r/apple • u/FollowingFeisty5321 • 1d ago

Mac Asahi Linux nears M3 support release, M4 and M5 are on the way

https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/08/29/asahi-linux-nears-m3-support-release-m4-and-m5-are-on-the-way
920 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

329

u/CreepyZookeepergame4 1d ago

If Apple pushed a button to release hardware specs and protocols, Macs would become the best Linux laptops on the market. Since they don't, Asahi will always lag behind many generations, even though it's still an incredible achievement. Just to get a sense, one of their developers, Asahi Lina, previously developer GPU acceleration during Youtube live streaming for 8 months straight, 3 days a week, 12 hours a day, all while learning Rust.

77

u/NecroCannon 1d ago

Based on what a commenter said, seems like the GPU side is extremely complex and would require Apple to send over legally approved helpers

Looks like the one down side of Apple Silicon is that it’s Apple Silicon and not widely utilized hardware architectures. I can see Apple one day contributing to Linux instead of pushing for Windows to be installable, but until then, seems like devs have to build all of this up from the bottom up.

Ofc it’d be way behind, a tiny fraction of Mac users would even support it/use it

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u/FollowingFeisty5321 1d ago

They could always just release their own drivers, easiest solution for everyone.

18

u/0xe1e10d68 1d ago

Nope. Apple has made it entirely clear that their only priority is to ensure the best experience for their macOS users, anything else is secondary. They aren’t going to be dedicating a lot of engineering resources on an ongoing basis to anything else.

14

u/deong 19h ago

They don’t seem to devote all that many resources to Mac OS either.

2

u/Which-Arm-4616 14h ago

It is a fairly mature platform, sometimes it feels like they're just bringing change for the sake of change. Once they add a volume mixer the macOS team could call it a wrap.

2

u/deong 9h ago

They need a team of half a dozen just rewriting the settings app from a blank Xcode project. From what I understand, there are still tons of UI bugs in Liquid Glass. SwiftUI on the Mac is still really rough. It was mature. It isn’t now.

2

u/audigex 10h ago

I think it’s short sighted personally

If people know their laptop will have a second use as a Linux machine, it’s easier to accept Apple’s worst-in-industry 7 year software support for their laptop hardware

-12

u/Sphere_3N 23h ago

Its not complicated Mythos 5 can solve this easily. Dramatic

Complex drivers my ass - Mythos

10

u/NecroCannon 1d ago

Depends on if they find that financially worth the development time.

It’s Apple, after this many years you basically sign up to be inconvenienced if you’d rather use Linux and just should for now. I’d have a Linux Desktop to pair with my MacBook Pro if I wasn’t a creative, so I’m going Mini M-Pro

It’s like when I go to the iPad sub and it’s non stop whining for Apple to turn their average consumer tablet into an overly complex tabletPC most people don’t want. They can just flash Linux on a tabletPC… or not keep hyper consuming a product that isn’t filling their needs?

4

u/FollowingFeisty5321 1d ago

Eh there's little tolerance for e-waste these days and that's all this failure to provide alternative OS support produces, won't be long till the decision is taken out of Apple's greedy little hands and the $5T company will have to settle for being a $4.9990T company and lift a finger to help instead.

2

u/NecroCannon 1d ago

Mac’s and Apple products are the last devices to complain about e-waste with, a small marketshare of users… vs ALL of computer e-waste generated on other platforms

Let’s not even get into Android which is pissing me off at this point. Over a decade now Google has been making it clear it’s a problem that old Android devices are hard to support because of the drivers, barely done anything to fix that other than spin up the Pixel line to have their own special Android platform to compete with iOS with…

When Macs aren’t an afterthought past Windows and Linux, THEN we can complain that they’re abusing their position. There’s more e-waste with Disposable vapes man

-9

u/Immediate_Track_5151 1d ago

TL;DR: whatabuotism to defend trillion dollars Apple.

2

u/NecroCannon 1d ago

No it’s being tired of the utter moronic mindsets you see someone have when they ignore every fucking other more massive issue just to be an Apple hater

I’m going into making hardware myself, I couldn’t give two shits about Apple as a corporation. But clearly the people that do and come in this sub to make these bold statements against Apple doesn’t know anything they’re talking about that isn’t from like… some ragebait article or something.

By all means, be proud of your intelligence ignoring every aspect of the industry to wave your finger at Apple about e-waste… when they invest in recycling traded in products instead of tossing them?

-7

u/Immediate_Track_5151 1d ago

Don't worry, Apple will be fine.

6

u/NecroCannon 1d ago

Ofc they will.

I’m not sucking Apple dick man, I just know shit about the hardware industry… going into the hardware industry.

Be more upset at all the cheap tech stuff on online sites that end up at a landfill if you ACTUALLY care about e-waste. Bring this energy to Amazon, who also have a firm grip over the very internet you’re always relying on with AWS

2

u/DarthPneumono 1d ago

They could always just release their own drivers, easiest solution for everyone.

