I just did a 2012 mac book air, well ‘just’ was probably 2023… but i digress
Ubuntu went straight on, just works, runs quickly. I’d have done debian which is more my go to, but I wanted to get the maximum level of community support and I think ubuntu has that.
I wanted to swap the function and alt buttons to match my linux pc’s, which was a special problem, because the FN key has its own special controller. There’s a page and a utility for it somewhere on the internet that lets you reprogram it. I doubt you’d want that though, since you’re already used to the layout.
The runtime on battery was awful, but it was a 4GB ancient Air. Out of the gate, I got a max of 2 hours, and OSX was getting 6-8 hours.
I installed TLP, twisted the governors WAY down, got it up to 4 hours while still usable. It still runs better in 4GB than OSX, just not as long.
Honestly, the Mac hardware is kinda rough for Linux. I run it on Lenovos and Dells and get 90+% of their normal battery life.
But it does work on Mac and runs quite well, even with very little RAM. I will say, you still need to throttle down that processor or they get a bit toasty :)
I just did a 2012 mac book air, well ‘just’ was probably 2023… but i digress
Ubuntu went straight on, just works, runs quickly. I’d have done debian which is more my go to, but I wanted to get the maximum level of community support and I think ubuntu has that.
basic instructions:
https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-macos#1-overview
or
https://dev.to/javibarbaran/reviving-a-2015-macbook-air-with-ubuntu-a-step-by-step-guide-to-breathe-new-life-into-your-old-mac-52c9
There were a couple of fights:
I wanted to swap the function and alt buttons to match my linux pc’s, which was a special problem, because the FN key has its own special controller. There’s a page and a utility for it somewhere on the internet that lets you reprogram it. I doubt you’d want that though, since you’re already used to the layout.
The runtime on battery was awful, but it was a 4GB ancient Air. Out of the gate, I got a max of 2 hours, and OSX was getting 6-8 hours.
I installed TLP, twisted the governors WAY down, got it up to 4 hours while still usable. It still runs better in 4GB than OSX, just not as long.
Honestly, the Mac hardware is kinda rough for Linux. I run it on Lenovos and Dells and get 90+% of their normal battery life.
But it does work on Mac and runs quite well, even with very little RAM. I will say, you still need to throttle down that processor or they get a bit toasty :)
Thank you!