it seems a better idea not to wipe the MacBook Pro, Core i5, 2.8 GHz (I5-4308U), model A1502 (EMC 2875) but to partition the drive and install a linux based os on it.
Do I download all I need directly to the mac or do I use my linux desktop to download and then install to the mac with an usb cable?
AFAIK macOS doesn’t care if you add another partition in diskutil and install Linux on that through the usual live ISO’s. But please make sure you: