Linux considerations

TidBITS Talk
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I assume your mean 256 GB of internal SSD storage. The largest Intel MacBook Airs could only be configured up to 16 GB of RAM.

It depends greatly on what you will be doing. I have successfully run Linux in VMs with 2GB of RAM and 10GB of storage. This is going to be a small installation and won’t be able to handle heavyweight tasks, but the system will run.

If you want to dual-boot your Air between macOS and Linux, it should be fine. You might want it to boot from an external SSD, if you don’t have enough free space on the internal SSD. The RAM (4, 8 or 16 GB, depending on its model and configuration) should be plenty to run Linux and run basic things like web browsing, office apps and media playback, but may be too small for more powerful uses like software development or media creation/editing.

It’s not that difficult. You install VM software (e.g., VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, Parallels Desktop). Using it, you use a utility to specify the nature of your virtual machine (e.g., how much RAM to give it, how many CPU cores, how much storage, etc.) and the software will “boot” it as if it was a separate computer.

Typically, you configure it so that the first time you boot the VM, it will boot from a CD/DVD image containing a bootable system installer (most Linux distributions make these available), and run the installer via the VM. When it finishes, the VM’s storage device (a file on your Mac that contains the contents of the VM’s virtual hard drive) will contain the installed OS. On subsequent runs, the VM will boot from that storage.

When the VM is running, you will typically see it presented as a window on your desktop showing the VM’s console (whatever you would see on the monitor if its OS was running on a separate computer).

Different VM software systems do things differently, and the most popular ones are commercial software (not open source), but they’re usually pretty easy to learn.

I think so. If the Linux software you plan to use is small enough to be compatible with your old Mac (or a VM running on it), then this is a good way to get the best of both worlds. You might need an external SSD (connected via USB or Thunderbolt) if you don’t have enough internal storage, but that’s the only gotcha I can think of.

No problem with that. But you might find it more economical and easier to buy a cheap PC, erase it, and install Linux there.

For example, this computer costs about $240 and offers:

  • AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor (4 cores, 8 threads, 2.1 GHz that can boost up to 3.7 GHz)
  • 16 GB RAM (expandable to 64 GB)
  • 512 GB SSD (using one two two M.2 slots - expandable up to 16 TB via 2 8 TB sticks)

This far from the fastest computer available, but it should provide more than enough horsepower for anything other than media editing or gaming.

It can work. I think using a VM will be easier than setting up dual-boot, because Apple hardware sometimes requires device drivers that don’t come with all Linux distributions. But it’s definitely something you can do.

Definitely. Linux itself doesn’t require a whole lot of storage. I’ve set up basic systems with as little as 5 GB of storage. I typically create my linux VMs with about 30GB, unless I am using it build very large software projects, in which case, they might get much larger.

Like with macOS or Windows, the answer to this question depends on how much software you plan to install and what you plan on doing with it.

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Thanks very much @ron !

Sites that come up when searching “how to run linux on macbook air intel” include:

I would suspect that broadly generally speaking, linux focused sites with a lot of content/history are probably fairly reliable, although I have not experience with them and wouldn’t know a dodgy site from a truly helpful one.

I’ll most likely get to this within the next two weeks. If anyone knows that those sites listed above are dodgy, please let me know. I would only download the actual software from sites like ubuntu or Debian. I’m really looking forward to this!

I’ll try to restrain asking questions here, will note them and try to solve on my own first, would expect to post again when I have some progress reports if anyone is interested.

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Just remember that the CPU architecture has to match. If your Mac has an Intel processor, you must use an Intel build of Linux. And if it has Apple Silicon, you must use an ARM build of Linux. Even if you are using a VM.

The only way to run mismatched CPU architectures (ARM on Intel or Intel on ARM) is to use an emulation system like QUEMU or UTM (a user-friendly Mac wrapper around QEMU). And if you use emulation, there will be a substantial performance hit.

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Excellent Excellent reply @Shamino ! Thank You!

