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?
I’ve been working through this on my old 2012 Mac Pro. My issue has been my graphics card. In that era any non-mac graphics card won’t give you the boot-screen you need to choose which OS to use, or even to choose a USB boot for installing the Linux os. I got Refind (a super light bootloader) to work with a bit of extra tooling. You can also use opencore, but that is more challenging and makes a lot more changes.