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!
Assuming you don’t know anything about Linux desktop or server:
- Be patient.
- Linux has Desktop Environments, for short “DE” like GNOME and KDE, whose purpose is to provide a graphical interface and useful utilities.
- Software on Linux is mostly installed through package managers, so you don’t search the web for an installer, you search the web if you need to figure out what software you want to install (alternativeto.net is a good place to start if you already know a similar software), then you install it through your package manager. Some applications won’t be in your distro’s repository, you may want to try installing a flatpak, on KDE you use Discover for that, on GNOME you use GNOME Software. As a last resort you can use AppImages, those are downloaded from the web, ideally from the developer’s GitHub or whatever.
- Linux has excellent hardware support but it’s a good idea to do a web search when you’re buying new hardware, especially peripherals; manufacturers often don’t write drivers for Linux, so the community has to pick up the slack, usually it’s no problem, but sometimes it is.
- Linux users can be very opinionated… Think with your own head, only you truly understand your needs.
- The terminal can be scary but it’s very useful. Once you’re settled in, try to learn a bit about it.
- Conditional on the previous point: if you have more than one computer, learning ssh can be very useful to control one from the other, exchange small files, etc.
- ssh and rsync especially are excellent for transferring files safely and without errors, but they’re encrypted, so they have overhead. File shares on Linux are mostly NFS, which is complicated and not widespread, or Samba (SMB/CIFS), which is Microsoft’s protocol reimplemented, this one is easier and usually integrated in DEs, but it has caveats sometimes, so maybe try to set one up before you need it, it’s not fun to deal with in a hurry.
- Most DEs have system managers to check resource usage and processes (programs), but most people prefer to use terminal utilities like
htop, or more recently, the snazzybtop, they can be installed through your package manager. - Linux doesn’t have drive letters, it has a file structure that starts at “/”, different mass storage devices can be mounted in arbitrary locations in this structure. For example your personal files will be under /home/yourusername, this could be the same partition as everything else, or it could be a separate one, or a separate drive. If you have a non-removable drive where you store only let’s say Games, you could very well “mount” it under /home/yourusername/Games. This is very useful in some cases, and something that Windows I think implemented but still doesn’t use. Removable drives are usually mounted by the DE and end up in /var/run/media or whatever.
Linux doesn’t have drive letters
MacOS is largely compatible with FreeBSD under the hood, with some minor path differences and a different init system, so…
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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.
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.
You should probably start by listing the programs you need. Everything else such as gaming/customization is distro specific.
Jumped recently. I was old Mac. It reminds me of when Mac used to be basic. I like it. Less fussy…if you want it to be.
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.
Ignore the guy who said that you don’t have to use Gnome. Gnome is the most Mac-Like, and so is Elementary OS (that is directly copying MacOS). So I’d suggest either Debian 13 with Gnome, or Elementary OS. Elementary OS, by being based on Ubuntu, it has more stuff ready to go (Debian might still need manual adding of repositories, e.g. non-free, if you want to have an accelerated video encoding driver with your video editor).
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
What’s different between Mac OS and Linux besides Apple’s cloud walled garden? You can bash your way through both file systems. Windows is the outlier.
privacy.
apple has proven time and time again that they’ll cave to the american government at any an all oppurtunities while doing theater to pretend to protect its users.
I landed on KDE and I don’t worry about it matching my Mac desktop, though you certainly could. The thing I miss most is the Finder, oddly. There’s not much in Linux world that gives Miller columns, unfortunately.
I’ll mention that if you like your Mac keyboard, or just want to keep using the familiar shortcuts, check out Toshy. It remaps the keys so that command still does what you expect it to do.
Don’t.
You like the user experience, you like the hardware, you don’t need to switch to linux to become independent from big tech.
Even if you needed to switch your operating system, what computer are you gonna use it on that isn’t under the control of big tech (however you choose to define that)?
Even if you had a computer you understood the hardware of and ordered in a group buy from a small manufacturer, and therefore wasn’t under the control of big tech, the linux operating system has thousands of core components maintained or developed by people who are in the employ of big tech to do just that! Are you really out from under the thumb of big tech when they’re paying the people that do the lions share of work in key components of your operating system who just so happen to always seem to make choices in that role which align with their bosses needs?
What might be better than switching from mac to linux would be considering exactly what big tech you’re trying to get away from and why, then doing so on the system you already understand and feel comfortable with.
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.
The Mac themes on KDE are pretty great, and so is the customizability. KDE makes things very easy to tweak until you like it. GNOME does not.
Fully agree that the DE doesn’t matter much. I’ve used KDE and XFCE the most over the years, and cinnamon, gnome, and even enlightenment a bit over the years. I was never a big fan of gnome, however I recently got a 2in1 laptop, and after a few days of tinkering… I think gnome is a bit better for that kind of interaction than than the others.
There are things to like and dislike with all of them I’d say.
I used a customized XFCE with Peppermint OS 10. They did a redesign with 11 and it just wasn’t the same. I miss that desktop so much. XFCE is great, especially on lower-end hardware. The biggest downer for me is no global menu support.
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.
I went from Mac to Linux and use Plasma because I really can’t get on with GNOME. People go on like its 1:1 to macOS, but it really isn’t. GNOME feels so much more restrictive to me.
I grew up using macos, still use it on my work laptop, and use elementary os on my home machine. For the most part, it’s great. I like
- The intuitive UX and the clean, consistent and beautiful UI
- Good default apps and settings
- Flatpak out of the box, no snap bullshit.
- Generally you can get away with quite a bit without resorting to the terminal
Unfortuntalely, there are a few big issues with it, mostly due to the small number of developers
- Updating the OS to a new major version (that they release every 1-2 years) is a hassle, there is no direct way to do distro-update like on ubuntu for example
- The mail and calendar apps don’t support Oauth, and by now, google doesn’t seem to support password+IMAP anymore. So no google calendar or mail integration. Also a hassle to set up anything that uses Oauth by default.
If those aren’t dealbreakers, I can recommend eos. But do check out the other options as well.
You should look at getting a laptop from Starlabs with Ubuntu preinstalled on it.
I was also suggested purityc, framework, and system76, what is especially good about starlabs?
The quality of their hardware is very high and reminds me of macbook pros that I’ve had in the past. They test their laptops on Ubuntu, so if you choose to have that preinstalled you know that everything will just work. I’ve run Debian and Fedora on mine and both have been fine too. The other good things in my book are that they use Coreboot which is an open source bios and their customer support is excellent.
Thanks for sharing!
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.
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
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.
Nah, the precision Apple touchpads had 10 years ago still is unmatched today by Windows or Linux, but I’m afraid that’s not a software issue
Please explain how “Windows” and “Linux” manufactured these touchpads?
Dying to know
Dude, dial down the hostility
What hostility? Are QUESTIONS hostile now?
Jesus, we’re all so cooked…
