Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Linux which Distro ?
- Thread starter Washac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
LaTeX is a replacement for troff and proff. I remember using proff back in the early 1980s on a DEC System-10 to format a report for class. I was always surprised when anything worked the way I expected.
When I got my hands on Pagemaker, TimeWorks DTP, Serif PagePlus, and Ventura Publisher, it was almost as though the angels started singing.
Um, yeah. Saying LaTeX is a replacement for troff is like saying a Ferrari is a replacement for a go-cart.
As an exercise, some years ago I typeset the Douay Rheims Bible in LaTeX. It took me about a day. Doing it in Pagemaker would have taken me several weeks.
TeX was the actual replacement and LaTeX was the pretty container. Besides, many go-carts turn and brake better than a Ferrari.
Yeah, but just try taking out your latest squeeze in a go-cart...
Back to disros...
Putting Linux on Macs, usually old ones, has been a breeze generally, but for my purposes, there's always a gotcha...
I like Mint, Mint does not like Bluetooth peripherals. Manjaro and Ubuntu are good for BT, but less keen on Manjaro. Ubuntu fine, but won't at the moment run BOINC, etc etc.
If I'm happy to use other mice and keyboards, then Mint gets the nod, although Ubuntu runs it a close second.
I'll get there. One day...
Putting Linux on Macs, usually old ones, has been a breeze generally, but for my purposes, there's always a gotcha...
I like Mint, Mint does not like Bluetooth peripherals. Manjaro and Ubuntu are good for BT, but less keen on Manjaro. Ubuntu fine, but won't at the moment run BOINC, etc etc.
If I'm happy to use other mice and keyboards, then Mint gets the nod, although Ubuntu runs it a close second.
I'll get there. One day...
Iḿ looking to put linux into a MP 3, 1, to run Davinci, Blender, etc... The main issue is the gpu drivers, this mac is running with a RX580... Iḿ inclined to a
Maybe you should try a Fedora based distro instead of those Debian you mentioned... Ultramarine, pehaps? Nobara?
I'll look into those at some point. Never had an issue on any Linux with HPU drivers. Yet.
Yesterday I spent almost the whole day trying different distros for a mid-2011 iMac. The goal was to re/install MacOSX but as Apple made it rather difficult for such old hardware I gave up and decided to install Linux. As it is not mine I wanted a conservative distro that once installed could work without touching and messing with it. I tried Slackware 15, Devuan 5, Elementary 7.1 but there was a pixelation problem when in graphics mode. This problem did not exist in the installed MacOS Catalina so a hardware problem was ruled out. Fedora was not in my list as his versions have too short life. Then ...
I tried Trisquel-11-live and that was it. It was love at first glance. Everything worked out of the box - ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, FaceTime Camera, microphone...
I installed LatteDock and put some shortcuts then touched here and there.
A minor issue was the default browser's (aBrowser) ublock origin efectivness. I tried installing Firefox but there were some dependencies problems and finally I downoaded the bz2 archive from Mozilla, extracted it and put links to the binary. I think this is the best manner to avoid future update problems. I installed ublockorigin and decentraleyes add-ons for Firefox.
Then created a user for the kids, then installed some games and educational programs.
Tommorow I will return the iMac to my colleague and in some days will comment the feedback. He is complete "novato" in Linux and has basic computer skills. We'll see the result from the experiment. He had decided to throw in the towel but I hope he will give it a try and finally love it.
In my opinion this mid2011 iMac works better with Trisquel 11 than with MacOS Catalina. I have no experience with an earlier version of MacOSX on this iMac.
I tried Trisquel-11-live and that was it. It was love at first glance. Everything worked out of the box - ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, FaceTime Camera, microphone...
I installed LatteDock and put some shortcuts then touched here and there.
A minor issue was the default browser's (aBrowser) ublock origin efectivness. I tried installing Firefox but there were some dependencies problems and finally I downoaded the bz2 archive from Mozilla, extracted it and put links to the binary. I think this is the best manner to avoid future update problems. I installed ublockorigin and decentraleyes add-ons for Firefox.
Then created a user for the kids, then installed some games and educational programs.
Tommorow I will return the iMac to my colleague and in some days will comment the feedback. He is complete "novato" in Linux and has basic computer skills. We'll see the result from the experiment. He had decided to throw in the towel but I hope he will give it a try and finally love it.
In my opinion this mid2011 iMac works better with Trisquel 11 than with MacOS Catalina. I have no experience with an earlier version of MacOSX on this iMac.
Interesting. For what its worth I've also been trying out various Linux distros on an old Mac - in my case a 2009 MacBook Pro.
The following had various significant issues with the hardware: ChromeOS Flex, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS
The following ran fine without any tweaking: Linux Mint Mate, Linux Mint Xfce, Zorin OS, Ubuntu LTS.