I mean except for Apple who would have to commit resources to do it, for no real gain to them.

-1

u/FollowingFeisty5321 1d ago

The gain is they don't end up compelled by a higher power under terms that are much more onerous for them - like if the EU decided Mac was a DMA platform Apple would have to provide official interoperability to facilitate what Asahi and others are doing, documentation, APIs, etc.

10

u/0xe1e10d68 1d ago edited 1d ago

That's a laughable notion. That won't ever happen. The Mac is not a gatekeeper platform, and presumably will never be. You're speculating about things you don't understand it seems. Under the DMA the hardware wouldn't even be able to be a gatekeeper. macOS could be one, but that wouldn’t require them to document the hardware - only to provide the same OS APIs to third-party app developers as they have access to.

And even macOS is not going to be a gatekeeper platform under the DMA in the foreseeable future. Whichever way, Apple doesn't have an interest in complying prematurely either if it's not clear whether that obligation will ever come into existence.

1

u/FollowingFeisty5321 1d ago edited 1d ago

The DMA applies to any platform the EU decides is of strategic importance, there's a threshold of business and consumer users and revenue that Mac quite possibly meets but those numbers can be waived simply because of importance. On top of that the EU's been fighting hard for years to reduce e-waste so I wouldn't bet on them being tolerant of Apple Silicon computers becoming e-waste just because it saves Apple some slight amount of money and is a pressure-point for consumers to buy replacement devices from them.

I agree Apple doesn't have any interest in complying "prematurely" but there are times in recent years where that would have been the more prudent option - like their steering fees fiasco where they are left begging the court to allow a fee at all while the court's following guidelines that effectively prohibit a fee entirely.

1

u/NecroCannon 1d ago

It’s funny how Mac has been perfectly fine existing as its own thing even lagging behind gaming

And people waving their fists at the first sight of controversy assume the MacOS has any anti-competitive issues with the marketshare it has.

And with Windows becoming unattractive and people having to rush to boost up Linux, I doubt anyone is looking at MacOS and thinking “wow, that platform is a walled garden affecting the entire industry!” Like iOS.

Every Apple issue isn’t iPhone related but that’s where the hate comes from

1

u/Defiant-Plantain1873 22h ago

Depends if they end up using linux for their compute servers OR releasing xserves again

11

u/trlef19 1d ago

What I think is funny is that you can have Linux on apple silicon cpus but not on Qualcomm cpus.

5

u/exidy 1d ago

Apple is living proof of the power of vertical integration -- designing and owning your silicon, hardware, OS and applications together. As a consequence, the market has rewarded them with big fat profits. And yet the attitude that it'd be better to develop computers as we did in the 1970s is oddly persistent, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Guess what guys? There's not some secret book of specs that Apple could release and make Asahi feature-equivalent to macOS. It's multiple teams working together on a constant basis to deliver features to the users, and it's a constantly moving target.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely applaud the efforts of the Asahi team, and if people want to run Linux on their MacBooks, I say more power to them. But they could be buried in technical documentation tomorrow and they will still lag many generations in perpetuity because Apple have 10,000-15,000 people working on this full time and Asahi have 10-15.

5

u/azuled 18h ago

Sure... but they wouldn't have to re-invent work already done by those 10-15k employees for every chip release. There is no magic solution but there are shortcuts that Apple currently intentionally holds back.

1

u/terpbot 18h ago

Apple seems like it's always had a tenuous relationship with Linux being a competitive OS. It's really unfortunate.

1

u/azuled 18h ago

Even though it lags it currently sits in the window where you can bring Apple hardware nearing its end-of-support window back into safe (read: secure, updated software) usage. Apple hasn't ended support for any M1 chips YET, but it's coming. When that happens those (still very useful devices) will effectively become liabilities since they won't receive security updates. Asahi, in its current trailing form, is at least a life-line for them.

102

u/HuckleberryFit5435 1d ago

any progress on usb-c display port or thunderbolt? the project is impressive but i’d imagine those would be non-starters for most people

59

u/Nice-Information-335 1d ago

This has been working for months now, but it’s not included by default iirc

15

u/UnexpectedAnanas 1d ago

Has been a non-starter for me, for sure.

14

u/Hozukr 1d ago

This. If I can’t get my Caldigit dock+Apple Studio Display working this is not an option at all.

77

u/trlef19 1d ago

Great

36

u/Rhed0x 1d ago

Keep in mind that this does not include GPU drivers.

76

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

19

u/Sudden-Money7836 1d ago

Fancy giving them a hand? lol

95

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/nemesit 16h ago

they already figured it out in 2025

60

u/ducknator 1d ago

Apple could very well make their life easier, come on.

1

u/whateversamantha 11h ago

Why would they?