  1. yes, 256 GB total internal SSD to share between Mac OS very minimally used and the rest for Linux, sorry for the vagueness

  2. I’m leaning to dual-boot, would be good to learn it, have a teensy bit of experience with VMs and might even have VM Fusion from a while ago on there already, and would not be loading up the Linux part with a lot of software or data at first.

  3. Thanks for the link to the affordable computer! I don’t do anything fancy in computing so even small-slightly-tired-middleaged-horse-power should be fine: web browsing, email, RSS reading, weather checking, stuff like that. No movies or streaming or editing.

  4. Ok super for the memory need reality checks! Sounds definitely do-able. I am on a limited bandwidth internet connection to save money so I’ll have to think how to do the downloads. Maybe I switch to higher bandwidth for cycle or see if I can do it at a local cafe.

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Thanks! yes the MBAir in question is an Intel flavor.

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It’s worth pointing out that the $240 computer that @Shamino linked scores higher in CPU benchmarks than every Intel-based MacBook Air except the final Intel model in 2020, which can be a little faster, depending on the benchmark. FWIW, Dell’s cheapest current laptop (~$350) should run Linux faster than any Intel MacBook Air.

On another note, I agree with @Shamino that 4 GB is sufficient to run Linux, but if you have a lot of browser tabs open at once or a lot of apps open at once, and you have a MacBook Air with only 4 GB of RAM, you may notice the system slowing down. 8 GB would be comfortable, and 16 GB would give you enough headroom to be comfortable for years to come. Earlier in this thread, I mentioned that I am experimenting with Linux on a 12 year-old Pentium 3558U laptop (8 GB RAM). It really has given that machine a new life.

Finally, while you are experimenting with Linux, keep in mind that most varieties of Linux allow you to boot from an installer USB drive and run a “live” version of Linux from USB without touching your MacBook Air’s internal drive. Since it is USB, it would be slower than an internal SSD, but it would be fast enough to get a feeling for how Linux would work. It’s also a good way to try different types of Linux before deciding on which one to install.

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FWIW, I have a truly ancient Dell PC, with a Core 2 Duo processor, 6 GB RAM and a 3TB SATA HDD. It is running Debian Linux and typically does the following:

  • Runs the Apache web server with a few dozen static pages
  • Sometimes runs a J2EE server hosting a PlantUML server for generating UML diagrams.
  • Cross-compiling embedded software. It’s a bit slow for this, but is fast enough for all but building a Linux distribution image (I use a VM on a much faster computer for that).
  • Occasional web browsing.

It runs headless - so it boots to a command-line console. I remotely access it from other computers, usually generating a GUI desktop via a TigerVNC server that is bundled with Debian Linux.

Not something I’d use for my main desktop system, but works quite well for what I do with it.

With many distributions, you don’t need to download a large multi-GB installation DVD image. Many include a much smaller image you can boot, and the installer will then download only the packages that will actually be installed. This can speed up the process somewhat. (Although it may still be faster to use a whole-distribution image if you’re going to be performing multiple installations from that image.)

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Excellent tip, @josehill , I might just try that. The MBAir has 8GB RAM.

I suppose I could partition a USB stick and put different types on it, or is it better to keep one type per USB drive?

I’m leaning towards starting with something that is known and easy for Linux noobs, use it for a while and gradually learn more about aspects of others. Perhaps keep my data on another USB stick so I can switch easily.

Anyway I’ll stop asking questions now til I study more and do a first install.

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Thanks @Shamino good to know all that, I need to learn some more basic vocabulary to fully appreciate it but will come back to this Topic again once I’m there!

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Great minds think alike. :grinning_face:

I had that thought when I was writing my earlier comment, but I didn’t want to overcomplicate things. I haven’t tried it on a Mac, but there is a tool called Ventoy that allows you to boot from different ISO files that you had copied to the USB drive. You’d install Ventoy on a USB drive much the same way you’d make a regular, dedicated Linux installer on a USB drive. That’s probably the simplest approach.

You also could get into partitioning a USB drive to support a boot loader and several Linux distributions, but that depends on how adventurous you are. Since you are new to Linux, I think it best to keep it simple.

