Hey everyone! I'm a first-year computer science student and completely new to Linux. I have an Apple Silicon M4 MacBook Air and I'm planning to run Linux using VMware. I'm looking for a recommendation on which Linux distribution would be best for a beginner like me. Ideally, I need something stable, easy to learn, and suitable for coding. While I enjoy working with the command line interface, I also appreciate a good graphical user interface like I have on my Mac.
3 Answers
If you're looking for something specific to Apple Silicon, Asahi Linux is an interesting option, but that's if you were planning to install Linux directly on your hardware. Since you're using VMware, any ARM64 version of a distro should work just fine, so stick with something like Ubuntu or Fedora that you can easily get started with.
I’d recommend trying out Ubuntu. It’s been a go-to for beginners for the last couple of decades and is super easy to learn. You can find almost any IDE or tool you might need for coding without any hassle. The latest Ubuntu version, 25.10, works on 64-bit ARM systems, so it should run smoothly in VMware on your MacBook Air.
Honestly, Apple Silicon isn't the best for running Linux. If you want more versatility, you might consider picking up a low-cost office computer and run Proxmox on it. You could then set up a virtual machine for Linux. That way, you’d have a lot of flexibility and a solid environment for experimenting without worrying about compatibility on your Mac.
Related Questions
How To: Running Codex CLI on Windows with Azure OpenAI
Set Wordpress Featured Image Using Javascript
How To Fix PHP Random Being The Same
Why no WebP Support with Wordpress
Replace Wordpress Cron With Linux Cron
Customize Yoast Canonical URL Programmatically