I’m on board that we need to become independent from big tech. As someone who is fond of the Mac user experience, from choosing hardware to how you navigate through apps, I need a guide to make the switch.
real mice have more than 2 buttons.
I’d also recommend installing UTM on your Mac and paying string with different distros in a virtual environment.
I’d recommend Fedora KDE Plasma.
You should look at getting a laptop from Starlabs with Ubuntu preinstalled on it.
I was also suggested purityc, framework, and system76, what is especially good about starlabs?
The quality of their hardware is very high and reminds me of macbook pros that I’ve had in the past. They test their laptops on Ubuntu, so if you choose to have that preinstalled you know that everything will just work. I’ve run Debian and Fedora on mine and both have been fine too. The other good things in my book are that they use Coreboot which is an open source bios and their customer support is excellent.
Thanks for sharing!
Don’t.
You like the user experience, you like the hardware, you don’t need to switch to linux to become independent from big tech.
Even if you needed to switch your operating system, what computer are you gonna use it on that isn’t under the control of big tech (however you choose to define that)?
Even if you had a computer you understood the hardware of and ordered in a group buy from a small manufacturer, and therefore wasn’t under the control of big tech, the linux operating system has thousands of core components maintained or developed by people who are in the employ of big tech to do just that! Are you really out from under the thumb of big tech when they’re paying the people that do the lions share of work in key components of your operating system who just so happen to always seem to make choices in that role which align with their bosses needs?
What might be better than switching from mac to linux would be considering exactly what big tech you’re trying to get away from and why, then doing so on the system you already understand and feel comfortable with.
From a Linux beginner: I switched from mac with 0 knowledge of Linux. Did some searching, found Ubuntu Budgie, haven’t switched since. I bring it up cuz I was specifically looking for something that looked Mac similar, and it came up. It’s not as Mac as I originally thought, but I find it pretty approachable so I figured I’d share.
I think some more advanced users have issues with Ubuntu, I’ll leave them to comment. There may also be better options for Mac feel, perhaps those mentioned. For me, this was Mac enough I haven’t switched away and I haven’t gone back. Happy searching! :)
I’m a long term Mac user and have been periodically playing with Linux because I want to fully switch eventually. (full disclosure I currently still have a MacBook I use as well as a Linux desktop)
I’ve tried Ubuntu, Debian, Elementary, and probably a few others I’ve forgotten, but the first one I’ve really felt is a viable daily driver OS is Bazzite.
I strongly recommend Bazzite, and I personally prefer the Gnome variant.
Bazzite gives you:
- easy way to update everything in one place
- “App Store” like application to find most apps you’ll need
- all the basic drivers and utilities you’ll need out of the box
- a “Files” application that feels like Finder
- a “Document Viewer” application that feels like Preview (although it’s not as powerful)
- a quick search feature that’s a lot like Apple’s Spotlight, and honestly is way more reliable than Spotlight in more recent macOS releases
- multitouch trackpad gesture support out of the box
- a Settings app that is pretty straightforward to navigate and controls most of the things you would care about
- There are other settings apps for finer tweaking. I know that sounds confusing, but Linux people wouldn’t complain if it wasn’t possible to change every detail somehow. Bazzite does a good job of making the important stuff accessible in the main settings app IMO, so you generally don’t have to worry about the deeper options.
Here’s a guide to get you started:
- Go here: https://bazzite.gg/
- Fill out the dropdowns (Q: What hardware are you using? A: Desktop, Q: Who is the vendor of your primary GPU? A: this depends, it’s important to get it right, ask for help if you are unsure, Q: What desktop environment do you prefer? A: I recommend gnome, but KDE is great too, Q: Do you want Steam Gaming Mode? A: No, I want a traditional desktop experience)
- Click the “download Bazzite …” button
- Make a USB stick into a bootable Bazzite installer (I recommend using https://etcher.balena.io/)
- Boot your computer from the USB stick. How to do this depends on the motherboard, but generally means holding down a key while booting (on a Mac it’s Option, on other computers it’s often something like Del or F2 or F12 or something) This will bring you to a menu that you navigate with keyboard arrows until you find the option to boot from the USB
- Follow the steps from the installer. It’s pretty user friendly.
Note that this will delete all data in the USB you use and the drive you install Bazzite on
Once you have installed Bazzite, here are a few programs I’d recommend (these can be found in the “Bazaar”, which is an “App Store” like way to get programs.
- VLC (like QuickTime in macOS, but honestly VLC is way more powerful)
- LibreOffice (there are a couple FOSS Office suite options, this is the one I personally recommend)
- KdenLive (video editing - like iMovie or Final Cut)
- GIMP (like Adobe Photoshop)
- Disk Usage Analyzer (like DaisyDisk on Mac), if you’ve ever used that
- Mailspring (I haven’t found an email app that is quite as nice as Apple’s but Mailspring is the one I’m currently using)
If you have any other questions let me know! I’m happy to help.
Bazzite mostly just works in good part because it’s based on Fedora, which mostly just works.
