Moving From macOS to Linux

Or how to revive an old Mac

Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash

You may have been there. I have.

We are staring at a perfectly functional Mac from a few years ago, sometimes even over a decade old.

And it’s running like a charm. Great screen, good keyboard, ports everywhere, and built like a tank, yet even upgradable with new RAM or SSDs.

But Apple decided it was “obsolete”, since they’ve moved everything to their own chips and discontinues support for Intel Macs.

It is a bit insulting. But I get why they’re doing it, of course. Apple chips are great.

Still, the hardware on those old Macs remains solid. More than that. They’re awesome.

My dad’s old MacBook Pro is exactly in this position, as I told in a previous story on whether to buy a new Mac or stick with an old one.

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What to do

The standard advice (and my too) was to buy a new one. My dad did.

Bought a nice new MacBook Air. Reasonable price, plenty power for him. It’s a great machine. Nothing against those new Macs. They’re the best computers you can buy now.

But it doesn’t change the fact that the old MacBook Pro is still great and definitely too good to throw away.

If we are being honest, that 2012 machine is still overpowered for 90% of what we do (web browsing, emails, writing).

So, there is one great solution. Linux.

Linux is the pragmatic path to keeping high-quality hardware out of the tech landfill.

So let’s do that.

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The Distro Choice

We should not just grab a random version of Linux. I mean. We can. But we won’t.

Some distros are built for people who want to rebuild their kernel from scratch every Tuesday. I don’t. We want it to work. When we talk about “distros” (distributions), we are just talking about different flavors of the Linux operating system.

My first choices:

1. Linux Mint (Cinnamon) is stable and boring in the best way possible. It manages drivers better than almost anyone else, which is crucial for Mac hardware. If we want something that feels like a traditional computer where we click a menu and find our apps, this is it. It is also light on system resources.

2. Pop!_OS is a strong runner-up. It is built by System76, a company that actually sells Linux computers. It feels a bit more modern and “productive” than Mint. It has a great workflow for window management, which is nice if we are used to having a dozen things open at once.

3. Elementary OS is for those who really miss the macOS look. It somewhat mimics the dock and the top bar. However, it can be a bit opinionated about how we use it. It tries to force a certain workflow that might frustrate someone looking for pure flexibility. It is essentially the “Apple” of Linux distros.

4. Zorin OS is another good contender. They have a “Lite” version specifically designed for aging hardware. If the 2012 Mac feels particularly sluggish (maybe we haven’t upgraded the RAM yet), Zorin Lite is worth a shot.

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The Installation

Installing Linux is not a dark art anymore. I did it 15 years ago. Was a bit of a nightmare… not going to lie. Now… not so much anymore. Thank god.

We need a USB drive and about 20 minutes of patience.

The process is pretty straightforward:

• download the ISO (the system file)

• flash it onto a USB drive using a tool like balenaEtcher

• and plug it into the Mac.

When rebooting, hold the Option (Alt) on the Mac. This brings up the boot menu.

We select the USB drive (usually labeled “EFI Boot”), and suddenly, we are running Linux.

Most distros let us “try” the OS directly from the USB without touching our hard drive right away.

This is the perfect time to check if the keyboard, trackpad, and screen look right. And to see which distro looks “right” for us.

But we have to talk about the pitfalls

The biggest issue with the 2012 MacBook Pro is the Broadcom Wi-Fi chip.

Linux distros are often “pure,” meaning they do not include proprietary drivers by default because of licensing issues.

If we install it and the Wi-Fi does not show up, nothing is broken.

We need to plug in an Ethernet cable (or use a phone as a hotspot via USB if possible) and go to the “Additional Drivers” menu in the settings.

It is usually a two-click fix, but it is annoying if we are not expecting it.

Then there is the webcam. Sometimes it works immediately, sometimes it requires a firmware blob.

And also, the battery life will probably take a hit. macOS is deeply optimized for Apple’s specific batteries and power controllers.

Linux is a generalist.

We might lose an hour of runtime. We can mitigate this by installing a utility called TLP or auto-cpufreq, which handles power management in the background, but it is rarely as efficient as the original Apple software.

Now, that’s basically it for running a clean Linux install on an old Mac. We used Elementary OS for now.

The other part is finding good tools and software for the distro we picked (including the ecosystem exclusives that we don’t have anymore), and what we need for our workflow. I won’t dive into that today.

I will, however, quickly take a look at another possible path for the old MacBook Pro.

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The Other Path: OpenCore Legacy Patcher (OCLP)

Some of us really do not want to leave the Apple ecosystem.

We want iMessage, we want iCloud, and we want that familiar interface. For those people, there is OpenCore Legacy Patcher (OCLP).

OCLP is a brilliant piece of community-driven software that tricks the latest versions of macOS (like Sonoma or Sequoia) into thinking they are running on a supported, modern Mac.

It is a hack that injects the necessary drivers and bypasses Apple’s hardware checks.

There are some serious pros here. We get to keep using our Mac exactly as we always have. We get the latest security updates directly from Apple. For someone like my dad, this might feel less “scary” than moving to an entirely new operating system.

However, there is a big catch.

OCLP is a workaround. When Apple releases a minor point update (like moving from 15.1 to 15.2), there is a chance that something might break.

Maybe the Wi-Fi stops working, or the graphics acceleration glitches out. We then have to wait for the OCLP developers to release a patch, which we have to install manually.

For a tech-savvy user, this is a minor inconvenience. For someone who just wants their computer to work without thinking about it, it can be a source of anxiety.

Linux, by contrast, is built to run on generic hardware. It doesn’t always run perfectly, but it’s getting better by the day.

Once it is set up, it is much less likely to break during a standard update. If we want stability and longevity, Linux is the winner.

If we absolutely cannot live without AirPlay and AirDrop, OCLP or a new Mac are the only ways to go.

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Hardware Tweaks

Before we commit to the software swap, we should look at the internals.

The 2012 MacBook Pro is one of the last Apple machines where we can actually touch the hardware. If we are still running on a mechanical hard drive, Linux will be faster, but it won’t be “modern fast.”

Swapping that old drive for a $30 SATA SSD is the single best thing we can do for this machine.

While we are in there, bumping the RAM to 16GB (it officially supports 8GB, but it handles 16GB fine) makes it a multitasking beast.

Suddenly, we are using an “old” machine that outperforms most $800 laptops sold at big-box stores today. Also, it looks cooler, is built better, and will probably outrun those new ones.

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Why All This?

Well, it is frustrating to see a machine that cost $2,500 a decade ago be relegated to the trash because of a software lockout.

The 2012 MacBook Pro was a peak design moment for Apple, in my eyes. Design, build, ports, power.

Choosing to install Linux is a relatively easy way to go.

My dad does not need a Neural Engine or a Liquid Retina Display to check his browser or write an email.

Linux turns a “vintage” computer into a modern machine pretty easily. It is a great way to learn something new as well.

Even if we are not “tech people,” seeing how an OS works is kind of cool.

And we are keeping the hardware alive.

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The Bottom Line

Reviving the2012 MacBook Pro with Linux was a cool project. We got a fast, secure, and highly customizable computer.

While OpenCore Legacy Patcher is a good option for those who cannot leave macOS, Linux offers a level of stability that is hard to beat for an old machine.