My degoogling is going very well, but I'm really struggling to let YT go... is there any Youtube front ends similar to newpipe for mac computers?

Freetube

thanks sompreno

vacuum tube is fun too

May I interest you in trying out a Linux distro on that Laptop?

I revived a 2014 Mac Mini by installing Debian on it.

So, for the first time in sooooo long, I'm down to a single laptop (an M1 air), and it's my dedicate "no tinker" device I use for school. It's also my first ever apple device, and I sort of hate how much I love it. I still prefer Fedora, but I prefer the Mac to Windows.

When I can finally get a second device I can tinker with again, I was debating getting an old Mac and installing Linux, but I only have experience with Linux via old windows machines. I know Linux on Macbooks is a thing, but is it more difficult/less preferable to Linux on a Windows machine for someone who isn't particularly techy?

invidious works on browsers.

A 2020 Air is still a fine mac, which doesn’t really need to run Linux yet, and is very reliable and efficient and getting full security updates. It’s possible to lock down macOS to nearly Linux levels of independence and privacy if you want, with far less effort than switching OS, and it would have far better hardware integration, especially battery and trackpad.

Debian on an intel mini is great, I can attest, but on laptops stretch out macOS usage with OCLP or something before switching. Unless, like me, you’re awash in old macs, then you can compare systems side by side for yourself.

It’s kind of the same with fewer distros recommended and extra steps loading drivers for wifi and camera.

Fedora works fairly well on 2015 MacBooks.

💚

Thinking about following the same approach

I'm running Asahi Linux on my M1 Max as my daily driver and absolutely love it. And if you want you can just dual boot and keep a Mac partition.

Been running it since last year, with zero issues so far.

Yattee works well

Freetube is wonderful. Can break for a bit whenever youtube updates their ui but gets fixed

It’s easier to install Linux on my 2012 MacBook Pro than in my 2018 Surface Go 1. With intel macs I think the only problem can be the wifi but it’s fairly easy to solve.

With the older Macs, do you have to dual boot like you do with the apple silicon Macs?

Are you able to do it without dual booting? I was under the impression that apple silicone macs required dual booting for asahi

Indeed you need to dual boot, but you can make the mac partition as small as possible, leaving most space for Linux.

Nope, basically like a windows pc with some obscure parts. Reformat and go.

Try Mint or Zorin or just Debian for testing and have wired networking available at first. Really old imacs are good but you should worry about the hdd. Before 2014 or under 8GB RAM use a lightweight desktop environment.

Zorin on a 2013 MacBook Air 1.5gHz i3 with 8GB is usable though power management is clunky. Mint with xfce on a 2008 imac is just fine for basics.

2018 i7 mac mini with enough RAM is pretty great with latest distros. A 27" 2019 iMac would be excellent, 5k monitor for cheap and easily upgradeable RAM. Drive replacement is ridiculous but ifixit sells kits.

freetube or invidious

👍

Grayjay Desktop is my preferred frontend and has more platforms than just Youtube. It also has a mobile app with sync.

Had a go, nkk, thanks. Any tips on customisation? It works for me at some level, but it doesn't fetch my preferences. I assume this is because it bypasses cookies and logins and so on...

What customization and preferences are you talking about? If you mean your subscriptions, you can log into your account and transfer your subscriptions under Youtube in the "Sources" tab.

Oh, I see. OK got the impression you didn't need to import anything

I mean you don't need to import anything, that's just if you want to easily transfer your Youtube subscriptions.