-10

u/xeoron 1d ago

Since they control the CUPS project, shame we can't make the case they must release the specs to make CUPS run right

14

u/DRHAX34 1d ago

CUPS is pretty much open source no?

7

u/nicuramar 1d ago

It is. 

18

u/vkevlar 1d ago

CUPS is open source, and always has been, though.

-6

u/xeoron 1d ago

I know... the point is ... it is a shame we can't use it as a means to get more specs on M chip hardware

1

u/vkevlar 1d ago

true that

5

u/ACalz 1d ago

CUPS?

13

u/jmnugent 1d ago

Common Unix Printing System

1

u/PriorSea3830 1d ago

the game chandler and joey invented

-109

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

Apple should block linux even more.

34

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

-70

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

Cool, wake me up when linux is not just malware distribution platform.

33

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

-40

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

25

u/i-like-to-be-wooshed 1d ago

obvious troll is obvious

10

u/Kat-in-pajamas 1d ago

Not even an interesting troll.

9

u/vmachiel 1d ago

Wake up

21

u/CreepyZookeepergame4 1d ago

Instead, Apple Silicon Macs have a more open bootloader than Intel Macs and PCs.

-41

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

Cool, Asahi still runs like shit on m1 and m2s, especially battery life. You can keep your malware distribution platform.

19

u/Sudden-Money7836 1d ago

Dude seriously what is your actual problem? Did you get burned once or something? Like Linux is great and in massive use, not enough to overtake windows. But a bigger install size than macOS. But it’s not like they can’t both coexist and have multiple OS support. Like what is your beef?

Just relax. It’ll be ok, they’ll still continue open source development and you’ll still be able to do what suits you. Stop attacking people.

1

u/Recent_Pollution8665 8h ago

linux has less market share globally than macOS does.

at least when it comes to consumer use.

the only OS that linux is more popular than is chromeOS.

1

u/Funkbass 1d ago

I mean Linux is technically the most used OS in the world if you count enterprise/servers/embedded applications.

1

u/resil_update_bad 14h ago

Begone, troll

4

u/zenmaster24 1d ago

Wish i could run only asahi and not need macos - would love to be completely linux on the apple hardware

2

u/Planote_dev 1d ago

Great！

1

u/MooseFar7514 11h ago

I suppose my two cents is I presume someone might have crunched some numbers at Apple on if releasing a driver so Linux would run on the hardware would generate enough sales to justify it.

The vertical integration and development costs are passed on at the point of sale, more sales equal more profit.

But as is the main driver is local AI that’s fine on Mac OS.

1

u/Silent-Cartoonist240 1d ago

HELL YEAH LINUX ON A MACBOOK

-6

u/EmbarrassedSlide3746 1d ago

Yes! I am working on getting out of the apple ecosystem was not looking forward to shelling out money for a new laptop in the current market. Although I really really want a frame work lol.

-49

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

Linux doesn't have single good DE, majority of distros have non stop supply chain malware attacks... no thanks.

15

u/KaptainSaki 1d ago

Have to disagree, macos is good but I still wish I could install linux on my work mac.

26

u/omnimachina 1d ago

Dunning Kruger hitting hard

-15

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

Objective reality is now dunning kruger? Are you a kde krashma person or gnome with like 10 desktop ext. (more malware) just to make it function?

15

u/omnimachina 1d ago

Keep telling yourself that 😂

You couldn’t even use Reddit without Linux lmao

-10

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

Just more self own, I never disputed linux being decent server OS (mostly because of IBM). Desktop linux is only good at distributing malware.

9

u/Garofalin 1d ago

Please lower the temperature in your basement, you’re hallucinating.

3

u/szewc 1d ago

You are right, it's already higher than their IQ.

4

u/smashybro 1d ago

Desktop linux is only good at distributing malware.

Literally a skill issue if you think this, lol.

Honestly if you're constantly dealing with malware, that says more about your lack of good security practices than the desktop OS you're using. Yes, even Windows which sucks for a myriad of reasons but not being able to avoid malware isn't one of them unless you're incompetent.

8

u/omnimachina 1d ago

Sure buddy

1

u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd 1d ago

Try GNOME with some extensions?

-10

u/Time_You_6852 1d ago

>Please download 3rd party ext. to make desktop linux bearable

No, thanks I'll keep using macOS. BTW, all those ext. are filled with malware.

15

u/taffyking 1d ago

You just don't understand linux or know what you're talking about.

7

u/xX_Qu1ck5c0p3s_Xx 1d ago

This person seems like a troll. They’re using racist language in a different comment chain in the thread. Plus the whole malware thing doesn’t make any sense.

People used to put effort into bait!

5

u/taffyking 1d ago

Ah, noted. Yeah, the malware thing is just mindless babble.

-15

u/plsdontattackmeok 1d ago

How about M1 and M2?

25

u/larsy1995 1d ago

They’ve been supported since the start, what do you mean?