Ask HN: Linux on a Macbook Pro. Viable or Get an XPS 13? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Linux on a Macbook Pro. Viable or Get an XPS 13?

7 pointsjason_slack16 comments

I have a 2015 Macbook Pro (15 inch, Core 17, 16gb, ssd, retina display).

I'm not happy with OS X 10.13. Is Ubuntu or Fedora a viable option? Things I care about: trackpad, wi-fi, sleep?

Would an XPS 13 be a better laptop option?

Edit: clarify retina display

Typing this from Fedora running on retina MBP. Everything other than the camera works out of the box and has been a pleasant experience for the limited amount of time i have had this setup. Linux install is running from an external SSD connected through USB3 so OS X is untouched. I don't notice any performance issues with this setup, none of my workloads are disk heavy. External monitors requiring different scaling than the desktop might need some setup.

EDIT: No experience with touchbar equipped models

Awesome. Thanks for chiming in.

Do you get F keys on the touchbar (if it's a touchbar model)?

I'm using Ubuntu 17.10 on a 2015 Retina MBP 15. All three of those things work for me.

If your hard drive is big enough, consider dual-booting. It's easier if you use refind as the boot manager.

You can even triple boot (MacOS, Ubuntu, windows).

EDIT: You didn't mention whether your macbook has a retina screen or not. If not, then I'd prefer an XPS 13. If retina, then I'd stick with the Mac.

If you don't need to dual-boot, then installing Ubuntu is really easy.

Great. Can you share any interesting apps that you use? I mostly use GitHub from a command-line, Markdown, normal daily tasks, C++, etc.

That's a really broad question, and my answer is unlikely to be useful to you, as we don't have the same needs. Your normal daily tasks are probably different from mine, except for brushing teeth, and sadly there's no app for that yet.

there's some good recommendations in the reddit thread I bookmarked: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/6di5s4/what_are_your...

I also have some of my favorites listed in my HN profile

I tried this about a year ago, and I initially couldn't figure out how to get the laptop screen to turn off when I closed the laptop. After I figured that out, then I couldn't figure out how to get it to turn on after I opened the laptop. That was the end of my attempts, and I went back to OSX.

Did you ever run into these issues? If so, do you have any suggestions for resolving them?

I don't do that. I don't generally use suspend. I just tested it (using the power button) to answer the OP's question. But I think it depends on the specific macbook model. Archwiki is the best place for tips.

I have a mac pro (trash can) and two MBPs (one 13" with retina display). I exclusively run linux distros on all of them and it works great. Just have a $10 linux compatible usb wifi dongle on hand for setup - once you're running you can install the appropriate nonfree broadcom wifi driver.

I have the a trash can too. I was considering what to do about that. Can you share what linux distros you are running and an example linux compatible usb wifi dongle?

I'm running Debian stretch on the mac pro.

The following usb wifi dongle seems to have decent linux compatibility but I haven't tried it https://www.amazon.com/Panda-300Mbps-Wireless-USB-Adapter/dp...

There's a lot of tutorials on installing linux distros on macs since there's a few special steps you'll probably have to take. I googled the following tutorial (haven't used it) but it should get you started: https://linuxnewbieguide.org/how-to-install-linux-on-a-macin...

Curious if you would consider using a VM? I use fusion to run a Windows and a couple of Linux VMs with 0 issues save for hindered battery life.

Currently VMWare Fusion doesn't run for me on anything 10.13.1+. I have talked to Vmware. They blame the bugs on Apple. All my virtual machines over the years have become unreliable in some way or another at some point for a variety of reasons.

OS X just doesn't work as well as it used to. I cant turn off things. Bugs. Etc. I feel like more control and flexibility would help me.

I was also wondering about the option of using a VM. I am running Ubuntu quite happily in a VirtualBox VM on MacBook Pro.

Having used the Lenovo Thinkpad Ultrabook with 24GB RAM it is a very good and fast machine. Unless Apple pull their finger out on the MacBook Pros I'll probably buy the Ultrabook next time and dual boot Windows 10/Ubuntu.

I recommend dual booting for safer firmware security updates, but it totally works.

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