Ubuntu 12.04 LTS edition installed great on this Macbook. I chose the 32-bit edition as 32-bit was recommended from the Mint tutorial that I first used as a guide for dual-booting linux and MacOS.
I was running Ubuntu 11.04 on the machine, and was hesitant to try and upgrade it “in place” to Ubuntu 12 based on experiences with my Desktop PC. The Desktop PC I’m referring to is the E-machines T5048 as discussed in my other post “Linux saves older computer“.
Basically, I did not want to run into the same ACPI-related issues where Linux Kernel 3 would not be supported. Also there was an apprehension towards the Unity desktop environment. This is, mind you, after trying it out on Ubuntu 11.
I was able to install 12.04 using the CD-rom install. All went great, no bootup issues at all. Whew, what a relief to not see the forever hanging “waiting for /dev to fully populate”. And with that, I am now dual booting Mac OSX with Precise Pangolin. And because it’s an LTS, I can leave it on there for a good long time. As per wikipedia, “this [12.04] release will be supported for five years“.
Unity
When Ubuntu made Unity the default environment, I did not like it at all. I found myself immediately searching Google for ways to get that GNOME 2 look and feel back. I just didn’t like or understand why Unity changed a lot of keyboard shortcuts that I grew to enjoy using either. But the general ease-of-use, along with large community (interwebs) support of Ubuntu makes it such a “go-to” Operating System. Of course, this is going to vary from person to person. Now that I’ve used it for a while, it’s not so bad.
I’ve found that with some patience, and the willingness to learn new things, I can actually function in this environment. I chose the auto-hide feature of the Unity dock to save on screen real estate (13.3″ macbook). Another reason I chose auto-hide is I quite love the ‘minimalist desktop appearance’ that Crunchbang (with Openbox) provide, so now I have an all-out Ubuntu long term release, with a lightweight look to it. Lightweight in looks is fine, as this machine is (so far) keeping fine pace with the resource demands of Ubuntu 12.