What operating system (not Mac OS) should I install?

[47e]

I have a 15 inch 2009 Macbook Pro A1211 32 bit with no operating system and I want to know what i could install.  I have had a lot of trouble with linux because of some sort of graphics card issue.  I have tried Ubuntu and Lubuntu.  Any ideas on what to install?  I want a light operating system mostly for using the internet.

MacBook Pro 15-Inch _Core 2 Duo_ 2.33 Specs (Core 2 Duo_Late 2006, MA610LL, MacBookPro2,2, A1211, 2120)_ EveryMac.com.mhtml

[WhitetailAni]

8 minutes ago, 47e said:

some sort of graphics card issue.

This is a hardware issue.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/nvidia-graphics-firmware-defect-on-all-2008-2009-macbook-pro.641297/

 

What exact issue are you seeing?

[BondiBlue]

You have a 2006 MacBook Pro, not a 2009 MacBook Pro. There's a major difference in those two machines, and unfortunately your MBP is much weaker. 

 

I'd suggest something like Linux Mint XFCE. It should run alright on your older hardware, but browsing the internet in general isn't going to be very fast. 

20 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

This is a hardware issue.

OP has a 2006 MBP with a Radeon X1600 GPU, so it's not the Nvidia issue. The issue they were having is likely just due to lack of driver support. 

[Nayr438]

The Radeon X1600 is Legacy hardware. Mixed with the aging Core2Duo and 2 to 4 GB of DDR2 and your in for a poor experience.

 

In Linux your falling back to a mostly unsupported Legacy ATI implementation. Might be able to get away with something like MX Linux with XFCE.

 

Windows 7 was the last offically supported version of Windows for the X1600, though it may work with newer versions. You may have better luck starting here.

 

Regardless of OS, I however wouldnt expect a good Web Browsing experience.

[FUIT1985]

23 hours ago, 47e said:

I have a 15 inch 2009 Macbook Pro A1211 32 bit with no operating system and I want to know what i could install.  I have had a lot of trouble with linux because of some sort of graphics card issue.  I have tried Ubuntu and Lubuntu.  Any ideas on what to install?  I want a light operating system mostly for using the internet.

MacBook Pro 15-Inch _Core 2 Duo_ 2.33 Specs (Core 2 Duo_Late 2006, MA610LL, MacBookPro2,2, A1211, 2120)_ EveryMac.com.mhtml 580.24 kB · 5 downloads

I had a 2010 64-bit Macbook Pro with dedicated Nvidia graphics card. The Intel integrated graphics card was no longer supported by the Intel generic drivers (so you may have the same problem). Also, the Nvidia card was only supported by the proprietary driver. I had to configure GRUB to exclude the Intel integrated graphics card in order to use the Nvidia card. But you don't have the integrated graphics card (sorry, you have an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600). My advice is to try the multi-arch live ISOs of several distributions.

[TorC]

Your card can still function.  How?  See second, Radeon link.

 

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=puppy

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver

 

It can function well for stated usage.  How?  Use Fossapup (see distrowatch link).  Fossapup is based on ubuntu, so repos are available.

 

I am using fossapup64 now, to post.

 

Or, I have had good luck in the past with a Lubuntu Minimal Install.  That Lu-buntu.

 

Good Luck!

[Willa]

On 4/20/2022 at 11:01 AM, 47e said:

I have a 15 inch 2009 Macbook Pro A1211 32 bit with no operating system and I want to know what i could install.  I have had a lot of trouble with linux because of some sort of graphics card issue.  I have tried Ubuntu and Lubuntu.  Any ideas on what to install?  I want a light operating system mostly for using the internet.

MacBook Pro 15-Inch _Core 2 Duo_ 2.33 Specs (Core 2 Duo_Late 2006, MA610LL, MacBookPro2,2, A1211, 2120)_ EveryMac.com.mhtml 580.24 kB · 7 downloads

I've heard good things about Adelie Linux, https://www.adelielinux.org/download/, especially for older hardware. It apparently runs decently on PowerPC Macs so I think their Intel version should work decently on a 2006 MacBook Pro.

[Andreas Baumann]

I sucessfully managed to put an Archlinux onto the A1211, see:

 

https://www.andreasbaumann.cc/blog/archlinux-macbook-a1211/

[The Hope]

On 4/20/2022 at 5:01 PM, 47e said:

  I want a light operating system mostly for using the internet.

I would recommend LXQt as a desktop environment.

 

ALT Sisyphus performs reasonably well in browser benchmarks in my experience.

 

 

Performance on windows.

For the test on ALT Linux I am using RAM at 6000 MHz and the CPU has no overclock.

As you can see I should get similar performance to the brand new i9-14900K with windows, if I were to pair the Intel 12600KF with RAM at 8000 MHz and do an overclock on ALT.