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?
You can use boot camp to dual boot. VMware fusion in macOS will even let you boot up your other OS partition as a VM from within macOS. I used to do this with windows and macOS, which was great for installing and managing steam games before booting into windows to play them.