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, so if you know of any great guides for Mac users, I’d greatly appreciate it!
Edit: you have all been very useful. I now know a bit more how to start and what it would mean to switch!
real mice have more than 2 buttons.
I don’t use a mouse
Just do it. Put something like Linux Mint on your Mac. It’ll work fine. And it’s free.
Or maybe Fedora : Gnome might feel more familiar for a Mac user.
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.
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.
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.
The MacOS specific ones like zooming out to show all active windows in a workspace, or flipping to the next app aren’t there because, well…that’s MacOS specific.
All the more universal ones like pinch to zoom, scrolling…etc are all there. I actually used an Apple TouchPad for years just because I had it around. Worked fine.
You can also run a simple plugin in Gnome to map custom gestures to whatever you want if needed.
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
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. This is because it largely just works out of the box, such that you only need to install and tweak extra things if you really want to.
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.
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!Yeah the extensions are important. I have my top bar completely hidden until I open quick search. I like the aesthetic of a completely clear screen with just my desktop background and my windows (I also generally configure macOS this way as well).
as a mac & linux user since 2002 and i had a time machine to do it all over again but correctly this time; i would go with a linux first vendor like system76 or tuxedo or any other vendor that uses 100% open source hard/software. (ie coreboot/libreboot).
linux can work on almost all hardware (including mac) but you’re mileage is going to vary a lot and only the linux first vendors can give you an experience that rivals mac and windows.
Thank you for saying this. I wonder which vendor is best value for money.
you should also know that it’s a double edged sword if you go with linux first vendors because you’ll likely never learn from resolving your own technical difficulties that arise as a result of hardware that is not 100% linux compatible.
i learned so much from putting linux on my windows & mac hardware; that it enabled me tow work on linux professionally for the last 21 years. switching to linux first hardware 5-ish years ago made my knowledge of people facing issues atrophy, so i bought windows first hardware to re-acquaint myself.
I think I can live with that
Appreciate what you are doing. You made the right choice
You should probably start by listing the programs you need. Everything else such as gaming/customization is distro specific.
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.
For a nice experience I would start with elementary OS or Linux mint.
The first will please your aesthetic from the get go.
I hear a lot of people say stuff like that “start with”. But is it so easy to switch of you picked one? Like don’t you have to get all your files in an external drive and delete a full computer before you can reinstall a different disto?
If you seek that kind of advice don’t better don’t format your drive with all of your data. Try installing distro of your choice on some old hardware you have and use it occasionally and understand if linux in general and specific distro in particular is what you want.
For a start you would have a bootable pen drive, just to take a look around. If a certain distro doesn’t suit you, don’t install it. After installation, the hurdles get bigger, just as you say.
The two mentioned distros are already tailored towards easy use, but there are many ways to skin the cat. The distributions work with different desktop managers, each with different philosophies. On some distro you can choose or change the desktop manager afterwards (and potentially break your system).
Take the popular cachyOS. Its most useable desktop manager is KDE Plasma, but it has support for a several others (17). Some better, some worse.
Here a tier list of desktop environments showing some desktop manager und Debian 13.
EDIT: Keep in mind, that you can further customize and tailor desktop environments to your needs.
don’t you have to get all your files in an external drive and delete a full computer before you can reinstall a different disto?
Note that you can have a separate partition for the
/homedirectory, under which your user directory is located. Then you could wipe just the system partition and install a new distro there, keeping/homeas it is. But this requires some basic knowledge of partitions and a little attention during setup. In any case, having a backup is always recommended, especially when dealing with operations that can delete all your data.Many distros you don’t even have to do anything but install packages to switch desktop environments, which are really what people are recommending when they’re trying to say what is similar to mac
Ok so what I understand is that the disto has more to do with compatibilities, optimization and updates whole desktop environment is more the UX and user experience?
Yeah the DE is your desktop, launcher, window manager, setting manager etc. So Gnome, KDE Plasma, mutter, etc. It is what most people will notice.
The distro is basically a package manager and assembly of packages. So if you were to use ubuntu for instance, there is a default DE, but you’ll notice there are a bunch of “flavors” available. These are mostly different desktop environments and default applications, but all of the stuff in any of them are in the package lists and available to install regardless of flavor.
The main differences between distros are
- release cadence
- fixed. They release a major update on a regular schedule and only backport bug fixes and security patches
- rolling. One package set that every installation always updates to latest
- package management
- some are able to manage packages purely by GUI and some you must use the command line (or if you can use GUI at some point you might have to fall back because it doesn’t have first class support)
- release cadence
It’s not easy to switch, but it can be made easier if you keep all your important files in one place.
It’s a lot easier to switch Distros than switching from Windows or MacOS to Linux in the first place.
But you’re still going to be reinstalling the OS and all your programs again.
However - You can try most Linux distros without installing them, like give it a go for a night, if you don’t like it at all, nothing has changed. If you do, maybe try another night (and another) if you really like it, make the choice.
Some very good advice here already so I’ll be brief.
Here are some random things that spring to mind as being of note as someone who hasn’t switched exactly, but has used Macs since 1995 and uses Linux alongside macOS.
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Gnome will be the most familiar on day 1, BUT. It’s amazing how quickly that won’t matter anymore when you’re learning what’s what. I started on Gnome and avoided KDE Plasma, which everyone said was more like Windows - and still ended up liking KDE Plasma the most. Both aesthetically and in terms of how easy it is to adjust anything that might not be quite right.
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Avoid XFCE if you have a high resolution display, and you’re installing Linux on an old Mac. Customising XFCE to scale things correctly for high resolution is stuff you just don’t want to be messing with as a new Linux user.
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Avoid X11 and use Wayland (which will be fine if you use KDE or Gnome). X11 was very confusing to me as a Mac user, as certain changes require a reboot. As above, this is just an extra level of complexity you don’t need if you’re used to Macs. On Wayland if you change the visual scale of the interface or cursor size, it just changes then and there. On X11 you’ll be wondering why certain things don’t seem to be changing…
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On macOS you install apps generally by drag and drop. On Linux, whilst this isn’t actually true when you know what you’re doing, it’s as if you only have the App Store. It might have different names on different distros or DEs, but fundamentally you’re going to have a single repository that all your apps and updates are coming from.
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Firefox has a hidden menu bar and you have to push alt to bring it up.
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Apart from swapping ctrl and cmd many keyboard commands will be familiar.
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It’s ultimately up to you how familiar you want to get with the terminal. Some distros you could genuinely ignore its existence. Others would expect you to use it at times and not supply certain GUI tools for certain things.
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People are probably right that Linux Mint is the best place to start. You almost certainly will want to switch just to see what else is out there at some point, it’s just how things go. I use KDE Plasma on Debian now. But there’s nothing Mint is lacking or doesn’t have. Ultimately the only reason I’m not still using Mint is because of wanting to use Plasma, which is doable on Mint if anyone wanted to, but not officially supported.
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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.
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! :)
Its really quite easy, if you own an intel mac, just install debian on it, maybe carry some data over, if you must. I would recommend a usb stick. Install a good looking desktop environment, and look up a few starter tutorials. Easy, and quick. Linux isnt hard at all, if you dont want it to be.
I couldn’t get trackpad gestures working on an Intel Mac. Tried both Ubuntu and Elementary
It worked perfectly out of the box with Fedora on a MacBook Pro 2012.
But I guess every MacBook generation has its little problems with Linux.
Mine is with the wifi going away once a year…
You should be able to find drivers pretty easy, since macbooks are very widely used.
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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.