Linux which Distro ?

[Yael-S.]

I think Lollypop is the best offline Linux music player... Great audio quality, 10 band equalizer, plays any file format.... I'ḿ using it in Mint, now... I hear jazz, the most, on bluetooth 5 headphones, or a 2.1 stereo..... FLAC is kind a Log Raw footage, you need a equalizer to contrast the tones! ; - D

Out of the box, FreeBSD and OpenBSD have better sound quality than any Linux system. At least on the analog connectors. Linux can only produce decent sound if you use HDMI or SPDIF, but most people use the green analog audio jack.

I learned a few operating systems and I usually see which one works best for the hardware and for the specific purpose.

PCLinuxOS -- https://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=180
FreeBSD -- https://www.freebsd.org/
Alpine Linux -- https://www.alpinelinux.org/
ROSA Fresh Desktop -- https://rosa.ru/rosa-linux-download-links/
mageia -- https://www.mageia.org/fr/downloads/
Gentoo -- https://www.gentoo.org/
OpenMandriva -- https://www.openmandriva.org
Clear Linux -- https://www.clearlinux.org/downloads.html
EndeavourOS -- https://endeavouros.com
OpenBSD -- https://www.openbsd.org/
ALT Linux -- https://en.altlinux.org/Regular
openSUSE -- https://www.opensuse.org
Void Linux -- https://voidlinux.org/download/
GhostBSD -- https://ghostbsd.org/
Artix Linux -- https://artixlinux.org/download.php

For Linux gaming:

ChimeraOS

 

[MacinMan]

Hey all, wanted to come on here and let everyone know I've finally settled on a Linux Distro for my iMac 17,1. Monterey is ending support this fall, and Open Core legacy patcher has some things that would make upgrading past Monterey hit or miss for me. Anyway, I am currently using Ubuntu 24.04 Cinnamon edition. I'm also happy to report they fixed the audio issues 22.04 had, and they also fixed the grub issue in the new installer. So was able to install to an external drive and run completely from that drive while keeping the install of macOS on the internal fusion drive separate. In fact, I am typing this post from Chrome on Linux.

 

[MacinMan]

I also setup a Kubuntu 24.04 install on a second external drive so i can toggle between the two. I know I could install both DEs in one install but wanted to keep things simple while i'm trying to decide for sure which I want to stick with. Then I'll take time to enhance my chosen install. Overall it's been a good experience though when I ran linux before it was on a non Apple branded computer. It was on an old HP tower. That was when Ubuntu 14.04 was current.

Someone had mentioned a while back Fedora is good on Macs too, but since they don't have an LTS (As far as i know) I chose Ubuntu, might also try the latest Mint that's based on Ubuntu 24.04 when it comes out.

 

[MacinMan]

Hey all, got a question. This doesn't seem to be Ubuntu specific, nor is really a deal breaker, but after testing a Fedora 40 Live USB stick, it seems like while audio works in Linux with the iMac's built in speakers, I get Monaural stereo vs distinct left and right separation like I do in macOS. I paired a Bluetooth headset, and got crisp stereo sound. I was wondering, does Apple do something specific with the iMac's built in audio hardware to get true stereo that Linux can't?
I was just curious. I really don't have any complaints as audio works, and it sounds good it's just not the distinct stereo i get in macOS unless i switch to something externally. If anyone has been able to solve this, please let me know. Thanks. i would be curious to try the fix.

 

[ThrawnTHX]

Hey all, got a question. This doesn't seem to be Ubuntu specific, nor is really a deal breaker, but after testing a Fedora 40 Live USB stick, it seems like while audio works in Linux with the iMac's built in speakers, I get Monaural stereo vs distinct left and right separation like I do in macOS. I paired a Bluetooth headset, and got crisp stereo sound. I was wondering, does Apple do something specific with the iMac's built in audio hardware to get true stereo that Linux can't?
I was just curious. I really don't have any complaints as audio works, and it sounds good it's just not the distinct stereo i get in macOS unless i switch to something externally. If anyone has been able to solve this, please let me know. Thanks. i would be curious to try the fix.

Look up the specific audio chip in your iMac—Apple has used a few over a short span of time. I’d also recommend reading this article https://studiofuga.com/blog/2023.04.13-audioofimac181linux/

If that isn’t the exact driver in your iMac, at least it will arm you with the necessary information to narrow your search.

 

[MacinMan]

Look up the specific audio chip in your iMac—Apple has used a few over a short span of time. I’d also recommend reading this article https://studiofuga.com/blog/2023.04.13-audioofimac181linux/

If that isn’t the exact driver in your iMac, at least it will arm you with the necessary information to narrow your search.

Thanks, I took a look at the link, and while helpful, my iMac is a 17,1, not 18,x as it's the late 2015 27" 5K. According to system profile, the audio manufacture is listed as Apple, Inc. There is no chipset reported such as Intel HD, or Cyrus, etc. Also, audio works in Linux, I just don't have the distinct Stereo separation like I do on macOS, but if I use Bluetooth, stereo audio works fine. The built in stereo speakers are reported the same in Linux as they are in macOS. The only difference is core audio isn't reported. Is there a tool I can run in terminal under macOS, or a piece of software I can download that will give me more detailed hardware specs than what's built into macOS?

Thanks.