'I Tried Running Linux On an Apple Silicon Mac and Regretted It' (msn.com)
- Reference: 0180801556
- News link: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/26/02/16/0340259/i-tried-running-linux-on-an-apple-silicon-mac-and-regretted-it
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/software/i-tried-running-linux-on-an-apple-silicon-mac-and-regretted-it/ar-AA1Wq5VD
> The thing about Apple silicon Macs is that it's not as simple as downloading an AArch64 ISO of your favorite distro and installing it. Yes, the M-series chips are ARM-based, but that doesn't automatically make the whole system compatible in the same way most traditional x86 PCs are. Pretty much everything in modern MacBooks is custom. The boot process isn't standard UEFI like on most PCs. Apple has its own boot chain called iBoot. The same goes for other things, like the GPU, power management, USB controllers, and pretty much every other hardware component. It is as proprietary as it gets.
>
> This is exactly what the team behind Asahi Linux has been working toward. Their entire goal has been to make Linux properly usable on M-series Macs by building the missing pieces from the ground up. I first tried it back in 2023, when the project was still tied to Arch Linux and decided to give it a try again in 2026. These days, though, the main release is called Fedora Asahi Remix, which, as the name suggests, is built on Fedora rather than Arch...
For Linux on Apple Silicon, the article lists three major disappointments:
"External monitors don't work unless your MacBook has a built-in HDMI port."
"Linux just doesn't feel fully ready for ARM yet. A lot of applications still aren't compiled for ARM, so software support ends up being very hit or miss." (And even most of the apps tested with FEX "either didn't run properly or weren't stable enough to rely on.")
Asahi "refused to connect to my phone's hotspot," they write (adding "No, it wasn't an iPhone").
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/software/i-tried-running-linux-on-an-apple-silicon-mac-and-regretted-it/ar-AA1Wq5VD
Also, applications on Linux on ARM.... (Score:3)
Also, from the article:
> Linux just doesn't feel fully ready for ARM yet. A lot of applications still aren't compiled for ARM, so software support ends up being very hit or miss
ROFLMFAOzors.
There has been Linux distros on ARM hardware with vast selection of software available for ages. At no point in the past half decade of using ARM-based hardware Linux have I run into "doesn't work on ARM".
Actually, quite the opposite in my experience: the open source world has been very fast at adopting new arches (e.g. ARM, or more recently RISC-V) or newer extensions: x86_64 was available of Linux distributions almost immediately (among other: thanks to experience accum
An Apple would not be most peoples' choice (Score:2)
With Apple, you are paying more for software-hardware integration. With their hardware, I see it as the same as the Apple pentalobe screw or Windows secureboot; no, they probably did not want you doing that.
An interesting project (Score:2)
And useful if you want to dual boot something other than windows, but if all you want is a version if *nix just stick with MacOS. It has its quirks and the use of objective C for a lot of system calls is royal PITA if you're a C/C++ dev like me, but other than that it has little benefit over linux if you just want a nix enviroment and I write as someone who uses and develops on both in a daily basis.
Re:An interesting project (Score:4, Interesting)
I admin a bunch of Linux servers and workstations, and my daily driver for that has been a Mac. Admittedly mine is a simpler use case than what you're doing - I mean, mostly I just need a terminal, python to run ansible, ssh, and I like bbedit for editing - but macOS works as well as Linux for my particular use case.
My biggest complaint is - I feel like Apple's software quality has been gradually trending downhill over the past decade or more. The hardware engineering is still first-rate, but the OS and Apple-developed tools are just 'meh' at best. Some of the Tahoe bugs, even at 26.3, are absurd... which is why I'm sticking w/ Sonoma as long as it gets support.
But as to the actual topic: The Asahi folks are quite clear regarding what works and what doesn't work, and with which Apple processors. None of that should've been a surprise for the author, IMHO.
Seems hostile but has a point (Score:2)
He wants the Linux install to compete head-to-head with MacOS. But Apple disigned them to fit together and havent released details. Without those details, no chance Linux can do as well as MacOS. Windows in many cases also performence better that Linux wrt. power management on laptops, because the hardware most vendors only support Windows. He also states that most software isnt compiled for ARM. Which? Why if it is open source? But he has a point: Why run Linux on Mac when MacOS is already a Unix? If you w
Re: (Score:2)
> I cantfigure out how to make paragraphs in Slashdot comments.
Use HTML.
paragraph
Yep (Score:2)
Tried it a year ago, tried it again recently. Even on an M1 macbook, hardware still isn't supported or is poorly supported. Performance is poor, battery life is bad, you can't use all the hardware. You're much better served by selling it and buying a cheaper laptop with full Linux support.
Linux fully ready for ARM??? (Score:3)
Whilst Linux might struggle with propitiatory Mac hardware, I don't think that this is a fundamental issue with Linux and ARM. For several years my desktop, which I use every day, has been a ARM64 based Raspberry Pi running Gentoo Linux. I have to say that I don't experience any significant problems and the great majority of the software seems to work just fine.
