connected to the net via ethernet cable. Because Linux will have to search for the proprietary WiFi drivers and install those either during install or post install. So your WiFi likely won’t work post install and you’ll have to tell Linux to install the Broadcom drivers.
LM and LMDE (and I think PopOS too) make this easy because they have a driver manager GUI which will identify the driver and let you select it using a radio button. At which point it will install it and you’re good to go.
On opensuse, Debian and Endeavour (Arch) you’ll probably not have that tool and will have to find the driver in the software repo. You might have to use some commands to look up your WiFi Broadcom hardware and then search the net to find out which driver will work.
It sounds tricky but it’s not too bad, there’s normally lots of info online. Plus with Linux there are times when you will need to look up stuff, commands etc. It’s the Linux way, being a slightly more hands on OS.
Avoid Elementary OS. They are Ubuntu based but trying hard to be like Apple and sadly adopting some of Apple’s anti-libre practices like limiting what software you can install and charging money for apps. As well as trying to get Devs to make apps only for Elementary which all use the same design guidelines and therefore can’t be used on other Linux distros… It’s a disgusting and disgraceful blotch on the FOSS community because GNU/Linux is all about User Freedom and interoperability, whereas Elementary are the opposite and shouldn’t exist.
A bit lengthy but I wish I knew this at the beginning. Would have saved me a lot of pain.
I really struggled between deciding to up- or to downvote. I disagree strongly with most you wrote, but I decided for upvoting, since you put a lot of effort in your reply.
Don’t use Ubuntu or Fedora because they’ve been giving the community a hard time lately and are becoming too corporate.
I don’t see much difference between Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuse and PopOS. They are all “Corporate” (owned or backed by a private company).
That fact alone doesn’t matter much for the end user. What matters is how fair they treat their userbase and how sustainable the company is. Fedora for example is a community project, backed by RedHat. So, the community decides pretty much everything and RH gives us devs and $$$. This symbiotic relationship ensures stability and enough manpower. I’m anti-capitalist myself, but find this concept not bad. Still, you’re partially right. They are independent on paper, but in reality dependend on RHs money and devs.
If one dislikes this, we can always use and support independend distros like Arch or Debian.
Even Ubuntu isn’t as bad as everyone says, even though I wouldn’t recommend or use it myself.
Gnome also looks the most like macos if you want to retain that familiarity.
No, Gnome looks like Gnome. They do their own thing and don’t copy other UIs. I would recommend KDE (maybe with some themes and two bars) instead if you want it to look familiar to MacOS.
But I would honestly recommend exactly this: Gnome. It works different UI wise, and this unfamiliarity gives the new user the hint “You shouldn’t do it like you used to, this is another OS that works different”.
On Mint for example, people often download their apps through the browser, since it looks and often works exactly like Windows.
Avoid Elementary OS. They are Ubuntu based but trying hard to be like Apple and sadly adopting some of Apple’s anti-libre practices like limiting what software you can install and charging money for apps. As well as trying to get Devs to make apps only for Elementary which all use the same design guidelines and therefore can’t be used on other Linux distros… It’s a disgusting and disgraceful blotch on the FOSS community because GNU/Linux is all about User Freedom and interoperability, whereas Elementary are the opposite and shouldn’t exist.
They don’t limit you in any way. You can always install Flatpaks and everything else, they just offer their own repo with curated software, developed by themselves and optimized for their best UX, by default.
The option to support the devs financially is a revolutionary idea in the Linux world. Flathub also decided to copy that idea.
And I like the centralized tipping-system. I always wanted to support the devs, but don’t have 1000 payment options. I want to appreciate the work they do and don’t mind spending a buck or two for their great app I enjoy using.
The apps are all FOSS. You can rebuild or get them anytime you want.
Mint and Pop OS are fantastic. Both have great support out of the box and lots of help out there on the Internet.
