The efforts of the Linux community to offer a kernel that can run a native Linux desktop on the Apple Silicon platform They are beginning to bear fruit, as announced by the Asahi Linux team.
This project began at the beginning of this 2021, with the firm objective of porting the Linux kernel to Apple-designed M1 processors for its new generation of computers, a goal that Corellium has also set for itself.
In the first half of the year, they had already managed to integrate into the kernel (version 5.16) the lowest level drivers of the more specific Apple Silicon components: PCIe, USB-C, Pinctrl, the power manager or the screen control, etc.
However, they recognized then that many steps had yet to be taken for the system to be truly usable…
Yes, it is already usable, even if the acceleration or the installer is missing
In August, those responsible showed the first images of Asahi Linux starting a GNOME desktop, in an experience described as “not great, but usable”.
However, in his September progress report, published a couple of days ago by Hector Martin – the founder of the project, who has already successfully ported Linux to the PS4 – explicitly states that Asahi Linux already “usable as a basic Linux desktop”, although it lacks GPU acceleration for now.
This absence hampers the use of video games and multimedia, but according to Martin, “the CPUs of the M1 are so powerful that a software-rendered desktop is actually faster [que su contraparte no-Silicon]”.
Now, the plans of those responsible for Asahi go through providing an image for Arch Linux ARM preconfigured with KDE, as well as a ‘barebone’, so that each user can install it in the environment they prefer.
In Martin’s words, “when we have a stable kernel base, we will start releasing an ‘official’ installer“. Said installer would be a script that will also manage aspects such as partitions before installing a distribution itself.
Once the new distributions with the Asahi version of the kernel are ready, users are expected to be able to access ARM64 applications smoothly.