Personally, I’m inclined to suggest just picking a version of Linux that is well supported and relatively friendly for beginners. Personally, I like Linux Mint Cinnamon, but any of the major distributions (like Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora) should be fine. There are lots of discussions of “best” distributions by various criteria on the net.

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It’s probably easier to use one per drive. Fortunately, USB sticks (even big ones) don’t cost too much.

I’ll leave the choice of distributions to others, but you should note that there is rarely a need to switch distributions. All of the good ones have a wide variety of packages you can install and remove, including alternate GUIs and desktops.

The biggest differences between distributions are:

  • What GUI/ desktop is installed by default
  • What package management suite is used for installing/removing software
  • What software packages are made available via the distro’s servers

Since you’re new, I’d recommend going with whatever is easiest to learn. You should be able to change-up whatever you want to change, as you get more comfortable with it, without needing to completely start over from scratch.

If you’re using VMs, you can set up a disk-image file on the Mac’s internal SSD that all the different VMs can mount - which you can use to store any documents shared by them.

You can also configure a “shared folder” - a folder on the Mac’s file system that the various VMs can access. Which might be easier than a disk image.

But this may be tricky in a dual-boot situation - you’d need to create a disk partition that Linux can mount. But Linux doesn’t have good support for APFS or HFS+ file systems, so you’ll want to create a FAT-formatted partition to use for that purpose.

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Super tips, thanks @Shamino , it’s going to make my learning and use much easier!

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OK making some progress, couple of issues/questions.

Downloaded the Ubuntu and Mint/Cinammon ISOs and used Etcher to flash them to USB sticks.

Booting from the sticks, I had to first go into Mac Recovery to change a security setting to allow booting from the sticks.

Ubuntu presented one EFI Volume icon and Mint presented 2. Was able to get each launched and tried to run them from the USB sticks but both snagged in that neither recognized any input from the MBAir’s keyboard (except the power button) or trackpad.

Found a wired USB-A mouse, put a C adapter on it and with Ubuntu the pointer moved around and could click but could not scroll lists so I was not able to pick the right keyboard. The adapter would not fit in the port next to the stick that Mint was installed (it’s wider than the Ubuntu stick) on so not sure if it will go in future.

The other question I haven’t resolved so far is partitioning the MBA’s internal storage. Several sites writing about dual booting on an Intel Mac don’t specify whether Disk Utility can or should be used for this on the booted partition or if it should be done from Recovery. IIRC the Ubuntu site says its installer will do the partitioning and one needn’t use Disk Utility. Will both work but via Recovery is safer?

I have a CCC data backup and a fresh Monterey installer stick in case something goes wrong.

Oh, and some sites also recommend have a wired internet connection during install in case wifi was not working. Is that important for initial installation? I thought everything that was needed was in the ISO file…

If this is too off-Apple, lmk and I’ll look for another channel.

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Before I start, let me begin by saying that I haven’t actually tried installing Linux on a Mac. I’ve installed Linux many times on various PCs and ARM-based devices, but not on a Mac. So some of what I write may not be 100% perfect. But hopefully others here may have first-hand experience and can pick up where I leave off.

This is the biggest problem with running Linux on Macs. Apple doesn’t always use hardware compatible with what the PC world uses. If the keyboard and trackpad are internally USB devices, then I’d expect them to just work, but they may be connected through some other mechanism that may require a device driver.

You might want to invest in a cheap USB-C hub (maybe something like this) so you can connect a wired keyboard and mouse while you figure out how to get Apple’s built-in devices working.

Since this is an Intel Mac, you should be able to use the Linux installer to wipe the SSD and create new partitions.

If, however, you want to keep macOS on that SSD, then I’d suggest using Disk Utility to shrink the partitions (APFS containers) as necessary to make room for Linux, then let the Linux installer create partition(s) in that free space. It might not be necessary, but I’m always concerned about Apple-voodoo around the macOS boot process.