If you’re trying to game I would flatly say Pop OS. General computing, both are a tie for me. They just work (as far as Linux goes).
Pop!_OS runs great on my intel MBP.
Does your Mac have Touch Bar? If so, you should try using t2linux-provided ISOs. Although 2016 MBP isn’t T2 equipped Mac, the Touch Bar driver should be compatible AFAIK.
Cool! That was my concern. A cursory search shown a lot of driver issues for macs, albeit some were rather old.
This is an actually useful recommendation
As a long time dabbler and recent full on Mint user, I would recommended either Ubuntu or Mint for a first timer for sure. I would say that I enjoy Mint more just because I like the look and feel of the Cinnamon DE more over the Gnome DE or whatever it is that Ubuntu ships default with. Mint is very easy to use, doesn’t have lots of major updates all the time so it doesn’t break and it’s relatively light weight.
I started on Linux with some old distros that aren’t around anymore but went to Ubuntu eventually and then played with different distros after that. There is a lot of opinions on how things should be in the Linux world and that’s what makes choice so awesome.
I say start with Ubuntu because there is TONS of documentation and help on forums, users are generally super helpful unlike some other distros and it’s a solid STARTING point. Honestly you’ll end up distro hoping like we all are guilty of so you won’t stay on one for a long time.
Mint is another solid choice as is pop_OS!
Debian is great as a base but I found it lacking in bells and whistles early into my Linux days. Stay away from the Chinese distros, they’ll make you sad (not because they’re Chinese made but the lack of work being put into them).
Have fun trying every flavor out and enjoy breaking your system from time to time and eventually try Arch or even Gentoo lol
try Arch or even Gentoo
Time to go install Gentoo!
Masochist
As someone who got started with Linux using Mint too years ago I think you got a great selection there and I wouldn’tup listen too much to the comments, big oarts of the Linux crowd on Lemmy came from Lemmy and it’s toxic and shitty so they will tell you you are wrong no matter what you do or say and recommend terribble things to newcomers! Just flash Mint Cinnamon or Elementary on a USB stick, boot them up and play around with both before you decide which you want to install. I am a Fedora Gnome user myself and as someone who probably values simplicity (mac user) Gnome could be interesting to check out too but it’s very different to anything else out there and you already got two great options to try there! :)
You will get very different opinions here. Important are what you want to do
- are you okay with only Flatpak apps?
- do you want a really stable Distro, or more up to date updates? Desktops evolve, but your hardware doesnt need that new kernels etc.
- do you need a traditional distro for installing loads of stuff to it, or is an immutable Distro “enough”?
- are you willing to reinstall or unbreak a traditional distro?
I would recommend Fedora Kinoite. Install the official image or use the Ublue image. They are recent but checked updates, versioned, resettable, etc. With Fedora and lots of other distros you have automatic backups, if an update may break something.
Its basically the future of Linux, at least for most use cases.
PS: I literally broke evey other Distro, most of the recommended ones here.
Use Debian, install with GNOME and enjoy everything working from the start and a very stable system. No further fuzz about other distros required. Common comment “oh but debian doesn’t have the latest version of application X” - configure flatpak and you’ll be able to the that latest version from the GNOME Software “store”. All the stability with the latest stuff. Enjoy.
Idk anything about laptops, but I revived my father’s gf’s laptop by installing ZorinOS on it. It was practically unusable, still running on Vista. ZorinOS has a special build for older machines which I found suitable for a laptop, and it looks very nice. IDK why people recommend Mint, it looks atrocious, which I fear may put off people from Linux akin to how Ubuntu does, but perhaps I’m wrong. Either way, I find ZorinOS perfect for starting with Linux or even staying on it.
I currently use endeavourOS, because I’m terminal centric, but in reality it’s such a great distro I just open terminal on a whim, type in yay, which updates the system and that’s it.
PopOs and Ubuntu are very user friendly and pretty similar to a Mac out of the box.
