Options running Linux Mint on a Mac

carpenpa
   7 years ago
  3

Full details at https://anaesthesiatech.com/software-reviews/linux/

Why Linux?

Like LibreOffice, Linux is open source software. It has several things going for it:

  • Linux is free!
  • Linux is not controlled by any commercial organisation
  • Linux is truly cross platform – you can install it on virtually any PC, Mac, Raspberry Pi and some tablets
  • Linux is constantly under development by thousands of independent software engineers
  • Linux comes in several distributions – tailored to different needs
  • Linux is less prone to viruses than MS Windows – but not immune
  • Linux is highly customisable
  • There is loads of free software for Linux – including LibreOffice.

Having successfully installed Linux as the default operating system (OS) on an iMac, I am currently trying different distributions on my MacBook as a contained OS using Parallels Software. The version that I like most, because of ease of use and looks, is Linux Mint

Linux runs faston the Mac, even when it is running under emulation in parallels because Linux is much less resource dependent. This can bring a new lease of life to ageing hardware. So if you have an older PC or Mac and are willing to put in some effort, installing Linux may be a good idea.

Installation options

Parallels

The easiest way to start experimenting with Linux is to install the operating system to run within Parallels. Parallels is software that creates “Containers” for operating systems to run on your mac under emulation. You can have multiple containers with different operating systems (Windows, Android, Linux, Chrome, Other versions of OSX). The clever aspect of Parallels is that the software enables sharing of files and services between the host operating system (Your Mac OSX system) and the system runnng in the parallels container. If somethng goes badly wrong you can simply delete the containser and start again or revert to any saved “snapshot” that you may have made. The only real disadvantage of Parallels is that any performance gain in using Linux on an older machine is lost because you are still running your host operating system as well.

Parallels costs £64.99 and can be downloaded here.

Refind

For bolder individuals, you can configure your Mac to boot directly into Linux. In order to do this a resource is required for selecting which operating system to boot into at startup. The most popular utility is refind and there is an excellent site detailing how to use refind here.

Next you need to create an iso image of the Linus distribution that you wish to use. These will often download as an iso image anyway. As I mentioned, my preferred Linux distribution is Linux Mint because for me it was the easiest to install, setup and customise.

Comments
whattahellalan 7 years ago

NIce post fellow! I have an Macbook Pro 7.1 A1278 running Mint 18.1 Serena smooth as main and only OS, if i want an external program i use wine and Play On Linux. This OS (Mint) revived my old Mac. I had an issue with wifi, installed additional drivers and all worked 80% (because to start the wifi hardware i have to Suspend the Systen and then Wake up to thing get done - annoying but simple). And i loved the Hexchat (IRC) support.

espion_mobile 7 years ago

@remoulder it is still a nice post! Thank you to the Author :)

Rebel450 7 years ago

I preferred to install Linux Mint Ci physical on all my Macs.
Dual boot OS X and Linux, of course.
(see: https://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2129)

Forget Parrallels, it's melted snow from yesterday.
The hint for rEFInd is appreciated.

The 'Tutorial' is not so slick - but:
Thanks for supporting Linux on Mac = promoted

remoulder 7 years ago

This is not really a tutorial

xenopeek 7 years ago

As an alternative to the expensive Parallels software, you can use VirtualBox for free to run a virtual machine on OS X to experiment with Linux Mint.