Oh... (Score:2)
> 'I Tried Running Linux On an Apple Silicon Mac and Regretted It'
There there... ;-)
Sheer, unadulderated bollocks (Score:4, Informative)
The difficulties described are consequences of Apple’s proprietary platform design, not evidence that Linux or ARM are immature ecosystems. Conflating ISA compatibility with platform openness is a fundamental misunderstanding of how hardware enablement works.
“Linux doesn’t feel ready for ARM yet. Many apps aren’t compiled for ARM.”
This is the weakest argument in the article.
ARM Linux is widely deployed on:
Billions of Android devices (Linux kernel)
Most cloud hyperscalers (Graviton, Ampere)
Raspberry Pi ecosystem
Embedded and industrial systems
Major distros eg:
Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian have mature AArch64 support.
And today most open-source software compiles cleanly for ARM64.
Browsers, compilers, containers, dev tools are fully native.
Even Steam supports ARM via translation layers.
The real issue is x86-only proprietary binaries.
That’s not Linux-on-ARM immaturity.
That’s legacy x86 ecosystem inertia.
Even Apple solves this via Rosetta — a translation layer.
Linux uses FEX or box64 for similar purposes.
Translation instability platform immaturity.
I guess the source is MSN though ...
Re: (Score:2)
> The real issue is x86-only proprietary binaries.
> Thatâ(TM)s not Linux-on-ARM immaturity.
> Thatâ(TM)s legacy x86 ecosystem inertia.
Or, worse yet, software with "features" that actively screw you from working in anything other than winsh1t, often DRM. As an amateur radio op, there is commercial programming software called RT Systems. Only recently have they started supporting Mac but they outright refuse to support Linux even through an emulator. This isn't an ARM-specific problem but just a guy being an asshole. I try not to it, but there's no real choice for some radios and it's makes the job ridiculously easy. A friend who programs a
Don't reward Apple with your hard earned! (Score:2)
I'm always amazed that people who celebrate free and open software would reward a company for their proprietary and closed hardware. The project of putting Linux on Apple hardware is fundamentally flawed.
Re: (Score:2)
Linux can be good with older 2nd hand Macs.
In 2017 a friend was throwing away their 2007 iMac (an Intel-based computer-in-a-monitor model). I installed Ubuntu on it and used it for a while as a home desktop computer - nothing too heavy. I liked using Ubuntu on what felt like a solid, well designed computer.
Even worse if you're a dev (Score:2)
...and need binary components for certain popular packages (database connectors, system-level bindings, etc.). They either don't exist or you've got to build them from scratch just to realise that you can't because they don't support arm.
Re: Over (Score:3)
Apple hardware is currently not overpriced, quite the opposite. That's because Apple Silicon is really efficient, especially if you take energy consumption into account. Check out the Mac mini for example. I was considering buying a laptop recently and considered the framework laptops, then I saw that the apple laptops are better by most (not all) criteria and also cheaper.
Re: Over (Score:2)
Regardless of pricing, does anyone considering a framework laptop really also consider a Macbook ? The whole point of the Framework is modularity/expandability. Whereas a Macbook is completely locked down hardware.
I don't have a preference. No one makes a laptop with a left handed trackball for me. Maybe some day Framework will allow it.
Re: (Score:1)
But you have to fight Apple to do anything not authorized by Apple, like run a different OS, or upgrade the hardware in any meaningful way. Even with the current RAM/SSD pricing issues, is the TCO better? Apple charges a lot for upgrades and they can only be bought up front, so no adding some cheap RAM and a big SSD five years down the line.
Re: Over (Score:2)
I think we generally agree. Buying a framework laptop means being willing to pay more for modularity, which might translate to cost benefits in the distant future. Considering to buy one is balancing whether it's worth the price now. What I'm saying is that Apple Silicon is weighing further in that balance. Apple used to be expensive relative to the PC market, at least when disregarding hardware robustness and life expectancy; nowadays I don't think it's still true. Which is why I disagreed with OP saying i
Re: (Score:1)
Keep practicing
Process, Not silicon (AI will make this worse) (Score:2)
> That's because Apple Silicon is really efficient, especially if you take energy consumption into account.
Mostly due merely because Apple used to hog the finest process(*) available at TSMC (e.g. producing their M chips on "3nm" process while AMD uses "5nm" for their flagship), not as much due to some magic design skills.
And BTW, with the current AI bubble, this advantage of Apple is going to evaporate as now the silicon fabs are going to prioritize buyers with even more (investors', not income) money to burn on the latest and bestest processes. Within a year or so, you could expect the " really efficient, espec
Re: (Score:1)
All good, but it's a single use device. Once anything fails, you have to thorw it away because it is not repairable. If you are wealthy it's not a problem, you just buy stuff and throw it away when you are no longer interested in it. There are numerous issues with apple laptops: - soldiered memory, if it dies you need expensive equipment to fix it - soldiered SSD drive - if it dies Apple recommends a 500$ - 1000$ motherboard replacement. Not to mention that the only supported operating system is MacOS. So