It’s a matter of device drivers. Like they keyboard and mouse, Apple’s chosen Wi-Fi chipset may or may not work without downloading and installing a device driver. It will be easier to do so if you have a wired network connection (the alternative would be to download it from another computer, copy it to a thumb drive, and install it from that file).

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Thanks very much for the helpful and thoughtful reply @Shamino .

This is something that would show in System Information I suppose, never looked for it myself. The up/down arrows also worked at the tiny text screen that shows up, the GRUB I think it’s called, in selecting options when booting.

I had luck, since posting, with keywords, and this seems quite a common topic now I’ve experienced it but after sifting thru many posts still haven’t found solid answer. I’ll look around if I have a hub, I have a keyboard and mouse from and old G4 lampshade iMac.

Also found a local Linux/FOSS group that meets every 2 or 4 weeks and will go on Monday nite.

Yes, am pursuing the ‘dual boot with Intel Mac’ path, but want to try out both from USB first if possible. I’ve seen a couple of descriptions on using Disk Utility to make a Linux partition in FAT and a small Swap partition but they’re never clear if that should be done during a normal boot or from Recovery or if it even matters. From decades of Mac use I tend to not want to fiddle with the boot volume when booted from it.

that might be faster than finding a long enough LAN cable, or moving the router to my desk!

Initial impressions are that Ubuntu looks nicer and is more familiar than Mint but Ubuntu feels a bit ‘over the top’ for a newbie somehow. No technical impression implied, just the initial feeling. But am excited to continue, having seen both appear on the screen of the Mac!

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I have only installed Mint onto a couple of (very) old MBAs that were stuck at ancient versions of macOS. The reason for the wired internet is that the installer needs to install a driver for the mac’s wi-fi card, and in some versions this must be downloaded. But how if wi-fi has no driver? The quick and sneaky trick is to connect your iPhone via its charging cable to the Mac, and Linux will use its internet connection.

I have used Ubuntu and Mint, I prefer the latter.

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Thanks very much, @drmoss_ca , which edition of Mint do you favor? Cinammon is what I downloaded the other day.

The installation will know what wifi driver to download or do I need to find that in the System Info specs or with a Terminal command or something and give that to Mint?

What would wifi and keyboard-trackpad drivers weigh in kb/mb generally speaking? I have limited internet on my phone and router plans so need to be careful.

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Yes, I use Cinnamon. The wi-fi driver is relatively tiny, I have never run into any issue with keyboard or trackpad drivers, but I have only installed onto pre-T2 Macs (if that is relevant).

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I’m not sure you’ll even need to download a separate wireless driver if you are using a recent Mint installer. When I installed Mint recently on an old PC, it offered to install the wireless drivers as part of the installation process. In any event, if you need to download the drivers manually, they’re around 25 MB for the full package.

I think you mentioned somewhere else the specific model of MacBook Air you are working with. Would you mind sharing that again?

(There’s a long history about why some Linux installers don’t include Wi-Fi drivers. It’s a case where open source politics made Linux much more difficult for non-technical users to install. As a result, many non-technical users gave up on Linux during the installation process, never to return. Some more modern Linux installers will offer to install non-open source Wi-Fi drivers as an option, which is a much more sensible approach.)

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It’s not just Wi-Fi. Many chipmakers (I’m looking at you, NVIDIA) refuse to release open source device drivers and refuse to publish API specifications without an NDA, so nobody else can develop an open source driver.

Many distributions (e.g., Debian) are committed to the principles of open source and will not distribute software that is released under these terms, forcing users to either use inferior drivers (typically reverse-engineered or based on whatever information is released to the public) or get their drivers from elsewhere.

Other distributions will distribute “non-free” software with the distribution, sometimes placing it in a separate repository that has to be explicitly enabled.

If you use Linux because you believe in and want to support the principles of open source, then you’re not going to want to use these drivers. You might actually choose to use a different computer, where open source drivers are available for everything.

On the other hand, if you use it for other reasons, and don’t care that much about open source ideology, then you’ll want those proprietary device drivers. You’ll either want to use a distribution that includes them, or you’ll have to manually get and install them.

“Sensible” is in the eye of the beholder.

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