Linux 5.13 update expected to add Apple Silicon M1 support
Preliminary support for the Apple Silicon M1 processor is now expected in Linux 5.13, though it may still be years before it's fully finished.
Linux running on Apple Silicon
Although Linux has been already been run on Apple Silicon M1, it's been through a series of patches designed to make a version boot on the new machines. Now Linux 5.13 is expected to gain preliminary support in its kernel.
According to Phoronix, developer Hector Martin initial M1 support is in the running to be part of 5.13, which is expected to get a stable release around June 2021. Martin previously launched a Patreon crowd-funding effort to support his development work on the project.
"This initial Apple M1 Linux port gets the UART, interrupts, SMP, and DeviceTree bits in place for offering basic functionality," says Phoronix. "There is also a SimpleFB-based frame-buffer but getting working 3D/video acceleration will obviously be a daunting challenge."
Key areas of full M1 support have yet to be addressed. Specifically "getting the Apple M1 graphics systems fully working under Linux for day to day use is likely to take some time."
Previously, Corellium got a version of Linux on M1. However, its developers say that Apple's new and non-standard approaches made it difficult.
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Linux running on Apple Silicon
Although Linux has been already been run on Apple Silicon M1, it's been through a series of patches designed to make a version boot on the new machines. Now Linux 5.13 is expected to gain preliminary support in its kernel.
According to Phoronix, developer Hector Martin initial M1 support is in the running to be part of 5.13, which is expected to get a stable release around June 2021. Martin previously launched a Patreon crowd-funding effort to support his development work on the project.
"This initial Apple M1 Linux port gets the UART, interrupts, SMP, and DeviceTree bits in place for offering basic functionality," says Phoronix. "There is also a SimpleFB-based frame-buffer but getting working 3D/video acceleration will obviously be a daunting challenge."
Key areas of full M1 support have yet to be addressed. Specifically "getting the Apple M1 graphics systems fully working under Linux for day to day use is likely to take some time."
Previously, Corellium got a version of Linux on M1. However, its developers say that Apple's new and non-standard approaches made it difficult.
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.
Comments
A) no practical way of achieving it. It isn't easy: takes a ton of work
I mean, you "can" go through the effort of putting Linux on an iPad. Fine: what are you going to do with it? It has 4 GB of RAM, as little as 32 GB of onboard storage - not the specs that you want for running an e-commerce stack, or even for coding and testing one - and isn't very cheap. And far more practical alternatives exist: Android and Windows devices. Plus you can actually buy tablets with Ubuntu preloaded. They aren't big sellers but they exist. Before you say "but they have those slow Qualcomm and x86 CPUs", again what are you going to do with Linux running on an iPad? That you can't do with a Chromebook that has Linux built in already?
Now a Mac is different. Sure, the current 16 GB of RAM limits what Linux pros want/need but everyone knows that the real Macs with up to 128 GB of RAM will be available by next year. They want to buy those and use them as web and data center servers. Even the M1 Mac Minis with 8/16 GB of RAM running Linux can be used for load balancers and other light infrastructure tasks. Using an iPad for something like that for your job - as opposed to just something that you can hack for your own private network in your garage at home - would get you fired.
They had the ability to do it and clearly chose not to do so. They could have locked the booting sequence to only accept Apple signed systems and yet they allow people to select unsigned systems!
Technically they cannot disallow. It would go against what courts ruled probably. Apple does not establish laws and use of hardware is not regulated by commercial enterprise. It could be repurposed in any way. What is illegal is copying it and violating various patent laws and copyright laws. I will give you one example from life: many military fighter jets from US compamies come with control software obviously, but Israeli Defense Forces wipe this out and install their own. Can US manufacturers of those declare it is illegal? No they cannot. You could void warranty by doing this, but you cannot fight it on any legal grounds anywhere.
For those actually interested. I doubt there are many.
I admit, I was a huge skeptic, but you have no idea how transformational this may be if running Debian on an Apple Silicon Mac Pro may be for information technology. Data centers and cloud companies will start buying them by the truckload. The only question is whether Intel can somehow get their 60 core Xeon chips to 5nm fast enough to compete. (It may even require their going past 60 cores as Ampere and AMD have 128 core maximums.) As AMD's Epyc chips are already at 7nm, it isn't looking good. And yes, the ability to reconfigure a prebuilt Mac system won't be good for Ampere, which is the last company of note remaining in the ARM server market now that HP and Marvell have abandoned it. It probably wasn't Apple's goal to kill off the ARM server market, but that is what is likely going to happen if those 64 core Apple Silicon Mac Pros that Notebookcheck theorizes that Apple will release next year comes to fruition. Again, as the current maximum core count for any Intel chip is 60 (and until a few weeks ago it was 56) you can only imagine what a 64 core Apple CPU would be used for.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Mac-Pro-desktop-with-up-to-64-core-Apple-Silicon-expected-to-destroy-bank-accounts-in-2022.526753.0.html
For everything that Linux is practical for on an iPad - I can think of some things, especially for sysadmins, penetration testers, and other IT workers who either need to move around a lot or need as many screens as possible - getting an x86 Windows 2-in-1 and replacing the OS with Ubuntu Touch makes a lot more sense. And again, a 2-in-1 Chromebook makes a full Gentoo Linux system available to you just by turning on a pair of options in the settings.
Of course, Apple to come out with a 2-in-1 MacBook Air that would change things entirely. Those would be very popular with Linux pros. But Linux pros are too small a market for Apple to change their current product strategy to accommodate. Google and either Qualcomm or Samsung should come together to create better gadgets for that crowd. For example, why an ARM-based Linux development workstation (you can take a very scaled down version of the ARM server chips made by Marvell, HP and/or Ampere) hasn't been released by any of these guys is a mystery. But they, they are the ones who make the decisions. (Usually bad ones at that.)
... but only to the extent of being able to repurpose "obsolete" iOS devices as Linux based dedicated appliances. I have some old iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs laying around collecting dust that could probably serve some purpose, for example using an old Apple TV in the same role as a Pi-Hole, an iPhone as an indoor security camera/baby monitor, or an iPad as a console for your AV or home theater system. Yeah, some of these features are available as apps in iOS, but limiting the functionality and OS footprint even more by using an embedded Linux may allow even older obsolete devices to be repurposed. I have no desire to run a desktop Linux on any iOS device.
Apple have the legal right to put technical obstacles in the way of their customers replacing the Apple-provided software.
Apple don't have the legal right to challenge a customer in court for successfully navigating those obstacles and replacing the software.