While the distros in the how-to guide (first link I shared) are recommended/supported I think you can try out others and see how well they work/you like them but they are not “supported officially” so there could be problems that you would need to ask the respective communities about fixing, there are topics on the forums of “unsupported” distros so you might find what you need here too.
Hello Adam.
Could I respectfully suggest you start a new thread to leverage the collective wisdom of the community?
Something titled “macos users: which distro to ease an Apple escapee into DIY linux?” might grab the attention of community members who have gone before you.
Dino
Hello! Sorry to hear about your bumpy start.
We do indeed have some fairly extensive guides available. This is a gentle reminder that we have these linked on our website.
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What you need to know about using Linux as a newer user.
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Choose your OS, Linux in this case. We recommend using one of our officially supported distros as we can be of more help there.
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Assuming Ubuntu, the link in the article will take you to this Ubuntu install guide.
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Please follow the step by step guide to install Ubuntu.
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With Ubuntu installed, I also created a package that you download, double click and install, then Launch from Activities as described in the guide. Press the button in the tool, wait for the Ok button, reboot.
That’s it. You’re running Ubuntu. Learning to use Ubuntu? My friend Jay has produced outstanding content on the subject and you can watch his getting started guide on YouTube here. You’re welcome to tell him Matt Hartley sent you in his comments - he’s a great teacher.
If you get stuck and are willing to roll your sleeves up (troubleshooting anything OS takes a bit of a learning curve). I have troubleshooting guides for you as well.
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Linux is not the operating system for the faint of heart. If you are a Mac user coming to a framework machine and you don’t have strong technical skills you should not be going anywhere near Linux. You should really just use windows. Even the easy to use Linux distributions are not super easy to use. Use windows or use Mac.
Plenty of Linux users would disagree. I didn’t have and still don’t have “strong technical skills” and I get along with Linux just fine.
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Mac user with linux experience, currently migrating to Manjaro, here. Some points of advice:
On the mac
First and foremost: make sure you have multiple backups of your mac. On disks formatted that Linux can read and if necessary repair them (apfs and hfs may still be problematic, stick to exfat or ntfs). Or on a NAS.
Export all data wherever possible into open formats if there’s no direct app on Linux to open them in their mac format.
Keychain is tricky. Either use scripts from the web to get your keys out, or, if there’s an app available, spend a few bucks even if it is a one time job, to save you from some hassle.
Which Linux?
To find ‘your’ Linux, go to distrochooser for help you make up your mind:
Ignore the joke knockoff at distrochooser.snehit.dev. Quote from there:
I really have no idea what AI and Blockchain actually is, but they are the hot keywords every tech startup these days is using, so I also used it. Probably, search engines will rank this website higher if I have those keywords.
THIS WEBSITE IS A JOKE
Also take a look at distrowatch, but beyond the crude measure of user ratings there’s not much use for the absolute beginner (imo).
If you happen to be able to translate a few German words, look at these decision paths. It’s playfully presented but sound info (maybe not up to date, being from March 2022):
Play and try
Set up a usb disk (better: SSD) with Ventoy and try the live isos of distros you consider.
The time for Ventoy is well invested; you’ll want to have the option to easily boot into various distros, and to have a live system at hand in case of whatever apocalypse you manage to evoke.
Keep one distro with supported persistence there, and set it permanently to your language, keyboard, mouse settings, extra installed packages, etc., to have at hand as a repair system.
Nothing to fear but fear itself
Disagree. Some Linuxes are OK for beginners with a little assistance and a moderate amount of frustration tolerance (and time). Or an experienced friend, or a helpful forum.
Also: BACKUPS AND ROLLBACKS.
EDIT:
For SketchUp alternatives on Linux, see Alternativeto.net:
https://alternativeto.net/software/google-sketchup/?platform=linux
If you want to understand some key concepts check out “How Linux Works” by Brian Ward.
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I actually created a simple flowchart to help new users decide between supported distros for the Framework laptop here!
THIS 100000000%, regardless of what distro or OS you use. Don’t wait until you need them, it’s too late then. Backup regularly and check the backups work (i.e you can restore from them successfully).
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Thanks for that. I am still paying attention/involved in this but also totally overwhelmed with trying to get an ancient and outdated-OS Apple menagerie, Time Capsule & iCloud working properly and everything backed up so I can start again from scratch with those, try to research and find a new van because mine may need a new transmission, get my taxes done, etc, etc, etc… mind currently blowing
OK, I’ve got nowhere further. I think, for the sake of simplicity at this point (just getting the f’in machine to a point where I can check to see if the SSD is functioning via BIOS, at least I think that’s what I’m doing and those are the right terms - told you I was out of my depth) that I should just get Ubuntu on it and got from there…
I ran a LiveUSB version of Fedora and got it to work but still couldn’t access the BIOS following the F2 instructions that FW team gave me… they’ve now asked me to choose the distro I want to use, install it and then use that to access BIOS…
I would but I now have a USB drive with fedora on it that I can’t get my MBP to read - because it’s Linux formatted now?..
