Linux on a Mac?

[Rocketing-warp9]

If you use the torrent download (when such is available), you do not have to verify the integrity of the .iso. It automatically checks for you.

Me? I'm a slacker. I only verify the file if something goes amiss.

Sadly Mint won't work with VBox in general on M-Series Macs (except some 3rd Party Respins). There is much info for the x86/64 side, but nothing much for ARM Besides PPC.

 

[KGIII]

Sadly Mint won't work with VBox in general

Hmm... What's not working? I've used Mint in a VM more than once, specifically with VirtualBox.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Hmm... What's not working? I've used Mint in a VM more than once, specifically with VirtualBox.

Not on M-Series Chips, as they are ARM based (Mint does not make a Aarch64 Version for ARM- except a loosely based 3rd party project for the really old PPC Architecture). That's why I said that it will not work (Or at least well) on @Skybear's M2 Air.


I Actually tried to Run x86/64 distros before on ARM (My iPad, Which still has the same Class of Processor found in those Macs.) And.. It went as well as you would expect.
ARM (Aarch64) is the only really usable way for M-series Macs.
You can get Ubuntu server Quite close if you tweak it enough- but No official solution yet.

Edit- I'll go Change my wording above to avoid confusion, I realize I was a bit to broad (Woops! ) Sorry about that!

 

[Skybear]

Then maybe now is a good time to go distro-hopping? My goal at this point is to finish the Udemy course so I can learn the basics of Linux. If I don’t use Mint, that’s okay. What distro should I use?

 

[wizardfromoz]

What distro should I use?

Too tall a question to be able to answer.

I have no one fave distro and I use too many to be seen as having an agenda or barrow to push.

I haven't used a Mac, so can't comment there, but you could do worse than try MX-Linux.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

.

I haven't used a Mac, so can't comment there, but you could do worse than try MX-Linux.

Sadly MX is out of the question as well (No ARM .ISO)
Newer Mac's are very picky about what versions they run.
x86/x64 (Intel/AMD) .iso's are very hard to translate for these systems to run right.
For the most usable experience, Aarch64 is the way to go, as it is ARM-Native.

 

[KGIII]

Not on M-Series Chips, as they are ARM based (Mint does not make a Aarch64 Version for ARM- except a loosely based 3rd party project for the really old PPC Architecture). That's why I said that it will not work (Or at least well) on @Skybear's M2 Air.

Can VIrtualBox on a modern Mac not emulate x86_64?

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Can VIrtualBox on a modern Mac not emulate x86_64?

Nope, Only Parallels and UTM, but that's paid.

 

[KGIII]

Nope, Only Parallels and UTM, but that's paid.

Well, that sucks. FOSS will likely catch up at some point, especially as we see more ARM hardware out there.

 

[Skybear]

I remember using Parallels, I think that’s what it was, to run Windows on Mac. But it was free then. I read that Arch is an option. Someone recommended UTM but I’m not sure what that is.

 

[Skybear]

I have some good news. I’ve used UTM to install Ubuntu on my Mac.. After a friend recommended that I try Ubuntu, I found a video on YouTube that does an excellent job of guiding the user on how to install both on my computer: How to Install and use UTM on Mac | A Guide to Virtual Machines on Mac M1/M2 Apple Silicon Chips.

The only snag I ran into was when it had a problem loading the backup mirror site. Then I realised I had Nord VPN running and that might be causing the problem. After turning that off and restarting my computer, the installation completed smoothly.

The .ISO I had to download (since it supported ARM architecture) was the server version. But the video showed how to install a GUI and that works nicely.

 

[Skybear]

I do have a problem:

I use a VPN on my laptop. I’ve discovered that I can’t use the browser in Ubuntu while I have the VPN connected.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Hmm! That's strange!

I don't know much about VPN configs, sadly.
But a place to look-
Try to find a port or option that allows you to bypass it on the VPN.
I am sorry that I really can't be of much help here.

 

[Skybear]

No worries. I talked with a friend and he told me how to fix it:

1) go into UTM, not in Ubuntu, and right-click on the Ubuntu entry. (see first screenshot)
2) then bring up the Network Mode options and select “Emulated VLAN.” (seen the second screenshot). That solved the problem!