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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Considering Gentoo (slrpnk.net)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have an old iMac that I am planning to install some flavor of Linux on and while I was looking at various distros it occurred to me that it might be a good exercise to install Gentoo on it. Other than a separate machine for documentation and downloading the necessary packages, what else should I have set up to try this? Has anyone installed Gentoo on a Mac before? If so, what concerns are there related to things like Apple’s implementation of EFI?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You'll need to be a bit more specific about the iMac. What year is it?

If it's pre-2017, I'd expect some difficulty with the WiFi. If it's newer, you might have luck with https://wiki.t2linux.org/distributions/gentoo/installation/ . I haven't followed that guide, so YMMV.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It’s a 2015 Retina 27”.

I’m fine rocking Ethernet for the purposes of this experiment.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

Go for it then! Gentoo is a blast (if you enjoy this sort of thing) and is surprisingly stable once you get it set up.

One tip, before I forget, is to save your firmware from MacOS before wiping the drive. Unfortunately I don't remember where it's located, and no longer have access to try and find it 😅

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

You can easily add Wifi with a USB dongle anyway. Hardly a hurdle.