[solved but I might ask here again] Hello! I'm trying out new OS

Linux mint for me?


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You can use 'gparted' to see the partition.
Have you decided which distro you are going to install?
 


Here's some tested Distros on the black mac

LMDE - Work fine except for it's network problem
Debians 10.13.0, 10.13.0 xfce, 12.1.0 - Just didn't show up when booting
MX 23 - Work fine (installed)
MX 25 64-bit - It BOOTS?!?!
Trixie pup - I forgot the result lol nah, just having no Idea what to do
Alpine - bricks my mac, I'm stuck at the white startup screen
Alpine update - Tried it again, It also didn't show up
Zorin - Working, wifi didn't show up and the keyboard didn't work and somehow the right side of the keyboard becomes the numpad?
Mageia - Didn't show up on boot
Q4os - Also not showing on boot

How do I test all of em? I open the browser and just try Loging in and watching youtube

All I did is keep using belena to plonk the image file into my usb stick, so maybe that's the problem? maybe try using different program?

any more 32 bit distros with gui for me to try?
 
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It's a UEFI Firmware reading problem with those distros- the Mac does not think it is bootable.
If you put one of those distos that work on there- and look into this project : rEFInder
I had a similar issue with Bookworm Puppy. Just installed MX instaid. If you want to give these other distros a shot- I have seen articles where this was used for your context (and mine). It also does not matter what program you use to flas (in my experience)- used a Chromebook to flash my usb stick twice. One with Bookworm Pup, then MX 25.
I had the same issue as you with Bookworm pup- but MX also works fine. You can test your distros by RAM usage and just general feel. Like how some distros will feel faster than others (ex- Fluxbox on MX might feel faster than Zorin's spin of Gnome)
It all depends on how it plays with your MacBook. For your case with limited RAM- a vm would not work well (Used Ubuntu on my MBP in vm and was slow as molasses because of limited ram).- how you are doing it with the live environments is best in this case.
 
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All the working distros feel good actually, no sluggishness or anything
You can test your distros by RAM usage and just general feel. Like how some distros will feel faster than others (ex- Fluxbox on MX might feel faster than Zorin's spin of Gnome)
It all depends on how it plays with your MacBook
But I reeealy want to try out the other because of FOMO
 
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Update on trying out Puppy, made it past boot and this is what came up. Is this means it's working? What do I do?
 
Try It again.. It seems to have loaded to GRUB,( the bootloader ).
 
Also Look into Refind as well. It is a application used to help find OSs that are being a bit stubborn on EFI
 
Also Look into Refind as well. It is a application used to help find OSs that are being a bit stubborn on EFI
Got the refind, how to use it?

re: Try It again.. It seems to have loaded to GRUB,( the bootloader ). I have, still stuck in the same screen
 
In these past two days or so I have successfully installed MX linux onto my black mac (MX 23, Wonder if I can install the MX 25 on my black mac?) with great success, seamless experience though having a hard time figuring out where's the system's eqs at.

otherwise, great experience apart from the time I had a panic attack bc I accidentally disable wifi (figured it out though)
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Distros I have tried on my MacAir
Zorin: Works fine! Sometimes there's a noticable "drag" in it but still a wee bit faster than my black mac.
Mints: I forgot if I ever tried em
Debian: Still isn't showing up
 
That's good! I am glad to hear!
I will check on rEFInd a bit later.
I am in school at the moment.
 
Also noted that happening with Bookwormpup32 on y IMac with Debian.
 
NVM, Ditch this debian thing, maybe I'll try to save up and try installing it on the other devices once I got them fixed I guess...

Trying Mint XFCE on my air, so far so good, I even downloading a friggin MX on it while trying them out
 
I accidentally boot The newly downloaded MX 25-64 bit into the black mac it works but it DRAGS... I am literally taking a bath and it still trying its best to boot up after sleep
 
Fedora is a good option with a Gnome desktop and some extensions (dash-to-dock) that give it a similar look to OSX.
Capture d’écran du 2026-01-17 23-18-28.png
 
One thing to be aware of when running a "live" distro from a thumb drive, is that it will take longer (much longer) to load from the thumb drive media than from a hard drive, so you will need to be patient. Give it a while before assuming that something went wrong, get a cup of coffee or 2. Welcome to the forum, you are in good company.:)
 


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