I’ve been daily driving Bazzite with Gnome too for the last few weeks! It works perfectly fine, but I was weirdly unhappy with the aesthetic of it, despite knowing for a fact that I love Gnome, especially the bare-bones Gnome that CachyOS has.
I only found out about Gnome extensions a few days ago while trying to get rid of the ugly Bazzite Logo in my top bar. It’s probably super obvious to anyone else, but those extensions make such a huge difference and playing around with different ones is absolutely worth it!
OP, if you do end up going with Bazzite, go to the “Extension Manager” and toggle a few of those on or off to see the difference! Getting new ones is super easy too!
Gnome Desktop will be the most familiar UI and workflow for you. Other than that, just take note of your existing software stack, and check to see which will also have Linux builds to install.
Really depends on what is considered nice about MacOS. Just had a new on-boarding with someone who really liked their Mac keybindings and it seems getting those dialed in is nicer (easier? better?) on KDE. I’d also generally gravitate towards Gnome for Mac users though.
As a piece of advice for OP: Accept the use of keybindings over the touchpad. Mac has done a great job and I have not seen a Linux laptop/distro combination that nails it. Search for the pain-points after switching and ask about it (kindly) on a community like this.
You must be using some junk touchpads then. I have two that work just as they would on a Mac. No issues.
Even the gestures? Mac’s gesturing system for the UI and all native and most non native apps is why I stay with it.
Nah, the precision Apple touchpads had 10 years ago still is unmatched today by Windows or Linux, but I’m afraid that’s not a software issue
Please explain how “Windows” and “Linux” manufactured these touchpads?
Dying to know
Dude, dial down the hostility
What hostility? Are QUESTIONS hostile now?
Jesus, we’re all so cooked…
For keybinds, there is the project Toshy which redirects keys to emulate Mac bindings. It has some issues but works pretty well in my experience
For someone coming from Mac you might find Pop OS more familiar.
I grew up using macos, still use it on my work laptop, and use elementary os on my home machine. For the most part, it’s great. I like
- The intuitive UX and the clean, consistent and beautiful UI
- Good default apps and settings
- Flatpak out of the box, no snap bullshit.
- Generally you can get away with quite a bit without resorting to the terminal
Unfortuntalely, there are a few big issues with it, mostly due to the small number of developers
- Updating the OS to a new major version (that they release every 1-2 years) is a hassle, there is no direct way to do distro-update like on ubuntu for example
- The mail and calendar apps don’t support Oauth, and by now, google doesn’t seem to support password+IMAP anymore. So no google calendar or mail integration. Also a hassle to set up anything that uses Oauth by default.
If those aren’t dealbreakers, I can recommend eos. But do check out the other options as well.
Depending on how all-in on the Apple you are, there will be a few main sticking points for you.
1: Gestures If you use a trackpad, you’re going to have to adjust to a more limited set of gesture commands. The same with button mapping on a mouse. You’ll almost certainly need to learn new ways to move around your desktops.
2: PDFs Preview is a godsend to Mac users. Preview does everything bar editing PDFs. You will no longer have Preview. You’ll need to find three or four applications that replicate its features. And all of them will feel a bit lacking in comparison.
3: Apple Music Apple don’t believe in Linux, so if you use AM and wish to continue listening to lossless on your computer, you’re going to have to either use WinBoat to run a Windows VM into which you can install AM, or you’re going to need to use Waydroid in order to run the Android version of the AM app. Neither is great, but both (mostly) work.
But ultimately it is worth it. I use my Mac much less than I used to, and my iPad almost not at all now.
This is really useful. I don’t use Apple Music, but the gestures and preview do sound like something to get used to. Why is there no third party preview? Seems like a pretty basic program to have.
I’m not from mac land, so I don’t know how much Preview does. I’ll comment on how its done in PC land.
- PDF’s have been handled by web browsers for a while now. Firefox will open and offer basic editing capabilities. Comes pre-installed on most distros.
- Images are handled by the DE’s default image previewer which usually has rudimentary editing capabilities. Installed by default.
Or you can get other apps that handle PDF’s and images.
Switching to linux means switching to other applications. You aren’t getting Preview and you aren’t getting Safari. You get other software that does the same things.
dude, you need to narrow your query way, waaay down. are you ditching the mac and getting a PC? are you gonna rock them side by side until you transition? desktop? gaming? laptop? converting an existing macbook to linux? which one? intel? pre-T2, post? which wifi? what’s your daily software stack you depend on?
all the listed things are possible, some easier, some less so, but, respectfully, nobody’s gonna write up an all-cases guide for your lazy ass. so, hop to it, state your use case and ping back.
I’ve gotten a lot of useful advice! I wasn’t looking for a write up, but an existing guide out there. I’m happy with everything people have written.
a bunch of that is wrong; people here read “what’s the best thing for this” as “what do you use” and treat it as rooting for a team. I’d still urge you to write up a more detailed post, but you do you.
That is one of the things I learned. It’s hard to know what I need without knowing what I could need. Sometimes you don’t know what you use until it’s missing.
