My MacBook Pro 8,1 and another Linux distro...

[Portreve]

Hey Folks!

I'm stuck at home for two weeks after my thyroid surgery¹, and to be honest, I'm a bit bored and looking for a project to keep my mind going. As you may possibly know by now, I bought an M1 MacBook Air a couple months back, and I really like it a lot. However, I also have a 2011 MacBook Pro, which was my main machine until last March when I bought an HP Envy TE01-0014 tower. Now, it sort of sits around the house, not being used all that much, and I think it's kind of depressed, really. I'm afraid of rusting of some of its metal parts if it should start to cry.

After I got my HP tower up and running, ultimately I reinstalled macOS High Sierra on it. However, that version is now highly dated. What to do?

I would like the community to vote for which Linux distro I should put on it. However, in asking for the community to decide, I do need to qualify that request a bit. It must be a distro which can actually be installed on a 2011 MBP. So, for instance, CentOS is out, as is Solus, since neither seems to support the hardware I've got. Oh, and I should add that by "install" I mean to have it installed on bare metal, not in a virtual machine.

I know for a fact, for example, that Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE will work on it. I also suspect Elementary OS should (since they do target Mac users). Debian probably will work, though I haven't actually tried any version of Debian on it before.

---

¹ For those who may be wondering, I'm doing fine. I had Papillary carcinoma, which normally only affects one lobe (which describes my situation) that has been removed, and it was pretty much in the middle of the lobe and nowhere near anything else, so it looks like I'm good to go.

[MurphCID]

MX Linux 19.4 XFCE maybe

[absque fenestris]

Because your MacBook was a bit bored, you could put a GnuStep on it and tell it funny stories about Uncle Steve and his machinations.
Then something simple: what about bunsenlabs?
If that's too fast for you, a little visit to Debian. KDE flavor?
Or still Debian but rather minty in the LMDE version ... ?


and if you are still bored and feel a certain masochistic streak, you could have a look at GNU/Hurd and see what the microkernel is doing...

[dorsetUK]

With ab's mention of Uncle Steve, how about BeOS?

Well, OK, it's modern version, Haiku.
https://www.haiku-os.org/

Bit a background.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS

[Portreve]

Ah ha, some suggestions already. Let's see what we've got.

MX Linux 19.4 XFCE maybe

That one looks kind of interesting.

Because your MacBook was a bit bored, you could put a GnuStep on it and tell it funny stories about Uncle Steve and his machinations.
Then something simple: what about bunsenlabs?
If that's too fast for you, a little visit to Debian. KDE flavor?
Or still Debian but rather minty in the LMDE version ... ?


and if you are still bored and feel a certain masochistic streak, you could have a look at GNU/Hurd and see what the microkernel is doing...

Huh. I've never heard of Bunsenlabs OS before. I have heard of CrunchBang Linux, and in fact I think a long time ago on very, very different x86 hardware than I've got right now, I even booted it up.

If you look up Gnu/Hurd in the dictionary, it says "See 'stubborn' '³as a mule'".

With ab's mention of Uncle Steve, how about BeOS?
......

OMG, BeOS rises again? Holy ****. Pretty much right up there on my list of things I never thought I'd see happen. That really makes my nipples hard, as Jean-Louis Gassée used to say.

And as for Uncle Steve, wouldn't that make him roll over in his grave.

[MurphCID]

BeOs OMG! What a blast from the past. I still recommend MX linux it is Debian based, and should work just fine.

[absque fenestris]

...
If you look up Gnu/Hurd in the dictionary, it says "See 'stubborn' '³as a mule'".
...

Not interested in microkernel?

As of 2012, the Mach-based GNU Hurd is also functional and included in testing versions of Arch Linux and Debian.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microkernel & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_(kernel) & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fuchsia#Kernel

[Portreve]

...
If you look up Gnu/Hurd in the dictionary, it says "See 'stubborn' '³as a mule'".
...

Not interested in microkernel?

I'll answer that two different ways. The first is to (I guess) explain my joke. The folks involved with GNU as well as Hurd have been at this since the 1980s, having refused to entirely give up. They are, therefore, as stubborn as a mule.