Of these, I've settled on Linux Mint Mate or Xfce (yet to decide which one)
Linux Mint Cinnamon was generally fine (and I prefer the interface to Mate and Xfce) but had an issue whereby it would not consistently suspend when closing the lid (issue was also present in Ubuntu Cinnamon). Could probably live with the issue but decided to go with one of the other Linux Mint editions.
Last edited:
There is the OS (Linux Mint, Ubuntu Budgie, etc), and there is the Desktop Environment.
Generally the OS will govern what hardware will work, and what software you can install.
The DE will govern how easy it is to use that OS, and how well things perform.
For example, the Mate and Xfce DEs tend to give you the most snappy response, but Mate is generally easier to use.
I have been struggling to find a system that works on my new Raspberry Pi 5 and lets me do everything I want.
I have settled on Ubuntu Budgie as the OS, as it lets me use Bluetooth and run MEGAsync for cloud storage. However, it is rather slow and uses lots of CPU so I installed the Mate DE on top of the Budgie OS.
Brilliant! Everything worked, and worked brilliantly quickly.
So, for me, the Ubuntu Budgie OS, with the Mate Desktop environment, is the optimal set up for one particular computer - the Raspberry Pi 5.
Alternatively, for my late 2015 iMac, I find that the Linux Mint OS, with the Cinnamon DE, is most useful.
12 January 2024 "Linux Mint 21.3 “Virginia” released!"
"Linux Mint 21.3 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2027."
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4624
https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
"Linux Mint 21.3 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2027."
https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4624
https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
What makes you say Mate is easier to use? I've haven't yet spent a lot of time using either, but on first impression (a few hours poking around in each) I don't see any big difference in ease of use.
Odd. On both my Macs and on other PC machines, Mint always fails to connect with these things for me. Or connects and then drops it. Apple and non-Apple mice, and most BT keyboards too. More research needed. Other distros, eg Manjaro KDE, all good. Manjaro Cinnamon - same issue.
More distro research. Zorin looks promising, happy with Apple BT kit. This is only a trial on a pc notebook as yet. Will also try the latest Mint Cinnamon, but not holding my breath that they've overhauled BT yet.
I spoke too soon...
random disconnects, difficult to get back in after screen lock. Apple peripherals really suck outside MacOS. The lack of a proper delete key on the smaller keyboards is also a bloody nuisance outside MacOS. Back to a Lenovo BT tablet keyboard and an ever-reliable Logitech M171...
Using Ventou you can test almost any OS on almost any hardware, even Linux distros on you Mac, without installing:
www.ventoy.net
Thanks @Dayo....
Ventoy
Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.
you might want to take a look at:
MX-23.1 Raspberry PI OS respin – MX Linux
mxlinux.org
..released on 23 Dec 2023.
youtube for a quick intro:
Im using that on my RPi 400.
Its interesting using MX-linux on a raspberry pi and both my aging iMacs 5,1 and 10,1
I m also planning to switch to linux.
I have tried fedora, zorin , linux mint , ubuntu.
But none of them are giving me an option to set the color depth to 10 bit. I have a RX 5700 connected to OLED TV.
Windows 11 and my hackintosh both are able to give 10 bit RGB when connected via DP to HDMI Adapter to my OLED TV.The OLED TV is a sony A95L bought in 2023.
But in linux, there is no option to set color depth. I have searched for this issue on forums but there is no proper answer on how to get this done the right way.
Any linux distro installation always gives 8 bit RGB. The colors look horrible. This is really stopping me to switch over to linux.
The display settings/preferences on any linux in 2024 should give basic options to set Resolution/refresh rates/RGB/YUV/color depth. These settings have been available in windows since ages. But in linux still no go. Atleast i m able to set 4k and 120 hz. So thats a good progress.
if anyone knows how to set the color depth to 10 bit in ANY linux distro, please let me know.
I have tried fedora, zorin , linux mint , ubuntu.
But none of them are giving me an option to set the color depth to 10 bit. I have a RX 5700 connected to OLED TV.
Windows 11 and my hackintosh both are able to give 10 bit RGB when connected via DP to HDMI Adapter to my OLED TV.The OLED TV is a sony A95L bought in 2023.
But in linux, there is no option to set color depth. I have searched for this issue on forums but there is no proper answer on how to get this done the right way.
Any linux distro installation always gives 8 bit RGB. The colors look horrible. This is really stopping me to switch over to linux.
The display settings/preferences on any linux in 2024 should give basic options to set Resolution/refresh rates/RGB/YUV/color depth. These settings have been available in windows since ages. But in linux still no go. Atleast i m able to set 4k and 120 hz. So thats a good progress.
if anyone knows how to set the color depth to 10 bit in ANY linux distro, please let me know.