When you boot to a live CD/DVD/USB, system files and everything else are stored temporarily in RAM, and RAM is always cleared when a system shuts down or reboots. Live file systems can have a variety of purposes. For example, Ubuntu gives you an option during installation to try out the operating system first. You can use Ubuntu like normal to.
Do you want to make Ubuntu look like Mac OS X? If so, we’re going to show you how to do it, step-by-step.
The whole point of using Linux is that you can do things like this
- Name Min Size Max Size Purpose Last Release; Tails: 1153: 1153 Secure Desktop 2017-07: Kali Linux: 1093: 2934 OS Installation 2016-08.
- Download the latest LTS version of Ubuntu, for desktop PCs and laptops. LTS stands for long-term support — which means five years, until April 2025, of free security and maintenance updates, guaranteed. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS release notes. Recommended system requirements: 2 GHz dual core processor or better; 4 GB system memory; 25 GB of free hard.
- Then install the Ubuntu version of GPT fdisk and run steps 1–7 below in the Ubuntu live CD. (Use /dev/sda rather than /dev/disk0; Linux and OS X use different disk identifiers.) With any luck, OS X will start up again, and you can proceed with step #8. If you've followed the directions, your computer should now be booted into OS X, looking.
It doesn’t matter whether you have a bad case of Apple envy, or you simply appreciate the design aesthetic of Apple’s OS; there’s nothing wrong with aping the appearance of a rival operating system.
After all, the whole point of using Linux is that you are free to do things like this — and hey: you certainly can’t make macOS look like Ubuntu!
How To Make Ubuntu Look like a Mac
A stack of mac GTK themes, icon sets, fonts and cursors are available for Linux, just a quick Google away.
The ones included below are the ones we use/think give you the best Mac-like look on your Linux box, But don’t be afraid to explore DeviantArt, GitHub and other avenues if our choices don’t quite match with your tastes.
1. Pick the Right Desktop Environment
GNOME Shell
To achieve the most Mac-like look on Linux you need to use the most appropriate desktop environment and that is GNOME Shell.
This is not a slight against other desktop environments (DEs) as Unity, Budgie, MATE and Cinnamon can all be moulded to resemble Cupertino’s computing OS too.
But GNOME Shell is the most customisable desktop environment. This is a key ask in a task like this. GNOME Shell lets you theme and re-arrange everything you need to with the least amount hackery or fuss.
If you’re using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or later you already have everything you need to get started, so skip ahead.
But if you don’t have GNOME Shell installed on Ubuntu you will need to install it first.
This is easy. Just click the button below and follow in the on-screen prompts (select ‘lightdm’ as the display manager when asked):
You’re also going to need to the GNOME Tweaks tool in a few steps time, so install that now too:
Once both installations are complete you need to logout and select the ‘GNOME Shell’ session from the Unity Greeter:
A word on using Unity
One thing GNOME Shell can’t offer, that the Unity desktop can, is global menu support.
Now, I don’t consider this to be a negative as more and more applications use use Client Side Decorations, making the need for a global menu redundant.
But if having an omnipresent set of app menus stripped across the top of the screen is part of the Mac experience you don’t wish to lose, stick with Unity.
2. Install a Mac GTK Theme
The single easiest way to make Ubuntu look like a Mac is to install a Mac GTK theme.
Our top recommendation is the ‘macOS Mojave’ theme by Vinceluice. This is a near-enough pixel-perfect clone of Apple’s OS skin, and is available in light and dark versions. It’s one of the best designed Mac GTK themes out there (it also has a matching GNOME Shell theme).
The ‘macOS Mojave’ theme requires GNOME 3.20 or later, so you’ll need to be running Ubuntu 16.10 or later to use it.
If you’re running the older Ubuntu 16.04 LTS release you can use the competent ‘macOS Sierra’ clone created by the B00merang project:
Tip: How To Install GTK Themes
Once you download your chosen macOS theme from the link(s) above, you will need to install it.
To install themes in Ubuntu first extract the contents of the archive you downloaded, then move the folder inside to the ~/.themes folder in your Home directory.
If you do not see this folder press Ctrl + H to reveal hidden folders. Next, find the .themes folder or create it if it doesn’t exist. Move the extract folder mentioned above to this folder.
