Linux on a Mac?

[Skybear]

I have a 2023 M2 MacBook Air. I think I can use Virtual Box to run Linux Mint on it (as that’s what I have on my PC). But does anyone have experience with a similar setup?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Magrid0]

I’m not sure I understand, do you want to fully install linux on your mac, or just want a virtual machine on top of macos?

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

I actually just finished a Asahi Linux install on my M1 Pro MacBook.
That's a big can of worms if you go that route.

However, If you just use Virtualbox, I might have some good tips as I use a few VMs on my M1 Mini.
May I have the specs of your air?- It depends on how much RAM you got and storage you are willing to sacrifice- mOS will kill Virtualbox if you use too much.

 

[KGIII]

It depends on how much RAM you got and storage you are willing to sacrifice- mOS will kill Virtualbox if you use too much.

While slower, you can store your VMs on external storage. It's not all that slow once it has loaded.

 

[Skybear]

Oh, I was just thinking about installing Virtual Box and then installing Linux inside that. But it was just a thought.

It sounds like it would be more trouble than it’s worth. No biggie.

 

[agaskew]

Oh, I was just thinking about installing Virtual Box and then installing Linux inside that. But it was just a thought.

It sounds like it would be more trouble than it’s worth. No biggie.

You can do this, its pretty easy. There is a version of VirtualBox for Apple Silicon. As above it depends how much RAM you have on your host laptop. You'd need to allocate 3-4Gb to Mint for it to be reasonable to use in a VM.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

A little more on the 3gig side if your air has 8gigs of ram. Or else mOS kills Vbox.

Otherwise-8 gigs should be fine if you got 16/24

 

[Skybear]

HI Rocket. I’ve decided to look further at installing Virtualbox (or another VM) on my Mac.

You asked for the specs of my 2023 Macbook Air. Here they are:
Chip: M2
macOS: Tahoe - 26.5.1
Memory: 8GB
Hard drive: 412.43 GB available of 494.38 GB

 

[wizardfromoz]

This might be worth a look, but I think the only one that is cross-platform with MacOS support is VirtualBox

https://bitlaunch.io/blog/best-virtual-machines-linux/

Good luck.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

HI Rocket. I’ve decided to look further at installing Virtualbox (or another VM) on my Mac.

You asked for the specs of my 2023 Macbook Air. Here they are:
Chip: M2
macOS: Tahoe - 26.5.1
Memory: 8GB
Hard drive: 412.43 GB available of 494.38 GB

Alrighty.
1-It seems on the storage end you have plenty of room. Depending on what you do with it, I'd say 60Gigs to the drive if you do some/minimal work, and about 100 if you plan keeping stuff on the VM-side.

2- Memory. With my personal experience, I would say any memory around 3.25 GB of ram, should be alright. The Main difference is with Tahoe. My M1 Mini With the VMs has mOS Sonoma. I don't know how much Liquid Glass takes up on the RAM side but it might take up a little more. In the "Advanced" Options, you can set how much RAM is used, and you can see what config gets you the most without mOS Killing it.

3. CPU Cores. 3 Cores should be fine for basic- But don't push it too much, or mOS would probably kill it just the same as it would affect mOS. Depends on what version of the M2 Chip you have within your air. (Some have more cores, some have less)

4. GFX. I need to see once I get back on my mini (It's at my Pop's Shop, and I am at home at the moment.) But I must warn you it might become unstable if the Option is checked. I will post back later once I get my screenshots off the mini.

5- Guest addions. You need these for a consistant DE. It acts as a sort-of buffer or drivers to interface with the Mac's hardware.

6-OS. If Mint has a ARM Version, use that .ISO as Vbox can't read anything but ARM at the moment.
If Not, You can Install Ubuntu Server ARM and put the Cinnimon DE on it so you get the "Main Parts" Of the Mint experience.
If you have to go this route- Here is how you install the DE within Ubuntu server-

First Log On- then type this-

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

$ sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment

#This might prompt you to configure LightDM--Please follow instructions on the terminal. When that's dome, reboot like this-

sudo reboot

#Now Cinnimon DE should be installed. I have to look into installing the software center and will report back later.

This should at least get you started.

 

[dos2unix]

I hate to get into distro wars here, but the fedora asahi version is literally a one sentence command.
Much easier to install than the x86_64 version.. It really is that simple.

Installing Fedora Asahi Remix

Learn more about Fedora Linux, the Fedora Project & the Fedora Community.

docs.fedoraproject.org