this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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This may be an unpopular opinion, but you can use pretty much anything you like, as long as it isn't brand new or extremely old.
Even stuff with Nvidia GPUs and stuff.
Even MS Surface devices work decently.
Thing is, for a really smooth experience, where you don't feel like a second class citizen, and everything works ootb, proper support is advantageous.
I have a Dell XPS laptop, and it works fine. Sometimes, the WiFi switches itself off, and I have to restart the connection, but other than that, everything is flawless.
Thinkpads are great too, since they are also used heavily in offices, where they get thrown out or sold cheaply. Maybe ask there.
I personally would recommend something that you can repair yourself, or at least change the battery and memory.
I wouldn’t recommend macs in general. Anything with a touch bar (intels from ca 2018-19 and on) are tricky to get to run Linux at all, anything with apple silicon is very experimental, and the older models have Broadcom Wi-Fi that doesn’t ship with drivers on any distribution I know of.
This is a pity because MacBooks pro from ca 2013-2015 are great; cheap second hand because they’re out of support in macOS, good screens, excellent build quality and fast enough for anything you want to do with them.
They're cheap because the battery is just about old enough to become a danger pillow.
Sure, but a new battery isn’t that expensive
Not entirely true, I’m running Ubuntu on MBP 2017 (non-Touchbar). WiFi works out of the box, only touchbar models have problems. They are using another antenna. Only thing that doesn’t work out of the box are FaceTime webcam and sound. There are drivers for those. One thing to note tho, Intel MBP especially those thin ones can get very hot and fans might blast.
Thanks! I thought the problem was the T2 chip and I thought the non touchbar macs had them too, but it’s been a while since I looked into this. I have a machine with a broken touchbar that could plausibly run something that isn’t macOS and was very disappointed when I realised I essentially had to install special distros with some kernel patch or something on it.
Thank you