🍃 mintbook

Give your old MacBook Pro a second life with Linux Mint.

mintbook is an automated setup guide and installer script for running Linux Mint on 2013-2015 MacBook Pros. Perfect for turning that dusty old Mac into a fast, modern, daily-driver laptop.

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✨ What You Get

• Automated USB creation — Downloads Linux Mint, verifies integrity, and creates a bootable USB
• Step-by-step guidance — Interactive prompts walk you through everything
• WiFi fix included — Handles the notorious Broadcom BCM4360 driver setup
• Phone tethering guide — Use your phone for internet anywhere
• Non-technical friendly — Written for smart people who don't want to mess with terminals

🎯 Supported Hardware

Model	Identifier	Status
MacBook Pro 13" (Late 2013)	MacBookPro11,1	✅ Tested
MacBook Pro 13" (Mid 2014)	MacBookPro11,1	✅ Should work
MacBook Pro 15" (Late 2013)	MacBookPro11,2/11,3	⚠️ Untested
MacBook Pro 13" (Early 2015)	MacBookPro12,1	⚠️ Untested
MacBook Air (2013-2015)	Various	⚠️ Untested

Note: Models with Intel Iris graphics (no discrete GPU) have the smoothest experience.

🚀 Quick Start

On your Mac (to create the bootable USB)

# Download the script
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/YOUR_USERNAME/mintbook/main/scripts/setup.sh -o setup.sh

# Make it executable
chmod +x setup.sh

# Run it
./setup.sh

The script will:

1. Install required tools via Homebrew
2. Download Linux Mint 22.2 "Zara" (~3GB)
3. Verify the download checksum
4. Guide you through creating the bootable USB

On the MacBook Pro (to install Linux)

1. Shut down completely
2. Insert the USB drive
3. Power on while holding Option (⌥)
4. Select EFI Boot
5. Follow the on-screen installer

📖 Full Installation Guide →

📁 What's Inside

mintbook/
├── README.md              # You are here
├── scripts/
│   └── setup.sh           # Automated setup script
└── docs/
    ├── INSTALL.md         # Detailed installation guide
    ├── QUICK-REFERENCE.md # Printable cheat sheet
    └── TROUBLESHOOTING.md # Common issues & fixes

🛠 Requirements

To create the USB (on any Mac):

• macOS 10.15+
• 8GB+ USB flash drive
• ~4GB free disk space
• Internet connection

Target MacBook Pro:

• 2013-2015 MacBook Pro (Intel)
• 8GB RAM recommended (4GB minimum)
• iPhone or Android phone (for initial internet)

💡 Why Linux Mint?

We chose Linux Mint Cinnamon because:

• Familiar interface — Taskbar, start menu, system tray (no learning curve)
• Everything included — Browser, office suite, media player out of the box
• Rock solid — Based on Ubuntu LTS, supported until 2029
• Hardware friendly — Best driver support for older Macs
• Non-technical friendly — GUI tools for everything, terminal optional

📊 Performance Comparison

Metric	macOS (OCLP)	Linux Mint
Boot time	~45 sec	~12 sec
Idle RAM	~3.5 GB	~800 MB
Battery life	Good	Good (with TLP)
Responsiveness	Sluggish	Snappy

(Results from MacBook Pro 11,1 with 8GB RAM)

Note: OCLP (OpenCore Legacy Patcher) allows running newer macOS versions on unsupported Macs.

🤝 Contributing

Found a bug? Have a suggestion? PRs welcome!

• 🐛 Report an issue
• 💡 Request a feature
• 🔧 Submit a PR

Tested on different hardware?

Please open an issue or PR to update the compatibility table!

📜 License

MIT License — do whatever you want with it.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Linux Mint team for an amazing distro
• The countless forum posts about Broadcom WiFi drivers
• Everyone keeping old hardware alive

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Made with 🐧 for old Macs everywhere