The second way I'll answer this is I'm not a priest, worshiping in the House of Linus. I've nothing against using a non-monolithic kernel. I am wondering, however, how directly I could "just install it" on my MBP. I did look it up, but I don't see how I would go about the process.


Separately, I looked into MX Linux, and it's run by people who are of the anti-systemd crowd. No thanks. They have always seemed like a mix of "we hate change" as well as kook conspiracy nuts, and there's enough of that going on out there in the real world of today.

[absque fenestris]

- No need to explain jokes in more detail. The mention of GNU/Hurd on my part had a deliberately malicious component (and I never got Debian's version to run either).
More serious was the BunsenLabs Linux proposal. I have installed it several times, for myself and others in the VirtualBox - I would be curious how fast it would run on your MacBook as a bare-metal installation...

[Portreve]

- No need to explain jokes in more detail. The mention of GNU/Hurd on my part had a deliberately malicious component (and I never got Debian's version to run either).
More serious was the BunsenLabs Linux proposal. I have installed it several times, for myself and others in the VirtualBox - I would be curious how fast it would run on your MacBook as a bare-metal installation...

I did install it on my HP tower in VB, and you're right: it is very smooth. Of course, it's an incredibly minimal sort of distro, so by rights it ought to run fast. Then again, so did both Fedora 34 and openSUSE 15.2 (as well as 15.3).

Vis à vis this thread, I guess I was kind of hoping someone would say, "Well, y'know, Portreve, if you were to install 𝑥 distro, then you could start learning about 𝑦 topic." Maybe something network related, or some kind of scripting or even programming thing that might be useful for a hopeful future network and/or sys admin. (For the record, I know just the tiniest bit about bash scripting, and to all intents and purposes nothing at all related to programming.)

[Portreve]

Alright folks, I guess I'm going to install Fedora 34 on it. A decision needed to be made, so I made it.

Any thoughts here on educational projects I can take up on it? I mean, I assume many if not all such projects could be done on LM, too, but I'm looking for something to do with that laptop.

absque fenestris, MurphCID, dorsetUK, Moem, Pjotr, xenopeek, catweazel... anybody?

I wanna stretch mah brainz!

---

EDIT: I have now successfully installed Fedora 34 on my MBP, done all the updates, started installing some additional software, enabled the Fusion repositories so that I could install the Broadcom drivers, then installed them and rebooted and *poof!* I now am up and running with my internal WiFi. Yay!

What's next?

[MurphCID]

Alright folks, I guess I'm going to install Fedora 34 on it. A decision needed to be made, so I made it.

Any thoughts here on educational projects I can take up on it? I mean, I assume many if not all such projects could be done on LM, too, but I'm looking for something to do with that laptop.

absque fenestris, MurphCID, dorsetUK, Moem, Pjotr, xenopeek, catweazel... anybody?

I wanna stretch mah brainz!

---

EDIT: I have now successfully installed Fedora 34 on my MBP, done all the updates, started installing some additional software, enabled the Fusion repositories so that I could install the Broadcom drivers, then installed them and rebooted and *poof!* I now am up and running with my internal WiFi. Yay!

What's next?

I hope Fedora works out. I have not really tried a Red Hat type distro since Mandrake.

[MurphCID]

...
If you look up Gnu/Hurd in the dictionary, it says "See 'stubborn' '³as a mule'".
...

Not interested in microkernel?

I'll answer that two different ways. The first is to (I guess) explain my joke. The folks involved with GNU as well as Hurd have been at this since the 1980s, having refused to entirely give up. They are, therefore, as stubborn as a mule.

The second way I'll answer this is I'm not a priest, worshiping in the House of Linus. I've nothing against using a non-monolithic kernel. I am wondering, however, how directly I could "just install it" on my MBP. I did look it up, but I don't see how I would go about the process.


Separately, I looked into MX Linux, and it's run by people who are of the anti-systemd crowd. No thanks. They have always seemed like a mix of "we hate change" as well as kook conspiracy nuts, and there's enough of that going on out there in the real world of today.

Ok, I did not get that feeling, but you are probably correct. I do like their distro though, if Mint did not exist I would be running MX (Just not on the Darter Pro...).

[Portreve]

Hey folks...