Finally, to change theme, open GNOME Tweak Tool > Appearance and select your chosen theme (and the GNOME Shell theme, if you also downloaded one).
3. Install a Mac Icon Set
Next grab some a Mac Icon set for Linux. A quick Google will throw up a bunch of results. Most, sadly, aren’t complete enough to function as a full icon set, so you’ll also want to use (and in some cases manually specify) a fall back icon theme like Faba, or Papirus.
To avoid all of that hassle you may wish to use the fabulous ‘La Capitaine‘ icon pack.
What’s great about La Capitaine is that it’s a proper Linux icon set, with custom macOS inspired icons for many Linux apps and not just a direct port of mac icons to Linux. It’s also totally open-source, and is available to download from Github.
How to Install Icon Themes
Once you’ve downloaded your chosen theme from the link(s) above you need to install it. To do this first extract the contents of the archive you download, then move the folder inside to the ~/.icons folder in your Home directory.
If you don’t see this folder press Ctrl + H to view hidden folders. Next, find the .icons folder or create it if it doesn’t exist. Move the extract folder mentioned above to this folder.
Finally, to apply, open GNOME Tweak Tool > Appearance and select your chosen theme.
4. Change the System Font
If you’ve used Mac OS X / macOS at some point in the past few years you’ll know it has clean, crisp system typography.
‘Lucida Grande’ is the familiar Mac system font, though Apple uses a system font called ‘San Franciso’ in recent releases of macOS.
A quick Google should turn up plenty more information (and links to download San Francisco font) but be aware that neither font is not licensed for distribution — so we can’t link you to it, sorry!
Thankfully there’s an open-source alternative to ‘Lucida Grande’ called Garuda. It’s even pre-installed out of the box on Ubuntu, so you don’t need to go on a font safari to find it.
Head to GNOME Tweak Tool > Fonts and set the ‘Windows Titles’ and ‘Interface’ fonts to Garuda Regular (or any other font you wish).
If you use Unity you can use Unity Tweak Tool to change the font on Ubuntu.
5. Add a Desktop Dock
Ask people what a Mac desktop looks like and chances are they will mention its ubiqutious desktop dock. This is a combined application launcher and window switcher.
If you opted to use GNOME Shell back in Step 1 install the excellent Dash to Dock extension from the GNOME extensions site. This dock can be adjusted, tweaked and tune to look exactly like its macOS counterpart.
Dash to Dock doesn’t look very mac-ish by default so you will want to dive in to the GNOME Tweak Tool > Extensions > Dash to Dock > Appearance to change the colour to white, and lower the opacity.
Plank Dock
If you chose to stick with the Unity desktop you can set the Unity Launcher to hide (System Settings > Desktop > Behaviour) and install Plank, a desktop dock, to handle app launching and window switching:
Plank can be configured with all sorts of themes too, making it easy to replicate the Mac OS X experience. Gnosemite is a faithful mac Plank theme worth a look.
That’s it; we’ve achieved our aim to make Ubuntu look like a Mac — now it’s your turn.
We’d love to see a screenshot of your mac-inspired creation so do feel free to share one in the comments.
This is a list of live CDs. A live CD or live DVD is a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM containing a bootable computer operating system. Live CDs are unique in that they have the ability to run a complete, modern operating system on a computer lacking mutable secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive.
Rescue and repair[edit]
- Billix – A multiboot distribution and system administration toolkit with the ability to install any of the included Linux distributions
- Inquisitor – Linux kernel-based hardware diagnostics, stress testing and benchmarking live CD
- Parted Magic – Entirely based on the 2.6 or newer Linux kernels
- System Folder of classic Mac OS on a CD or on a floppy disk – Works on any media readable by 68k or PowerPC Macintosh computers
- SystemRescueCD – A Linux kernel-based CD with tools for Windows and Linux repairs
BSD-based[edit]
FreeBSD based[edit]
- DesktopBSD – as of 1.6RC1[citation needed] FreeBSD and FreeSBIE based
- FreeBSD – has supported use of a 'fixit' CD for diagnostics since 1996
- FreeNAS – m0n0wall-based
- FreeSBIE (discontinued) – FreeBSD-based
- GhostBSD – FreeBSD based with gnome GUI, installable to HDD
- Ging – Debian GNU/kFreeBSD-based
- m0n0wall (discontinued) – FreeBSD-based
- TrueOS – FreeBSD-based
- pfSense – m0n0wall-based
Other BSDs[edit]
Linux kernel-based[edit]
Arch Linux based[edit]
- Artix – LXQt preconfigured and OpenRC-oriented live CD and distribution
- Archie – live CD version of Arch Linux.
