Hi all, I'm dipping my toes into Linux again after almost 30 years, and I'm looking specifically for any distros that will run on a mid-2010 Macbook (Intel Penryn-3M Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM and a 1T HDD). Video is integrated Nvidia GeForce 320M.
I've already tried Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon booting off USB (but not installing) and it runs well, even wifi and video, no hitches at all. And going forward I'd be fine with Mint from what I've seen so far.
But before settling in on one distro, I'd like to try as many as will run on this ancient Macbook, because my endpoint is to eventually convert my much newer Windows machines to Linux, so I'm not just deciding for the Macbook. I am, however, limited to that as my test machine for the moment.
I'm not at all new to tech, but consider me a noob to Linux, esp Linux GUIs: last time I ran it in the early 90s it was text only. I don't even remember what flavor it was, lol. So yeah, I'm starting from scratch here but can pick it up quickly if I'm pointed in the right directions.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
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Many thanks to everyone who gave me their time and made suggestions. I was looking for myself as well, so now I have many distros to try, lol. I have checked the system requirements and install directions for each of the following, and here is the list I have so far of distros that will work on this old MacBook (not in any particular order):
Will definitely try
Linux Mint 21.2
OpenSUSE Leap 15.5
AntiX 23
Debian 12 "Bookworm" with Xfce
Peppermint OS
Linux Lite 6.4
MX Linux 23 (after RAM upgrade)
Pop! OS 22.04 (after RAM upgrade)
Might also try, but might not (various reasons):
Zorin OS 16.3 Core and Lite
Solus 4.4 "Harmony" with Budgie (after RAM upgrade)
Fedora with Xfce
Thanks again!
I have a bit of bad news. Ventoy is not supported on Macs. Mac minis, Macbooks, just Mac hardware in general as far as I can tell.
But it's a fact that's buried deep into the Github notes when you go looking for support; if you're not running a Mac there's no way you would have known. But there it is:
https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/282
https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/381
https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/246
https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/issues/1056
But this comment especially from the repository owner was delightful after I'd already done everything suggested and more:
Lol, no. No more try, though at least this post let me know it was not user failure. But I want you to know it was a great suggestion, I did learn more along the way so it wasn't all a waste of time, and I'll definitely try Ventoy again when I get to non-Apple machines.
Thought I should tell you just in case you run into another Mac user. And thank you for the well wishes -- we're both nerds, so one of us disappearing into tech at odd moments is standard operating procedure around here. Happy Labor Day if you're in the US.
I indeed did not knew that.
And actually I would not have thought that this would affect ventoy.
but now we know.
is there also a different procedure to write bootable media for macbooms?
edit: thanks for digging and replying. some will for sure appreciate your post in the future. good luck anyway. have you found yet a suitable distro?
Well, now I'm back to one USB at a time for Macs, using Rufus to do the deed and just overwriting the ones I know I won't like. Same as it ever was. I think the problem has to do with how Ventoy interacts with the boot process that involves assumptions about Mac architecture; everything the author suggested, like enabling Grub2, just laughed and flashed the ol' cursor. Not all Macs are the same under the hood and there have been some fairly big swings in architecture over the years, so when I read that he had not ever tested it specifically on a Macbook it made me think he tested it on one other Mac somewhere and that was enough for him, lol. I still think it's genius just not on Macs.
Some of the distros I can try now; others have to wait until I get more memory in the Macbook. So right now I'm just doing preliminary look-sees just to find out if I like a given distro, and if it will find drivers and do hibernate without an issue. Funny thing is that one I can't really look at yet except via review videos may be the one I go with: OpenSUSE Leap. As far as I can tell, it has no Live USB trial, you have to install it. But it's incredibly feature rich, can bend to a user's needs even if those needs aren't foreseen out of the box, it's not overly CLI dependent but CLI tools are there if you prefer them, has an extensive selection of software, supports multiple package handlers, and most importantly, the wiki is very complete. I just can't install it until I get more RAM in the test box, lol.
I expect similar with Debian, to be honest, just because it's so robust, though Debian does support live USB preview. Same with Pop! OS, there is a live USB preview but I have to wait until I get more RAM into the test box.
But of the ones I've tried so far, Linux Lite 6.4 seemed kludgy and repellent (not sure why, but I hated it); Zorin OS 16.3 Core was visually gorgeous but seemed VERY limited in other ways (maybe the paid tier would be different); Solus 4.4 "Harmony" with Budgie was responsive, intuitive, and fabulous to use but I need to look under the hood further, and Linux Mint 21.2 remains the winner so far, but I would rather go with a different desktop than Cinnamon (I do not find Cinnamon intuitive) so it's on the list to retry with Kfce.
So I'm still looking. And now I have an in-law with an old MacBook Pro who is also paying close attention in case I find something, lol. But it's all free and it's been years since I did something like this, so I'm happy. Thanks again for your help!