How to run Linux on Mac

Question

How to run Linux on Mac

This might be a dumb question but I'm not a computer person at all. Taking a C++ course right now and I am really catching on pretty quickly. Our systems administrator at my university helps out with the Linux club and got me to start going to it. He said this would greatly improve my employment capabilities after I graduate (not a CE or CS major) because people want individuals that know how to do stuff within command line. Can I run Linux on a Mac? Could be a dumb question because I'm thinking that the Terminal is Linux...like I said not a computer guru at all.

If anyone knows of any great tutorials or study material to learn Linux please feel free to leave comments I want to get certified in this.

Thanks for the help guys!

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jun 12, 2015 11:04 AM

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Answer 1

etresoft

Level 9

56,374 points

Jun 12, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Community User

Hello rockchalkwushock,

Yes, you can run Linux on a Mac. But is that what you really want to do? If you just want to gain some familiarity with the command line, then you don't need Linux for that. OS X has a command line with commands that are 99% identical to those in Linux. I wouldn't be concerned about areas where OS X and Linux differ. That would be really hard-core stuff.

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Answer 2

Jun 12, 2015 4:09 PM in response to etresoft

Okay that is kind of what I figured.

I have another question you might or might not know the question to.

Is it possible to download something like Ubuntu and then boot camp it?

My understanding is that it is a Linux OS so it would be possible just like I did with Windows 7 to boot camp my Mac Mini.

Thanks!

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Answer 3

etresoft

Level 9

56,374 points

Jun 12, 2015 5:12 PM in response to Community User

Hello again rockchalkwushock,

Sure. You can do that. I would recommend something like VirtualBox instead. I doubt you would need direct access to the graphics hardware. That is the only reason to use BootCamp.

But still, I don't think I got my point across. What is your goal? To learn your way around the command line? Or to become an uber-master of Ubuntu? You know that will take years of full-time work. And then, what would you do if you got a job requiring expertise in CentOS? Linux is just the kernel. Each distro, or flavour thereof, is different, sometimes radically so.

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