Try Gnome. It looks like MacOS.
Also, try yabai, sketchybar and skhd on your Mac. And try poking around in the Mac terminal, since MacOS is Unix-like (it’s even Unix certified, in fact), just like Linux.
They share a few small visual elements, like a top panel and “dock”, but using them are completely different experiences.
MacOS is in reality closer to KDE than Gnome. That being said, almost every Linux desktop environment and Windows are closer to each other than MacOS. MacOS is quirky in comparison to all of them.
Ignore people telling you you have to use GNOME. Use whatever looks good to you. I actually have a KDE Plasma desktop with a Mac-like layout. The DE doesn’t matter much though.
Fully agree that the DE doesn’t matter much. I’ve used KDE and XFCE the most over the years, and cinnamon, gnome, and even enlightenment a bit over the years. I was never a big fan of gnome, however I recently got a 2in1 laptop, and after a few days of tinkering… I think gnome is a bit better for that kind of interaction than than the others.
There are things to like and dislike with all of them I’d say.
The Mac themes on KDE are pretty great, and so is the customizability. KDE makes things very easy to tweak until you like it. GNOME does not.
I went from Mac to Linux and use Plasma because I really can’t get on with GNOME. People go on like its 1:1 to macOS, but it really isn’t. GNOME feels so much more restrictive to me.
I will say that Gnome will act like you expect out of the box, but it’ll only ever do that. KDE can act like whatever you want, and you can customize it to fit what you want easily. Luckily, like you said, it doesn’t matter. You can install a new one and run either/both.
There are a lot of differences and a lot of similarities between the operating systems here. It will take you time to get used to no matter what you do. Start by swapping your apps on your existing Mac, trade out any apps that you know won’t work on Linux with apps that do. That way, you spend some time in your existing environment with the new apps you’re going to need going forward.
Next, make sure to test out your peripherals in a live environment. Does everything you use with your computer work correctly? If not, find out why. See if you can mitigate it, or if you’ll need to replace stuff.
Finally, be willing to experiment. I know others in this thread will recommend various desktop environments and distributions to you. Try many of them. GNOME is good and simple out of the box, feels kinda mac-like, but if you want to completely replicate the functionality of macOS, KDE Plasma has more options for that like global menus and the file management app (Dolphin) is incredibly extensible and customizable.
Try to have fun with it, and don’t give up. It takes time to learn a new way of working, and you will likely have frustrations along the way, but ultimately the goal is to learn and figure out what works best for your needs.
This is really good advice thank you! Someone mentioned using a usb to test. How can I test? It seems like quite a hassle to set it all up just to find out it’s not my thing.
Here’s a quick how to from Learn Linux TVWait a minute. Are you wanting to get a different computer? Or boot Linux on your Mac?
Look into a distro that you might like, and find a “live usb” of it, often it is the installation media itself. How it works is basically it is a linux already installed on a disk image you transfer to the usb, and tell the computer to boot from it. Instructions on all this usually comes with the live usb media. Then you usually get a “try it out” or “install” option, or it just leaves you at a pre-configured desktop. Click around, install stuff, browse the web, get a feel for it.
To add to all the other answers about what to use and whatnot: try a few distros and desktops out by putting them on a flash drive and booting from the flash drive (this is the same process for typical installations)
Distro, or who the linux based OS is built, updated, and distributed by, mostly matters long term, but something that will keep working and be stable (in the colloquial sense, not technical sense like for servers), and that has a friendly and welcoming community, are definitely things to look for. Mint and ubuntu both have stellar reputations in both of these regards, though many folks (including me) have issues with decisions being made by the ubuntu folks these days. Fedora is pretty stable but has less of a big community with support for new people, and manjaro has a lot of newer users and is built around serving newer linux users, but the project is sometimes run in an awkward way that can cause issues if you’re not choosing to manage your packages with intentionality (thats what I hear anyway). Debian is rock solid, and I dont know much about the community, but the versions of software available in the repos may be old unless you’re installing a flatpak
Keep in mind, not all distros will support every desktop, so you may find your chosen desktop isnt available on the distro you find most interesting. You can theoretically install whatever desktop on whatever distro, but as a new user I dont reccomend doing this.
Definitely try out a few different desktops. “Desktop environments” are bundles of software that make up the desktop graphical user interface, and will make a big difference in the look and feel, and general user experience that you have on linux. There are a bunch of options- the two biggest projects are GNOME and Kde plasma. Gnome has a reputation for being more mac-like out of the box and has very specific workflows and usage patterns, and kde, more windows like and flexible to what the user wants. But both are customizable. Kde has lots of built in settings and options, gnome offers very few, but supports user made extensions that change the desktops look and behavior. Give both a try and try out the customizations for each (play with kde settings, see if you can make it more what you want. Install some gnome extensions, see what the options look like). Cinnamon is another desktop thats very windows-like but has a great user experience. Xfce is a well run project but predominantly aimed at being lightweight so it runs well on older hardware, you’re less likely to be in its target demographic
