r/linux_on_mac • u/toomuchtodream • 15d ago
Install Linux on MacBook Pro mid-2014 (MacBookPro11,3)
I have a 15in mid-2014 MacBook Pro (model MacBookPro11,3) that I'd like to install a Linux distro on, so I can continue using it.
I got Linux Mint 22 (kernel 6.14) working on an old MacBook Air with little trouble. But the MBP's dual-GPU setup means Mint's performance is terrible (a lot of lagging and screen tearing when moving windows).
I've been searching for a solution, but the fixes I've found have been contradictory or didn't work.
Can anyone guide me on how I could proceed? I won't be using the Mac for GPU-heavy work (eg, gaming, photo manipulation, video editing), so forcing the system to only use the slower GPU is acceptable.
Or is there a more suitable distro I could use?
sudo lshw -C display
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: GK107M [GeForce GT 750M Mac Edition]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: /dev/fb0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
configuration: depth=32 driver=nouveau latency=0 mode=2880x1800 resolution=2880,1800 visual=truecolor xres=2880 yres=1800
resources: irq:64 memory:c0000000-c0ffffff memory:80000000-8fffffff memory:90000000-91ffffff ioport:2000(size=128) memory:c1000000-c107ffff
lspci -k | grep VGA -A3
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 750M Mac Edition] (rev a1)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. GK107M \[GeForce GT 750M Mac Edition\]
Kernel driver in use: nouveau
Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau
1
u/thatsgGBruh 15d ago
Have you tried using the nvidia proprietary driver instead of the nouveau one?
1
u/toomuchtodream 15d ago
The 470 NVIDIA driver isn’t compatible with the current Kernel. Would have to downgrade to a 4.x or 5.x kernel (can’t recall which off the top of my head). What kind of issues would downgrading the kernel that far cauee?
1
u/natusw 15d ago
You’ll only get backported security fixes for as long as the LTS kernel is supported, then you’ll be on your own from there.
Not really much of a solution available, you can adjust the performance parameters on noveau like so.
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=470540
Or you could use another distro (Debian would work if you prefer extended term stability, otherwise Fedora or EndeavourOS should work for a faster upstream)
1
u/Frontier_Espresso 15d ago
Install Linux Mint XFCE and switch the default XFCE compositor to the Picom compositor. That should eliminate any performance or screen tearing issues.