The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[sublunar]

Interesting, hadn't thought of that. But it runs just fine under parallels on my 2018. Meanwhile, the 2012 is now a linux-only machine, MacOS is no longer installed at all (but I have a bootable clone on an external SSD).

I've been thinking of making my 2012 a linux machine at some point - it's low on my priority list right now though. You run it with no GUI at all?

With Intel Macs going over the hill slowly the focus will soon land on the M1 Macs and what becomes of them and other Apple Silicon machines. Makes you wonder what happens when Apple inevitably make them obsolete if you need up to date OS. It's another reason not to overspec machines I guess.

 

[Basic75]

But it runs just fine under parallels on my 2018.

Of course it runs fine, it doesn't have to directly deal with the T2 chip, or any other potentially troublesome hardware, when run in a virtual machine.

 

[Boyd01]

I've been thinking of making my 2012 a linux machine at some point - it's low on my priority list right now though. You run it with no GUI at all?

I really just want something as close as possible to the server that I lease, which has no GUI. I started using BSD unix in 1985 (on a VAX 11/750!), so I'm comfortable with the shell - although I'm all for easier ways to do things.

I was impressed with how easy it was to install Ubuntu on the Mini - I would say it's even easier than updating MacOS and the GUI looked pretty good. Just not what I want though. AlmaLinux is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and primarily used for servers (I guess?), so probably not the choice for someone who wants a user-friendly machine.

I ended up installing the GUI version, after having problems with an older release of the basic version initially. Looks pretty good but a little rough around the edges maybe. I installed their web console last night though and have been impressed with that so far. This is what it looks like in a browser on another Mac.

Here's one of the individual service screens

Sorry, I'm starting to wander a little far from the thread topic. But these older Mini's might be worth a look... even though the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming. 😀