Oh, OK. Very different use case!

If you’re at the level of knowing all this stuff and also running your own server, and you’re finding PopOS Cosmic to be still in its beta days, then it’s probably not for someone like me. I don’t really know what dnf vs. apt means yet (still just trying to wrap my head around what a package manager does). A lot of people keep recommending Gnome, though, so I’ll probably still try that and maybe Fedora.

Thanks for looking into this and finding that Github documentation! All of this stuff still sounds complicated to me, but I’m probably going to have to do some learning and kitting up anyway. It turns out that this computer’s battery is toast because it sat in a closet for years, and my relative never recharged it in all that time. I might as well look into a new Wi-Fi card and maybe a new SSD as well, if I’m going to be fixing this thing up with new parts anyway. Might have to wait a bit longer than I thought to get started, though. I don’t know what anything else you mentioned in this post is, but I can learn. I’ll probably try to figure out the Facetime HD drivers eventually.

Yeah, I’ll definitely want the security patches on whatever timeline. I just don’t want other kinds of updates frequently.

Zorin looks nice too! Thanks.

re using a VM - I like the idea of trying out different distros and desktop environments with less risk. It does seem like a large part of the greatness of Linux is having so many options, and it would be a shame not to experiment. Thanks for the tip!

My understanding is that Asahi Linux is designed for newer Macs with a different kind of chip from the one I plan on experimenting with. I might try it in the future if I decide I like Linux and want it on my current computer, though.

If it’s just rolling back a package once in two years, that doesn’t sound so bad. I don’t see myself downloading updates once a week, though. I’d rather have fewer updates, especially if they’re well-tested and I can set things up so they happen overnight while I’m sleeping.

I really like knowing that I won’t be stuck with whatever setup I start with. Thank you!

Oh, OK. Once in half a year sounds just fine, I don’t think I’d actually want it to be more often than that. I do like stability. Thanks!

Oh no, I was half-convinced I should start with Linux Mint based on other comments, but if the wifi and sound don’t work on a 2016 Mac, I imagine that would be true for a 2015 one too. F that. You said that was a problem out of the box - does that mean you were able to get the wifi and sound working consistently later on, after all?

I don’t want to invest in new hardware right now, but I might look into Dell next time I need new hardware if I end up liking Linux.

Interesting! Looks a lot like MacOS, maybe a slightly older and simpler version, which isn’t necessarily bad.

Thanks! Good to know.

Linux Mint sounds like a solid choice after all. Hmm, occasional flakiness/garbage characters with the Cinnamon desktop environment? I’d rather avoid that but could deal with it if I really needed to. I do tend to prefer things that “just work” though. I’m probably going to try GNOME first based on a lot of the comments here.

2014-2015 Macbooks are/were problematic? Uh oh. The computer I’d be using is an early 2015 Macbook Pro Retina, 13". A1502.

Thanks for all the Ubuntu info! Yeah, that’s not as concerning as I’d thought, but it still doesn’t sound like the best choice for me. Based on a lot of the other comments here, I’ll probably end up going with Fedora or Mint.

Yeah, I really like the idea of something with a large userbase. I’d definitely be relying on support from forums if anything went wrong, as I don’t really know anyone who uses Linux. Thank you!

It’s nice that you can switch DE’s easily with Linux. Makes it a lot less intimidating to choose one!

yeah, haven’t tried LibreOffice but it seems like a good way to go! I do worry about Track Changes having issues (that’s been an important function for me in the past), but I’m not planning to use this computer for work right now, so that’s not a dealbreaker.

Thanks for all of this! Yeah, I’m not sure whether I’ll need to dual boot or not since this won’t be my main work computer, but I’ll keep that in mind.

Everyone seems to be recommending Gnome. I’ll check out Cosmic too. At first glance, it looks pretty cool, but I don’t totally know what I’m looking for yet since I haven’t really had to look at desktop environment choices before.

re Fedora - very well maintained and stable sounds excellent! I’m assuming this applies to both Fedora Silverblue and Fedora Cosmic? Might look into Pop!_OS as well, if it’s popular I’m guessing I could find resources to troubleshoot anything that goes wrong.

I’m curious about Atomic options. That sounds like a great option for someone who’s kinda worried about screwing things up, especially if I really do get into programming this time and fall into the rabbit hole of fiddling with computer things. I’ll definitely read up on that.

“It just works…” oh, man. You’re giving me deja vu from when I first tried a Mac. This is the #1 reason I’ve stuck with Macs until now, outside of when my pre-pandemic work/school required me to use a PC. OK, sold. Definitely going to be looking at Linux Mint!

Awesome! That’s very promising. It looks like a lot of other people are recommending Fedora, too. I’ll definitely check it out!

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

OK, good to know! Yeah, it seems like a lot of people are recommending the Gnome desktop environment. I’ll look into Fedora for the distro.

Interesting, what do you mean by “fresh”?

Yeah, it’s an Intel Mac. Intel Core i5, which appears to be in that x86-64 range if I’m understanding correctly.

I think I’d prefer stability over rolling release. One of the things I’ve really appreciated about Apple’s stuff is not having to deal with zillions of updates, like I did with my last PC. I’m not sure what you consider to be tinkering “a bit” with a computer, but I haven’t had to do that in a long time, and I suspect I’ll be happiest keeping that to a minimum (at least for now). So based on this, I’ll look at Fedora and Mint.

Thank you for all of this info!