Linux of Mac

[Chris9090]

Hello, I have a question I'm hoping you guys can help me with. I was thinking of getting a mac book but I don't like the macOS. Is it possible for me to uninstall macOS and install a Linux distro on it. I would like not to have to use boot camp if I don't have to. Thanks for the help

[Found my old account]

If you dislike the rotten-apple-ecosystem, then why buy overpriced hardware? Get more value/currency item? (isn't the whole reason to buy macs, to be gobbled up by the overpriced ecosystem?!?)

[bezza...]

my do you want to get a mac? it is fine to just want it for the looiks or smting im just curious what artracted iut to u. i would google the linux thing im sure some one has tryed it. i think it is a lot harder on m1 macs

[Eigenvektor]

Do note that current Macs use Apple Silicon (e.g. M1) which is an ARM based CPU. Afaik Linux is still pretty beta as far as support for this CPU goes. If you don't want macOS, you're likely better of buying a different machine.

[Guest]

ARM BASED LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS As of Nov 23rd, in order of recommendation.
1. Arch Linux ARM
2. Debian ARM
3. Linux Mint Debian Edition
4, armbian
5. Void Linux
6. Manjaro ARM
7. openSUSE Leap
8. Fedoea ARM
9. openSUSE Tumbleweed
9. Gentoo Linux
10. postmarketOS
11. Alpine Linux
12. Parrot GNU/Linux
13. SliTaz
14. Ubuntu Mate

For the Linux Newbie, I'd go with #3 followed closely by #2.

The nice thing about Linux is that a lot if these are Live Bootable, which allows you to experiment before actually installing them on the hardware.

[Chris9090]

I was planning on buying a used laptop. The reason I was wanting to go for a mac is because I like the build. I like the build quality just not the software for it but I also know that its not a practical investment.

[Alexeygridnev1993]

What kind of Mac do you have? If Intel one, then its's the same as installing Linux on a regular PC (unless there is this stupid T2 chip in which case you can only use it inside a VM). If an ARM one, then the only distro which you can install without a VM is Asahi Linux.

[wasab]

laptop and macs on linux generally means worse wifi driver(more power and lower range) and worse battery life compare to the os it comes preinstall with. i hope you are aware of that. 

[maplepants]

Unless it's an old one you're getting for a great price, don't buy a Mac just to put Linux on it. I think macOS is excellent and a great OS, but Apple's ARM hardware isn't (currently)  supported by any Linux distro for a bare metal install.

 

If you want a nice Linux laptop get a ThinkPad. If you want to buy a Mac, run macOS on it.

[DANK_AS_gay]

6 hours ago, maplepants said:

Apple's ARM hardware isn't (currently)  supported by any Linux distro for a bare metal insta

Asahi linux?

 

On 12/4/2022 at 11:20 PM, Thomas4 said:

ARM BASED LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS As of Nov 23rd, in order of recommendation.
1. Arch Linux ARM
2. Debian ARM
3. Linux Mint Debian Edition
4, armbian
5. Void Linux
6. Manjaro ARM
7. openSUSE Leap
8. Fedoea ARM
9. openSUSE Tumbleweed
9. Gentoo Linux
10. postmarketOS
11. Alpine Linux
12. Parrot GNU/Linux
13. SliTaz
14. Ubuntu Mate

For the Linux Newbie, I'd go with #3 followed closely by #2.

The nice thing about Linux is that a lot if these are Live Bootable, which allows you to experiment before actually installing them on the hardware.

Is everyone forgetting Asahi linux? It's in development to work on ARM macs, and it already does.

[Chickenmanfy]

On 12/4/2022 at 9:17 AM, Chris9090 said:

Hello, I have a question I'm hoping you guys can help me with. I was thinking of getting a mac book but I don't like the macOS. Is it possible for me to uninstall macOS and install a Linux distro on it. I would like not to have to use boot camp if I don't have to. Thanks for the help

Basically no. You can use Asahi Linux, but that doesn't receive updates, and has many bugs such as audio just not working, which is a deal breaker for most people.

