Hi all, I’m dipping my toes into Linux again after almost 30 years, and I’m looking specifically for any distros that will run on a mid-2010 Macbook (Intel Penryn-3M Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM and a 1T HDD). Video is integrated Nvidia GeForce 320M.

I’ve already tried Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon booting off USB (but not installing) and it runs well, even wifi and video, no hitches at all. And going forward I’d be fine with Mint from what I’ve seen so far.

But before settling in on one distro, I’d like to try as many as will run on this ancient Macbook, because my endpoint is to eventually convert my much newer Windows machines to Linux, so I’m not just deciding for the Macbook. I am, however, limited to that as my test machine for the moment.

I’m not at all new to tech, but consider me a noob to Linux, esp Linux GUIs: last time I ran it in the early 90s it was text only. I don’t even remember what flavor it was, lol. So yeah, I’m starting from scratch here but can pick it up quickly if I’m pointed in the right directions.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

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Many thanks to everyone who gave me their time and made suggestions. I was looking for myself as well, so now I have many distros to try, lol. I have checked the system requirements and install directions for each of the following, and here is the list I have so far of distros that will work on this old MacBook (not in any particular order):

Will definitely try
Linux Mint 21.2
OpenSUSE Leap 15.5
AntiX 23
Debian 12 “Bookworm” with Xfce
Peppermint OS
Linux Lite 6.4
MX Linux 23 (after RAM upgrade)
Pop! OS 22.04 (after RAM upgrade)

Might also try, but might not (various reasons):
Zorin OS 16.3 Core and Lite
Solus 4.4 “Harmony” with Budgie (after RAM upgrade)
Fedora with Xfce

Thanks again!

  • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.worldOP
    11·
    1 year ago

    Thanks for taking the time to explain the differences a bit, it’s very much appreciated. I’d heard about the Snapstore thing and also Red Hat’s decision regarding RHEL; while I don’t understand it all yet I do think closed-source defeats the whole purpose of Linux (and why I’m getting off Windows) so yeah, I’m with you on that.

    So far, with Mint I haven’t had any problems running Cinnamon at all (decided to try the heaviest DE first) but I will probably still end up trying Kfce as the DE on Debian, for example. It was actually shocking how well Mint runs on 4GB of RAM, lol.

    But I have plenty of time and plenty of USB sticks, and I will try all the feasible distros mentioned, taking notes along the way. Thank you again for the suggestions!