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Advice for a Mac user switching to Linux? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) by atcorebcor@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I’m on board that we need to become independent from big tech. As someone who is fond of the Mac user experience, from choosing hardware to how you navigate through apps, I need a guide to make the switch, so if you know of any great guides for Mac users, I’d greatly appreciate it!

Edit: you have all been very useful. I now know a bit more how to start and what it would mean to switch!

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[-] Feyd@programming.dev 2 points 17 hours ago

Many distros you don't even have to do anything but install packages to switch desktop environments, which are really what people are recommending when they're trying to say what is similar to mac

[-] atcorebcor@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

Ok so what I understand is that the disto has more to do with compatibilities, optimization and updates whole desktop environment is more the UX and user experience?

[-] Feyd@programming.dev 3 points 16 hours ago

Yeah the DE is your desktop, launcher, window manager, setting manager etc. So Gnome, KDE Plasma, mutter, etc. It is what most people will notice.

The distro is basically a package manager and assembly of packages. So if you were to use ubuntu for instance, there is a default DE, but you'll notice there are a bunch of "flavors" available. These are mostly different desktop environments and default applications, but all of the stuff in any of them are in the package lists and available to install regardless of flavor.

The main differences between distros are

  • release cadence
    • fixed. They release a major update on a regular schedule and only backport bug fixes and security patches
    • rolling. One package set that every installation always updates to latest
  • package management
    • some are able to manage packages purely by GUI and some you must use the command line (or if you can use GUI at some point you might have to fall back because it doesn't have first class support)
this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
80 points (100.0% liked)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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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