Ok, so, it's been another week, and it looks like the situation has changed somewhat. And, in an effort to keep this post from turning into a novel, I'm trying to simplify all my thoughts. That will probably have the effect of making this look like I'm leapfrogging, but that's how it is. As always, I'm totally open to input, and in fact am looking forward to it.

First... I am continuing to read my way through the All-In-One CompTIA Network+ Certification book by Mike Myers. The subject is rather dry, but Mr. Myers really does his best not to be boring about it. I also have the eBook version of Ted Jordan and Sandor Strohmayer's All-In-One CompTIA Linux+ Certification book. I have only glanced at the first bit of it and haven't truly started seriously reading through it because that's got to wait until I'm done with Network+ and have gotten that certification. However...

Second... I have come to the conclusion that vìs a vìs what distro to run on my MBP, I've been going about the decision-making process all wrong. Yes, I need to learn about remote system control and network file sharing and all that stuff, but for the most part it doesn't matter what distro you're using for any of that stuff. To the degree that there's variances between distros because of, say, package management systems used or perhaps some quirks of different tools or different versions of tools used, I think it's better to fully get up to speed on one thing, and then worry about variations on a theme afterward. Nobody expects someone to start off on Day 1 knowing everything.

Third... What actually matters is being well-rounded and being flexible on Day 1 (or, for that matter, any other day), and in today's world, that means being able to write scripts and doing some amount of programming and other development stuff. That means, I'm less worried about the networking-specific stuff, since I'm already handling that with studying for N+. So, I started looking at different distros and what they offer OOB for doing software coding and such. I've also been chatting with others regarding languages to start with, and what it comes down to (no surprise here, obviously) is bash and Python. So, in terms of having something to, as I wrote above, "stretch mah brainz" I'm going to take on learning about coding. I think it's going to be fun, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that if you're going to try and find a way to motivate yourself to do something, then make that thing something you find intrinsically interesting.

Fourth... So, then, what distro do I want to play with? Well, I've been having some odd glitches here and there with LM 20.2, and while it's nothing I've found, like, y'know, "really bad" or anything like that, I decided to use it as an excuse to try something different. I've also come to the conclusion that I really don't give a frak about Windows (at least for the time being) and particularly since what I'm looking to do isn't actually platform-specific, to just get rid of it. I still have the factory flash drive so that if I need to put it on this system again, I can totally do so. Now that I feel as though I've got my priorities in order, I started looking around for distros to run and do development in (i.e. to use as my daily driver) and I've settled on Solus 4.3. I played with Solus a few years ago, having been able (somehow) to briefly get it up and going on my MBP. However, I was never able to do so afterward, but now that I have a "proper PC" I decided to give it another go. Wow! I'm actually really enjoying this distro.

Fifth... I'm still financially contributing $5 (~ 4,25 €) a month to the Clem Needs A Yacht For Software Development fund. LM and this community will always be home for me.

Sixth... There is NOOOOOOOOOOOOO... sixth item.

[MurphCID]

Glad to hear you have a plan. Solus is not one I have ever looked at so have 0% knowledge of this distribution. I plan on doing something similar after I retire, just not as a career. I am suprised that you have issues with 20.2, I guess I have been lucky. I have a Macbook Pro 13" from 2015 with the Retina screen, that sits in the desk and does nothing, so I am thinking of following your lead, and putting Linux on it, I will admit I have not made up my mind yet though.

[revmacian]

Hey folks...

Ok, so, it's been another week, and it looks like the situation has changed somewhat. And, in an effort to keep this post from turning into a novel, I'm trying to simplify all my thoughts. That will probably have the effect of making this look like I'm leapfrogging, but that's how it is. As always, I'm totally open to input, and in fact am looking forward to it.

First... I am continuing to read my way through the All-In-One CompTIA Network+ Certification book by Mike Myers. The subject is rather dry, but Mr. Myers really does his best not to be boring about it. I also have the eBook version of Ted Jordan and Sandor Strohmayer's All-In-One CompTIA Linux+ Certification book. I have only glanced at the first bit of it and haven't truly started seriously reading through it because that's got to wait until I'm done with Network+ and have gotten that certification. However...

