Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

victorleungtw.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 176 posts

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#131

Post by wpietri »

ngcc_hk wrote: post #123
wpietri wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I've been running Linux on Lenovo laptops for years and years, and lately it has been fine. No weird tweaks, no special kernel builds. It just works.

Any page you can point to. Have an old T I want to try this.

I literally just installed stock 18.04. In your shoes I'd start with a USB key and this page: https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

You might check out your old model here, just to see if there are important tweaks: https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#132

Post by 0xff00ffee »

_bxg1 wrote: post #115
0xff00ffee wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I explain how I'm running on 3 OSes and you actually think I don't know that?

> I would kill for a mouse with a real middle button

Your reading skills are atrocious.

> ... not a scroll+button. Unix/X middle click paste is a feature I sorely miss on macOS and Windows.

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#133

Post by ric2b »

proverbialbunny wrote: post #114
insideBig3 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I can't understand the appeal of a MacBook. You have the Apple burden, the Apple costs, what benefits? The touchpad? The showoff luxury of a lighted logo?

Macbooks are mostly bought by companies in the tech industry, which is how Apple can get away with charging high prices for them. Companies don't barter. They'll pay whatever the price. This too is why upgrades home users do not need cost an arm and a leg. Why are MBs and MBPs used in the tech industry? Many types of dev roles can only be done well on Linux or OSX (or BSD), because they're writing software for server…

My previous company used to offer both options (Dell laptop with Linux or MacBook) and eventually stopped offering the MacBook because of the RAM limitations at the time (16GB Max) and horrible docker performance.

RAM and docker were very important for our product and whoever chose the MacBook ended up regretting it (devs only, I mean).

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#134

Post by _bxg1 »

0xff00ffee wrote: post #132
_bxg1 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would kill for a mouse with a real middle button

Your reading skills are atrocious. > ... not a scroll+button. Unix/X middle click paste is a feature I sorely miss on macOS and Windows.

And you're an extremely rude person.

You phrased it in context like you thought using a Mac was preventing you from using a mouse with a middle button, especially when it was right after the section complaining about the Magic Mouse.

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#135

Post by odiroot »

Sangeppato wrote: post #38
Narann wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: Having Linux on a Mac a decade ago had sense has Mac hardwares were special enough to provide value, but now you have XPS-like hardware, why would people buy a Mac to install a Linux on it? Dual boot? What does Mac hardware have that others don't?

Yeah I don't get it either. Without macOS, a MacBook doesn't make any sense IMHO

Interesting, my sentiment is the opposite. I would buy a Mac only because of a good design, portability and good battery. The software is my biggest pet peeve of this product.

On the other hand, even if Kubuntu (my preference) run perfectly on a Macbook, I'd still go for a Thinkpad, because of the keyboard and the touchpad.

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#136

Post by selectodude »

intopieces wrote: post #128
trimbo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been trying since the Pentium III to use Linux on a laptop and have finally given up completely. I've tried on a variety of hardware, even with official support. Driver problems and battery life have always been an issue. But... are we talking about the same XPS laptop? My wife's 13" XPS purchased ~2016 has had horrible reliability. The charging port died a long time ago, fortunately, it charges over USB-C. But…

>I've tried to get her to switch to Mac, but she prefers Windows, so next time I'm buying her a Surface Laptop. HTH anyone considering the XPS. If HW reliability is a concern and you want to choose Apple, couldn't you BootCamp it or run Windows in a full screen VM?

Windows runs on a Mac, but I hesitate to say it runs well. The trackpad is pretty mediocre and I have lots of issues with Bluetooth. Additionally, the laptop only exposes the GPU so it never switches to integrated graphics and my battery life sucks.

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#137

Post by asn0 »

fcanesin wrote: post #7

Buy a XPS-13 developer edition.

That's where I ended up (though it was XPS 7590 - for the larger battery, larger screen, and people not looking up my nose on video calls).

I used a 2015 Macbook Pro to experiment with making the leap to Linux desktop (though Macbook was essentially just a Linux terminal already).

I think everything worked (this was a year ago) - what pushed me to an XPS was when I realized (pretty quickly) that I have 0 interest in figuring out which arcane key sequence on the Mac keyboard was equivalent to a certain special key on a "PC" keyboard.

I was a 10+-year MacOS power user, and I'd felt it would be impossible to be "happy" (more like "unannoyed") with anything else - I'd re-evaluate that question every year.

I've been happily using Linux Mint on an XPS 15 since Sept last year. Cannot believe what a non-issue the change has been. I have hardly thought about my Macbook - been on it maybe 2 or 3 times to test something Mac-specific. Had I known, I would have switched a few years earlier, rather than "powering through" the unpleasant last few years.

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#138

Post by bproven »

Lenovo Carbon X1 - besides maybe Dell XPS line - this is the best small 14" laptop for Linux. I consider it a 13" macbook replacement. it is good quality. I have had zero issues with my 6th gen running Fedora. However, you will never get the trackpad exp of a Mac, but you get a GREAT keyboard on X1s to make up for it (and the trackpad is actually pretty good).

I wouldnt want to fight with Apple hw with Linux. Apple doesnt want to make it doable any longer...

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#139

Post by boulos »

Dunedan wrote: post #6

I used MacBooks with Linux starting in 2006 till the end of last year. That's when I finally gave up. I really love the hardware Apple produces, but we're at a point where I believe it's not feasible anymore to use Linux on MacBooks. For the MacBook Pros 2016 and up I put significant effort into trying to get mainline Linux running as smoothly as possible by documenting and coordinating the efforts to have drivers fo…

What do you run on now?

My worry is that while Apple is continually making their machines less and less useful for development (meaning macOS as an environment), that the Linux laptop story remains bad even on the Dell “Ubuntu Certified” machines or the Lenovo line of newer Thinkpads.

I think this means I’m resigned to “No, I would rather ssh to a Linux workstation” because I want to spend ~0 hours per year fighting with “WiFi doesn’t work, Audio doesn’t work, or Suspend sucks”. A recent set of threads here suggested buying a sufficiently old Thinkpad that the Linux community has worked out the bugs. Thoughts?

Edit: Thanks for the responses! (Sounds like a year or so back is plenty for solid support).

Re: Install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on MacBookPro14,1

#140

Post by bproven »

trimbo wrote: post #98
wpietri wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I've been running Linux on Lenovo laptops for years and years, and lately it has been fine. No weird tweaks, no special kernel builds. It just works.

Is the battery life any good? That has always been the Achilles heel for me. The battery life is like half or 3/4 of what windows gets on the same hardware. Last I tried this was on a 2016 X1 Carbon.

Carbon X1 (6th gen ), I can get 8-9 hours light stuff and solid 6 doing work. That is pretty much equivalent to the macbook 13.

I have a macbook 15 for work and am extremely disappointed in its battery life, so I think the Lenovo matches up well.

Post reply on HN