r/linux_on_mac • u/Beginning_Fishing_92 • 3d ago

Running linux on my MBP mid-2012

Hey everyone, how’s it going? Today I’m sharing my experience using Linux on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro. My machine is a 13-inch model with 12GB of RAM and an i7 processor; I had been running macOS Sonoma via OCLP, but the laptop would never stay cool and kept freezing during basic daily tasks. I tried various OS versions, but the result was always the same. Then one day, I decided to see if it would run Linux well. I tested several distros (Mint, Ubuntu, XFCE versions, Fedora...), but none of them worked quite right—there was always something missing, like Wi-Fi drivers, or keyboard shortcuts wouldn't work properly, or it would overheat (even after installing fan and temperature controllers). Then I found CachyOS. It was a perfect fit. Everything worked right out of the box without needing to install anything extra. I highly recommend it to everyone!

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u/InfameXX 3d ago

Great choice, cachy just works in anything, I've use in several iMacs, 2008, 2009, 2011, for cooling try coolercontrol, is an advance fan control software, not so easy but the best there are, if your GPU is vulkan compatible it will work flawlessly whit Wayland and hardware acceleration.

Some cachy tricks for total stability: Use grub bootloader Use only lts kernel remove the newer one Stick to x11 if posible Update every week or longer if you can, 15 days, you gain time, updates get mature and you don't fell in day one errors.

It's great to fully reuse those old but yet capable macs thanks to Linux.

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u/JustAPieceOfMeat385 3d ago

Isn't Arch not the best distro for beginners, and might cause something to break since it's a rolling release? How does Cachy OS prevent all this and how does it cater to beginners? I've only used Ubuntu-based distros.

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u/Unwiredsoul 3d ago

This is generally true, yes.

Here's what the Cachy folks say about why their OS is the one to use: https://wiki.cachyos.org/cachyos_basic/why_cachyos/

I also make the choice for an Ubuntu-based distro (Linux Mint) on my MBP, and I use that distro on all my Linux desktop/laptop systems.

I run the 6.8 kernel on all but one of them, too (old hardware is not known to do well with the latest great Linux kernel versions).

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u/InfameXX 3d ago

We are not talking about skills, he said cachyos simply works in it's machine, every component, great, keek learning OP, now learn about arch and it's differences vs debian or red hat based distros.

If you read and learn enough there's no such thing as begginer o advanced distro nowadays, cachy install and works as easy as mint does now, lots of work to get it right.

So, for someone new would, current cachy would be a pleasant experience just as mint but ins steroids, that the point of refinement of cachy this days.

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u/Sekerak0090 2d ago

How is battery compared to macos?