Also I’ve gone thru the link to Ubuntu they attached:
and only found PC-versions - 32 and 64-bit… when I’ve already said I’m using a Mac…
I’ve searched elsewhere for a Mac version and haven’t found one yet
Can someone confirm why my USB, created on a Mac, wouldn’t be able to be read on the Mac, then wiped and reloaded with Ubuntu after loading the LiveUSB drive on the FW machine?
Also, please show me where I can get an OSX version of Ubuntu? If my USB stick is unreadable now I do have one USB/SD drive I can use
Thanks
A
the ‘version’ refers to the TARGET machine that you’re going to install it on, you want 64 bit. the fact you’re currently using a mac is irrelevant, it’s an iso file you’re downloading. there is no mac/osx version because it isnt necessary.
Ah, ok… Thank you… Kinda confusing for the uninitiated/clueless particularly after having previously downloaded the OSX version of Fedora (because the following quote suggested that if I was creating a USB installer on a Mac I wanted this file) from the same linked article which worked fine as a Live USB on the FW machine:
“Fedora has a fantastic tool called Fedora Media Writer to create USB installers. It’s available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. For Windows and OS X, you can download it here: https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/dow…”
that’s a tool to write an iso file to a usb drive, it’s entirely separate to and independent from the iso file.
@Adam_M What @Peter_Schofield said is mostly true. If you have a M1/M2 (AKA an Apple Silicon) Mac then most Linux distros will not boot on your Mac, only Asahi Linux will and that is barely alpha-quality software at the moment. If you have an Intel Macbook then any distro/iso will run. Given that you called your Apple products “ancient and outdated” I’m pretty confident the above doesn’t apply to you. Just to be clear, your Macbook is over 2 years old?
For a Linux newcomer using a Framework, the easiest choices are the two officially supported distros, Fedora 37 and Ubuntu LTS 22.04. Everything on your system will work straight out of the box. I’m partial to Ubuntu myself.
Another strong option is the easiest of the community-supported distros to use, Linux Mint 21.1. The one minor catch is that the fingerprint reader won’t immediately work. If you don’t mind logging in with a password instead or you can deal with installing the upgrade needed to get the reader to work, you’re good to go.
There are more choices on the list of supported distros, but I wouldn’t recommend any of those for a first-timer. You’re already learning a new computer and a new OS; no need to take on additional challenges. That includes the non-LTS versions of Ubuntu; unless you need bleeding edge features it’s a lot simpler to stick to the LTS releases.
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A good strategy is this:
- Do manual backups before every major system change (some apps like timeshift can automate some of that), and right after a major manual change.
- Always label these, so you can identify by what changes were made; a bleak timestamp is not really telling where you want to go back to, if needed. Your future self will be grateful for detailed meaningful labels.
- Check that your backup software does not auto-delete labelled snapshots.
Good tools are timeshift (look at timesnap, too) and Back In Time.
For the initial migration, it’s good to make many snapshots. In a few months you can manually remove them. Some most useful milestones for labelled backups are these:
Right after the initial installation and after setting up backups as well as basic technical settings (language, locale, keyboard layout, mouse and touchpad (right/left hand, natural scrolling), time zone/location, network, wireless. Label “post OS install w/basic settings” or so. In the worst case you don’t have do repeat the installation and basic setup now.
After installing more software and making more customizations (like for appearance, or convenience).
After you pulled over all the Mac content but before sorting it into your new directory setup.
After every session with sorting files and setting up the new apps for them. E.g. “Office migrated”, “Videos migrated”, …
Also, don’t wait with backups until your super secure in-depth backup strategy is set up. Do backups right from the start!
It’s not a good permanent strategy to back up system and user folders in the same backup (keep them separate and you can roll back the system without losing user data), but for a quick initial temporary solution it’s less work to set up, and the likelihood that you will need to restore the system only is low enough to risk the extra work in that case. Simple and dirty trumps elaborate but nonexistent!
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To state the obvious, and no insult intended: Search the web for tutorials to get an overwiew of the process. Our age cohort didn’t grow up with the immense amount of easily accessible info and help, and some times we need a heads-up.
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this does not matter for producing a bootable USB stick to then install the chosen distro on the framework. It’s the target machine (the one that will have linux installed on it) architecture/‘version’ that matters, not the machine that downloads the iso and creates the stick. In this case the target is either x86_64 or amd64 depending on how the distro in question names it. (they are both two names for the same thing in this case)
Oh man, of course… it even says it right there…
Apologies if I misunderstand, but I’m not trying to boot on my Mac - at this point I’m just trying to create a bootable USB for the Framework machine so I can get into BIOS and find out why I get a blue screen saying ‘Default-boot-device-missing-or-boot-failed’ on start up which the FW team suggest means that my SSD is dud, as it is installed correctly.
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Ha ha ha - oh man, you don’t even know what else I’m trying to juggle right now! Totally overwhelmed… Thank you for your sage advice… Easy as possible it is for now - the nice Mac-like experience can wait…
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