Hi all, thanks in advance for indulging a complete newbie! I’d like to try Linux on an 11-year-old MacBook Pro (gifted by a relative), but I don’t know where to start. What distribution would you recommend based on my background?
-Coming from the Mac world; haven’t used a PC/Windows since before the pandemic. I’d prefer something that feels similar to MacOS.
-Not a techie. I’ve forgotten everything (everything!) I ever learned about command line because I never ended up needing to use it, and I haven’t had to debug anything in a long time.
-What I’ll be using it for: accessing the internet, various kinds of creative projects that I’ll probably try making with FOSS software (something I’ve only recently started to look into), and making another attempt at learning programming (my interest will probably peter out before I get anywhere with it, though, because that’s what happened the last two times). Probably won’t be gaming. I’d prefer having the option to use mainstream office software in case anything happens to my current computer, but I don’t actually expect anything to happen to it in the next few years, so that’s just a nice-to-have.
-Priorities: works on old Mac hardware, good for privacy, decent software availability, not buggy, ability to avoid generative AI (i.e., no repeat of Apple installing the Image Playground app on my computer along with a software update, without the ability to remove it.)
It seems like a lot of people recommend Ubuntu or Linux Mint to beginners, but I’m seeing some people complaining that Ubuntu is has spyware(?) and forces things users don’t want, and it seems like Linux Mint is usually recommended to people coming from Windows, so IDK if either of those make sense for me. Advice/recommendations appreciated!
Mint would probably be a good starter distro, but since you’ve got an intel mac (I assume) there should be a decent number of choices out there. Having used both Mint and MacOS, I would say you probably won’t have very much trouble with the interface. Plus if you get stuck, everything should be pretty well documented so getting help should be relatively easy most of the time.
If you want something more Mac-like go with the Gnome destkop when Mint asks during setup, but personally I like Cinnamon on Mint.
Thanks! Yeah, I think it’s hilarious that I’ll have more options on this older Mac than I’d have on my current/newer Mac, which doesn’t have an Intel chip. Usually it’s the other way around, isn’t it?
Based on most of the comments here, I’m probably going to end up with Gnome, but I’ll check out Cinnamon too.
also: Cinnamon on Mint sounds like a delicious tea recipe. Why do all of the Linux things have such fun names? Cinnamon, Gnome, Fedora… maybe this is just a natural result of Linux having the penguin logo