The machine hasn’t shipped yet, and won’t until July. Framework has a page for downloads of their BIOS updates for their various generations of mainboards, and for Linux users all firmware can be updated by LVFS via fwupd as far as I’m aware.

I have my preorder in for the 13 pro, and I know full well there may be some firmware growing pains with the new chip architecture, but I think 6 generations in, they’ve proven themselves capable of addressing any issues that arise.

No, they should be installing Linux on them after reformatting the provided SSD.

Okay, so she resigns. Who thinks they aren’t going to replace her with another Bond villain’s henchman like all the rest of the admin.

Oh well that’s great news. I would still do a little legwork, like searching “DistroOfChoice on Intel Mac” just to make sure you don’t run into any unforeseen issues.

If you’re on an M-series chip, Apple silicon as opposed to the older intel based Macs, your only viable option is Asahi Linux, which is specifically made to run on Apple silicon. If you would like to try this out, I have no promises that you won’t brick your machine. I highly recommend you watch some tutorials and read some documentation about the Asahi install process to see if it is something you’re willing to attempt.

So, the other poster is correct. You need a new non-Apple device if you intend to use Linux freely like the rest of us.

There’s good news though. Linux runs wonderfully on older hardware. Depending on what level of gaming you intend to do, you could get a decent used gaming laptop with a discrete GPU, or even a Thinkpad with integrated graphics for fairly cheap. Carefully consider your hardware choices based on your needs. If you take this route, the world is your oyster, and I highly recommend doing some distro-hopping in your first year.

Linux mint is a great place to start. As far as I am aware the only proprietary software involved is multimedia codecs and Nvidia drivers, but you would want those on any distribution, because the user experience without them is severely lacking.

Fedora is great, but it won’t install the multimedia codecs for you like Linux mint will. You’ll need to start learning how to use the terminal straight away. I consider Fedora to be an intermediate level distribution, unlike Linux Mint or Ubuntu which are very beginner friendly. Fortunately there are plenty of step by step guides and support forum posts to help you through things if you’re willing to do the work.

Arch based distros like CachyOS, EndeavourOS and the like, will challenge you. But that challenge will teach you a lot. I would say after getting comfortable in something like Linux Mint after a few months, give EndeavourOS a try if you want to develop your knowledge.

That brings me to an important point. Back up your files. With either a secondary SSD, or an external HDD/SSD, literally drag and drop the files you can’t bear to lose. Linux is very easy to wipe and reinstall, and hopping from distro to distro until you find your home can be a lot of fun, but having a safe backup so that you can do so without any worry of losing data, is extremely important.

Recommending Omarchy, or any distro based around a tiling window manager to a beginner is probably the best way to make sure they don’t use Linux. I can’t believe I have to keep saying this.

You’re not even trying to help, you’re just saying “I use Omarchy BTW”

I very much agree. I think that this aligns with the spirit of FOSS. As the neofetch decays on the forest floor, the fastfetch rises in its place to fill its role in the ecosystem. This how our ecosystem stays fresh and moves forward.

I’m currently running CachyOS, where I installed Hyprland and ML4W dot files (basically a well refined set of config files for Hyprland) alongside KDE Plasma. ML4W (MyLinux4Work) has great YouTube videos detailing their installation process.

Hyprland, like i3, is pretty amazing to use once you get used to it, but sometimes it can break, so having the option of rock solid KDE right at the login screen is a nice bit of insurance.

CachyOS is based on Arch, so you’ll need to get cozy with updating and installing software, both from the repository and flatpak, via the terminal. If you’re not already comfortable with that, it’s a great opportunity to learn.

It’s working now. Sometimes websites briefly stop working, for a multitude of reasons. Usually I just go take a quick nap, the come back and hit F5, kind of like how you skip time forward in Skyrim.

There’s definitely middle ground to be found, and decency to exercise.

Lefty here. I have a queer wife who identifies as non-binary but still identifies as my wife, as well as plenty of trans and queer people in my social circles, and I don’t see the need to word police myself over completely innocent phrases. I don’t think you’re harming anyone by just saying women, when the men or nonbinary people who can get pregnant constitute like a tenth of a percentage of the population.

I go out of my way to make sure the not-straight people in my life feel safe and comfortable around me, but there’s a certain level of pearl clutching over language that I don’t feel the need to engage with. You aren’t being hateful, you’re treating people like human beings, and you get to decide for yourself how you speak.

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I’d say RAM is going to be the largest performance bottle neck for a desktop environment on an older machine. 4gb of RAM? don’t bother with cinnamon, you’ll likely have a much better experience with Mate or XFCE. 8gb is about where I’d even bother to test out cinnamon.

I didn’t really enjoy YaST, but I’ve got a freed up secondary SSD, maybe it’s worth giving a try again.

The biggest difference? Arch forces you to the terminal more. The easier distros come pre packaged with GUI tools for things like graphics driver selection, adding and removing repositories, installing and removing software, etc.

Vanilla arch doesn’t come with any of that. EndeavourOS, the more fleshed out Arch based distro I use doesn’t either. You could use Mint, Ubuntu, Pop, or Fedora, without ever needing to see the command line. You CAN use it, and should from time to time to start learning, but Arch throws you right into the deep end of the pool of using the command line for almost everything you do.

Some of these people will likely try to say “well actually there are GUI frontends for pacman” or whatever, it’s not the same as using Mint where graphical tools that are easy to use are baked into the system.

I’ve only used yay but afaik paru is very similar and well put together.

Op was asking for advice. You have different advice? Give it. I don’t care what you think of my advice.

I have a 70 year old father running Ubuntu on a laptop without issue for a couple years now. Everyone’s mileage may vary.

Poor OP probably has no idea what to do now.

Yes start over.

Ubuntu, Mint, Pop_OS, Fedora.

Save your important files on a separate drive, install your new beginner friendly OS of choice, and don’t be afraid to break it. A reinstall from a USB stick takes like 15 minutes, and with your important files stored separately you don’t have to think twice about wiping the system and starting over.

Honestly it sounds like you’ve mastered a completely new kind of operating system, based on Linux but evolving in its own direction, and there’s probably only a handful of people using it at that level. It’s pretty cool to learn more about, so I appreciate what you’ve had to say.

I already know and love traditional Linux and don’t see a compelling reason to change, and as I’ve repeated, I don’t think it’s the way to point a newcomer.