Converting My old 2007 Macbook

[zactacular]

So I have an old Macbook 13inch I got for back in 2007. Still boots up, still runs moderately fine, but its stuck on OS X Leopard.The machine has a 2.16 Ghz Core Duo, 2 gigs of RAM, and a 120 gig HD; the screen and speakers seem to be in working order. The keyboard does not seem to work properly anymore, I have tried cleaning it out thoroughly but it seems to have crapped out over the years.  I would like to convert this machine into a linux box and have a few questions about the process:

 

1. Should I just use Bootcamp? I  took anything of value off the HD long ago, so I  could just partition Mac OS into a little closet...
2. Am I able to boot from a USB Drive? I've tried searching for it but all my results talk about using it to boot with OS X or using a CD
3. Will I have difficulties using a USB keyboard during installation due to lack of drivers? I have a mechanical keyboard i can hook up for the process if needed
4. What would be a good Distro for this process? My one IRL Linux friend always says Arch, period. I liked the idea of Debian as its what Steam OS is based on, and was going to use Mint's Debian version until this weekends events.
5. Is Manjaro a good compromise between ease of use of Mint and the control/freedom of Arch? My gut, peers, and research say I don't want an Ubuntu based distro. 

[Stepanos]

1. All Bootcamp does is partition the drive and download drivers necessary to install Windows. I don't think it does anything with Linux. If you want to resize partitions, you can just use Cmd + R at boot up to log into the recovery Disk Utility and resize your partitions from there.

 

2. CD/DVD would be best in a C2D machine. For shits and giggles, try creating a bootable Mac OS X USB drive in OS X and see if you can boot with in by holding option right as the Mac chime sounds on startup (before you see the Apple logo)

 

3. Provided you only need the basic keys and not the additional driver required features, a USB keyboard will work fine as it will be recognized by the kernel as a generic PnP keyboard.

 

4 and 5 are out of my expertise range. I always recommend Ubuntu for linux distros because thats what I always used.

[zactacular]

I think I will have to use a CD nothing I seem to do lets me even attempt to boot from the USB I made. 

[Half-Shot]

I never reccomend Arch to new Linux people. It's just asking too much usually on first go, you have to completely abandon everything you know about Windows before using it.

 

I think people tend to undersell the flexibility on both sides. Ubuntu/Debian/Whatever can run anything Arch can, but arch makes running those edge cases slightly easier. However, Arch requires you to remember how you put it together because the community is very unforgiving if you slip up on your own built (rightly so, how should they know what you did). Manjaro is a okay compromise but it's more sort of Frankenstein Arch, where it installs it for you but then obviously you have to maintain somebody elses crap.

 

Mint tends to hold back security updates which is why I don't recommend it often.

 

Ubuntu is nice. I use it on my laptop and it does the job.

 

Debian again is pretty much Vanilla Linux. It's a solid choice.