It’s #BlueFriday and let’s celebrate by doing something good for the planet. The most eco-friendly device is still the one you already own!
Install GNU/Linux and run new & old HW more efficiently and for longer, reducing the disproportionate #carbon footprint from device production.
Donate the savings to #KDE and #FOSS projects to show your love for all the amazing things we achieve when we work together:
I want to! I have a 2019 MBP that had a corporate image on it, I mistakenly wiped the drive before pulling driver stuff off of it.
Wanted to install something like Mint but saw all the driver issues without having access to the original OSX files. Haven’t looked into many other distros yet
Suggestions welcome, any Linux distro is worth trying since it’s still a solid piece of hardware.
I’m not sure I understand the problem correctly, but couldn’t you reinstall MacOS, get whatever you need from it, then install your preferred distro?
It is a bit finicky, but possible to create a MacOS installer without access to a working Mac, here’s how on Windows and Linux
Work system, have to return it next year for the new cycle but they just wipe it - which I already did (oops) and to reinstall I’d need a reinstall key (and don’t want the hassle, already tried).
Thanks, I’ll check that out! I’ll take finicky over bricked, at this point it’s just to see if I can get it to work for a couple months ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
I don’t have experience with post-2015 models, so don’t know what your issues with that model are. Wireless is easily solved with 3rd party drivers, don’t know the state of more exotic stuff (touch bar?). The base functionality shouldn’t be a problem. Have you tried booting it off the live USB?
Mint isn’t appropriate for relatively new hardware, although you can certainty make it work and your laptop is right on the cusp. A bigger issue is that it’s X11 as opposed to the default Wayland and not very up to date on modern laptop paradigms, like gestures, seamless transitions between states, etc., especially if you have macOS muscle memory.
I’d recommend Ubuntu as a first distro and once you have everything working, look into other options, like Fedora.
If you choose btrfs as your file system, you can install multiple OS with the same home so you can experiment away.
That all helps, thanks! I didn’t realize it with Mint - I’m more in line with Linux muscle memory 😁
Mac for work, Windows for my last role (15+ years IT), Linux was my daily driver for home (Ubuntu on desktop, Xubuntu on laptop) until my Win10 desktop (which is next in line for an OS replacement)
then you got no problem, Jules.
as to wireless, that’s solved with 3rd party drivers getting enabled in Ubuntu-like distros (which Mint is) and installing the driver from the drivers control panel pane. how do you install it without internet? you tether your phone to the laptop via USB and allow it to access the wifi. on Android that’s done via the USB Tethering menu.
on fedora you enable rpmfusion and install
broadcom-wlafter you’ve done the full system upgrade post install and rebooted; otherwise you won’t be able to boot.it’s possible you’ll need firmware for the webcam; 2011-2015 models don’t need it, no idea what the deal is for yours. and especially no idea for the abomination that’s the touch bar.
after install, install and enable
mbpfanormacfanctld(just one of those, depending on the distro) so your laptop don’t explode.@dropcase
I’m running @EndeavourOS on my 2011 MBP without any issues. Have you tried running any lived distro to see what hardware works and doesn’t work?
@be4foss
Oh nice! Yeah, I tried the Mint (Cinnamon) live distro and couldn’t get the wireless to show, for starters. There seemed to be a lot of hoops to jump through, and I used to just throw a distro on HW and figure it out. Apple is a different beast, and since I wiped it I couldn’t pull anything.
I’ll try Endeavour next - not tied to any distro, just familiar with (X/K)Ubuntu most recently (I’m an older bearded Unix/Linux fan, ha). Much appreciated!