[Lightwreather]

On 12/4/2022 at 5:17 PM, Chris9090 said:

Hello, I have a question I'm hoping you guys can help me with. I was thinking of getting a mac book but I don't like the macOS. Is it possible for me to uninstall macOS and install a Linux distro on it. I would like not to have to use boot camp if I don't have to. Thanks for the help

Depends, on Intel based Macs, yes absolutely.

On AS based Macs, you can, it's just in a beta (if not alpha) stage of development

[Chickenmanfy]

On 12/9/2022 at 8:44 AM, Chickenmanfy said:

Basically no. You can use Asahi Linux, but that doesn't receive updates, and has many bugs such as audio just not working, which is a deal breaker for most people.

They recently added GPU driver support in an update, so I guess they will do updates, but currently it's not very usable. If you really REALLY want to use a mac with Linux I suggest getting an Intel Mac or waiting until Asahi gets out of Alpha and Beta and has a full 1.0 release with all the missing features added back. Also I don't think Proton and Wine work on Asahi correct me if I'm wrong.


If you want to try anyways run the command at the bottom of this message in Terminal

curl https://alx.sh | sh

[maplepants]

On 12/9/2022 at 5:08 PM, DANK_AS_gay said:

Asahi linux?

 

Is everyone forgetting Asahi linux? It's in development to work on ARM macs, and it already does.

I'm excited about that project, but it's not ready for general use yet. To quote from their alpha release announcement:

 

Quote

Keep in mind that this is still a very early, alpha release. It is intended for developers and power users; if you decide to install it, we hope you will be able to help us out by filing detailed bug reports and helping debug issues. That said, we welcome everyone to give it a try - just expect things to be a bit rough.

As soon as this project is ready buying an M1 Mac just to put Linux on it will be a good idea. But *until* this project is ready, buying an Intel or ARM Mac just to put Linux on it is a bad idea.

[LeneLeaf]

On 12/9/2022 at 9:44 AM, Chickenmanfy said:

Basically no. You can use Asahi Linux, but that doesn't receive updates, and has many bugs such as audio just not working, which is a deal breaker for most people.

Audio doesn't work because they need to work on eq, if they don't, the speakers break because they're very finely tuned. Look at this blogpost: https://asahilinux.org/2022/11/november-2022-report/ and look for the Audio Advances section.

[Chickenmanfy]

2 hours ago, Parkman29 said:

Audio doesn't work because they need to work on eq, if they don't, the speakers break because they're very finely tuned. Look at this blog post: https://asahilinux.org/2022/11/november-2022-report/ and look for the Audio Advances section.

I see. This still doesn't change the fact that you can't use audio (you probably could if you changed some settings, but as said above, it would blow up your speakers) Again, I suggest waiting until a much more stable release comes out.

[h0m3]

18 hours ago, Chickenmanfy said:

I see. This still doesn't change the fact that you can't use audio (you probably could if you changed some settings, but as said above, it would blow up your speakers) Again, I suggest waiting until a much more stable release comes out.

For someone driving Asahi for about 3 months on my M1 I can say that most things works. Yes, the speakers doesn't work (not audio, spefically the speakers) and some other things like screen brigthness (without the new GPU driver that i'm not running right now). If you know what does and what doesn't work and its not a deal breaker I would consider a very pleasant experience.

They have a wiki page that shows what does and what doesn't work:https://github.com/AsahiLinux/docs/wiki/Feature-Support

I've stopped using MacOS when they release the bluetooth driver, that was my dealbreaker because I use extensivelly bluetooth headphones and mices with that laptop and not being able to use them or have to plug a dongle was unusable.

I woundn't recommend for someone starting out with Linux to buy and M1 and start using Asahi, just buy an Intel laptop like a XPS or anything similar in quality (dont buy a Intel mac either, T2 sucks). But if you have some experience with Linux yeah, it works really fine and its really stable and THERE ARE updates, lots of them actually. Those guys are tireless. In the six months i've being using Asahi (first three mostly dual booting last three basically got rid of macos) they added bluetooth, backlight control, sleep, gpu drivers, keybvoard backlight and usb 3 (that was just major stuff).

Actually its one of the best experiences i've had with a linux laptop, its fast enough and the battery is infinite The only downside is the limited application pool, most proprietary stuff don't run on ARM like Steam for instance (neither on macos because mac doesn't have proton and have even less games than Linux hahaha).