- Manjaro – primarily free software operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use.
Ubuntu For Mac Os
Debian-based[edit]
These are directly based on Debian:
- antiX – A light-weight edition based on Debian
- Debian Live – Official live CD version of Debian
- Finnix – A small system administration live CD, based on Debian testing, and available for x86 and PowerPC architectures
- grml – Installable live CD for sysadmins and text tool users
- HandyLinux – A French/English Linux distribution derived from Debian designed for inexperienced computer users
- Instant WebKiosk – Live, browser only operating system for use in web kiosks and digital signage deployments
- Kali Linux – The most advanced penetration testing distribution
- Knoppix – The 'original' Debian-based live CD
- MX Linux – Live based on Debian stable
- Tails – An Amnesic OS based on anonymity and Tor
- Slax – (formerly based on Slackware) modular and very easy to remaster
- Webconverger – Kiosk software that boots live in order to turn PC into temporary Web kiosk
Knoppix-based[edit]
A large number of live CDs are based on Knoppix. The list of those is in the derivatives section of the Knoppix article.
Ubuntu-based[edit]
These are based at least partially on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian:
- CGAL LiveCD – Live CD containing CGAL with all demos compiled. This enables the user to get an impression of CGAL and create CGAL software without the need to install CGAL.[1]
- Emmabuntüs is a Linux distribution derived from Ubuntu and designed to facilitate the repacking of computers donated to Emmaüs Communities.
- gNewSense – Supported by the Free Software Foundation, includes GNOME
- gOS – A series of lightweight operating systems based on Ubuntu with Ajax-based applications and other Web 2.0 applications, geared to beginning users, installable live CD
- Linux Mint – Installable live CD
- Mythbuntu – A self-contained media center suite based on Ubuntu and MythTV
- OpenGEU – Installable live CD
- PC/OS – An Ubuntu derivative whose interface was made to look like BeOS. a 64 bit version was released in May 2009. In 2010 PC/OS moved to a more unified look to its parent distribution and a GNOME version was released on March 3, 2010.
- Pinguy – An Ubuntu-based distribution designed to look and feel simple. Pinguy is designed with the intent of integrating new users to Linux.
- Puredyne – Live CD/DVD/USB for media artists and designers, based on Ubuntu and Debian Live
- Qimo 4 Kids – A fun distro for kids that comes with educational games
- Trisquel – Supported by the Free Software Foundation, includes GNOME
- TurnKey Linux Virtual Appliance Library – Family of installable live CD appliances optimized for ease of use in server-type usage scenarios
- Ubuntu and Lubuntu – Bootable live CDs
Other Debian-based[edit]
- AVLinux – AVLinux is a Linux for multimedia content creators.[2]
- CrunchBang Linux – Installable live CD, using Openbox as window manager
- Damn Small Linux – Very light and small with JWM and Fluxbox, installable live CD
- DemoLinux (versions 2 and 3) – One of the first live CDs
- Dreamlinux – Installable live CD to hard drives or flash media * This distribution has ceased support *
- gnuLinEx – Includes GNOME
- Kanotix – Installable live CD
- MEPIS – Installable live CD
Gentoo-based[edit]
- FireballISO – VMware virtual machine that generates a customized security-hardened IPv4 and IPv6firewall live CD.