Second... I have come to the conclusion that vìs a vìs what distro to run on my MBP, I've been going about the decision-making process all wrong. Yes, I need to learn about remote system control and network file sharing and all that stuff, but for the most part it doesn't matter what distro you're using for any of that stuff. To the degree that there's variances between distros because of, say, package management systems used or perhaps some quirks of different tools or different versions of tools used, I think it's better to fully get up to speed on one thing, and then worry about variations on a theme afterward. Nobody expects someone to start off on Day 1 knowing everything.

Third... What actually matters is being well-rounded and being flexible on Day 1 (or, for that matter, any other day), and in today's world, that means being able to write scripts and doing some amount of programming and other development stuff. That means, I'm less worried about the networking-specific stuff, since I'm already handling that with studying for N+. So, I started looking at different distros and what they offer OOB for doing software coding and such. I've also been chatting with others regarding languages to start with, and what it comes down to (no surprise here, obviously) is bash and Python. So, in terms of having something to, as I wrote above, "stretch mah brainz" I'm going to take on learning about coding. I think it's going to be fun, and if there's anything I've learned, it's that if you're going to try and find a way to motivate yourself to do something, then make that thing something you find intrinsically interesting.

Fourth... So, then, what distro do I want to play with? Well, I've been having some odd glitches here and there with LM 20.2, and while it's nothing I've found, like, y'know, "really bad" or anything like that, I decided to use it as an excuse to try something different. I've also come to the conclusion that I really don't give a frak about Windows (at least for the time being) and particularly since what I'm looking to do isn't actually platform-specific, to just get rid of it. I still have the factory flash drive so that if I need to put it on this system again, I can totally do so. Now that I feel as though I've got my priorities in order, I started looking around for distros to run and do development in (i.e. to use as my daily driver) and I've settled on Solus 4.3. I played with Solus a few years ago, having been able (somehow) to briefly get it up and going on my MBP. However, I was never able to do so afterward, but now that I have a "proper PC" I decided to give it another go. Wow! I'm actually really enjoying this distro.

Fifth... I'm still financially contributing $5 (~ 4,25 €) a month to the Clem Needs A Yacht For Software Development fund. LM and this community will always be home for me.

Sixth... There is NOOOOOOOOOOOOO... sixth item.

I don't know much about your history, so this suggestion could be completely wrong. Have you tried learning Python 3? I needed a project last year to keep my mind from going bonkers, and I took on something that I felt would educate me as well as help me in computer work. So, I began learning Python 3. I wrote a few apps and a couple games and then noticed something.. the more projects I created the more fascinating this wonderful programming language became.. it was like someone opened a door to a whole new world that I never knew existed and there was literally no end to what I could do with it. I had tried learning the C programming language years ago, but this Python thing.. this was a whole different ball of wax.

[absque fenestris]

Hi Portreve

I already have an idea for a project: make Scribus more user-friendly. For example, a few construction sites in Scribus that have been due for years:

• flexible size adjustment of the toolbar icons (other Qt programs can do so)

• allow the Color Mixer at least as a floating window and move it from "Edit" to "Window" in the menu

• the Color Wheel? Well, it's an extension - anyway, almost everything is wrong with it ... GIMP, Krita, Inkscape may serve as better examples

Then further:

• dockable windows - the current state (with floating windows) hardly allows working on smaller laptop monitors

• a clear decision for RGB or CMYK in the Document Setup (the current state almost provokes errors in the prepress process)

Wouldn't it be a challenge?

[MurphCID]

Ok, how is it working? Still good and stable?

[Portreve]

Hi Portreve

I already have an idea for a project: make Scribus more user-friendly. For example, a few construction sites in Scribus that have been due for years:

• flexible size adjustment of the toolbar icons (other Qt programs can do so)

• allow the Color Mixer at least as a floating window and move it from "Edit" to "Window" in the menu

• the Color Wheel? Well, it's an extension - anyway, almost everything is wrong with it ... GIMP, Krita, Inkscape may serve as better examples

Then further:

• dockable windows - the current state (with floating windows) hardly allows working on smaller laptop monitors

• a clear decision for RGB or CMYK in the Document Setup (the current state almost provokes errors in the prepress process)

Wouldn't it be a challenge?

Sure, those would all be cool things for Scribus.

[MurphCID]

Try Mageia 8, the direct descendent of my first Linux Distribution: Mandrake! I am thinking of trying this on the Darter Pro to see if Coreboot will allow it to work.