- Incognito – includes anonymity and security tools such as Tor by default
Mandriva-based[edit]
- DemoLinux (version 1)
- Mageia – installable live CD
- Mandriva Linux – installable live CD; GNOME and KDE editions available
openSUSE-based[edit]
- openSuSE – official Novell/SuSE-GmbH version – installable live CD; GNOME and KDE versions available
Red Hat Linux/Fedora-based[edit]
- CentOS – installable live CD
- Fedora – installable live CD, with GNOME or KDE
- Korora – installable live USB (recommended over DVD), with Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, MATE, or Xfce
- Network Security Toolkit – installable live disc, with GNOME or Fluxbox
Slackware-based[edit]
- AUSTRUMI – 50 MB Mini distro
- BioSLAX – a bioinformatics live CD with over 300 bioinformatics applications
- NimbleX – under 200 MB
- Porteus – under 300 MB
- Vector Linux (Standard and SOHO Editions)
Live Cd Ubuntu For Mac Os
Other[edit]
- Acronis Rescue Media – to make disk images from hard disk drives
- CHAOS – small (6 MB) and designed for creating ad hoc computer clusters
- EnGarde Secure Linux – a highly secure Linux based on SE Linux
- GeeXboX – a self-contained media center suite based on Linux and MPlayer
- GoboLinux – an alternative Linux distribution. Its most salient feature is its reorganization of the filesystem hierarchy. Under GoboLinux, each program has its own subdirectory tree.
- Granular – installable live CD based on PCLinuxOS, featuring KDE and Enlightenment
- Lightweight Portable Security – developed and publicly distributed by the United States Department of Defense’s Software Protection Initiative to serve as a secure end node
- Linux From Scratch Live CD (live CD inactive) – used as a starting point for a Linux From Scratch installation
- Nanolinux – 14 MB distro on an installable live CD with BusyBox and Fltk, for desktop computing
- paldo GNU/Linux – independently developed, rolling release distribution on installable live CD
- PCLinuxOS – installable live CD for desktop computing use
- Puppy Linux – installable live CD, very small
- SliTaz GNU/Linux – installable live CD, one of the smallest available with good feature set
- Tiny Core Linux – based on Linux 2.6 kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Flwm, begins at 10 MB
- XBMC Live – a self-contained media center suite based on Embedded Linux and XBMC Media Center
OS X-based[edit]
- DasBoot by SubRosaSoft.com
- OSx86 (x86 only)
Windows-based[edit]
Microsoft representatives have described third-party efforts at producing Windows-based live CDs as 'improperly licensed' uses of Windows, unless used solely to rescue a properly licensed installation. However, Nu2 Productions believes the use of BartPE is legal provided that one Windows license is purchased for each BartPE CD, and the Windows license is used for nothing else.[3]
- BartPE – allows creation of a bootable CD from Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 installation files
- WinBuilder – allows the creation of a bootable CD from Windows 2000 and later
OpenSolaris-based[edit]
Systems based on the former open source 'OS/net Nevada' or ONNV open source project by Sun Microsystems.
- BeleniX – full live CD and live USB distribution (moving to Illumos?)
- OpenSolaris – the former official distribution supported by Sun Microsystems based on ONNV and some closed source parts
Illumos-based[edit]
Illumos is a fork of the former OpenSolaris ONNV aiming to further develop the ONNV and replacing the closed source parts while remaining binary compatible. The following products are based upon Illumos:
- Nexenta OS – combines the GNU userland with the OpenSolaris kernel.
- OpenIndiana – since OpenIndiana 151a based on Illumos
Other operating systems[edit]
Live Cd Ubuntu For Mac Windows 10
- AmigaOS 4 – Installable live CD
- Arch Hurd – A live CD of Arch Linux with the GNU Hurd as its kernel
- AROS – Offers live CD for download on the project page
- BeOS – All BeOS discs can be run in live CD mode, although PowerPC versions need to be kickstarted from Mac OS 8 when run on Apple or clone hardware
- FreeDOS – the official 'Full CD' 1.0 release includes a live CD portion
- Haiku – Haiku is a free and open source operating system compatible with BeOS running on Intel x86 platforms instead of PowerPC.
- MorphOS – Installable live CD
- OpenVMS – Installable live CD
- Plan 9 from Bell Labs – Has a live CD, which is also its install CD (and the installer is a shell script).
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'CGAL LiveCD'. ACG lab, Tel-Aviv University. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^AVLinux – Install...CreateArchived 2011-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^'Licensing issues'. Nu2 Productions. Archived from the original on 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2006-12-31.
External links[edit]
- Linux: Distributions: Live CD at Curlie