We turn away for a second and Corellium is already showing off Ubuntu on Apple Silicon

Things can move fast in the IT world, and Linux on Apple silicon has gone from "ooh look, text on a screen" to something considerably more usable in a matter of days. We first noted progress on efforts to get Linux on Apple's M1 chippery earlier this week and, after an emission aimed at the courageous, Arm device …

[getHandle]

Who for?

Personally I can't help feeling that the intersection between people who buy Apple hardware and Linux users is quite small, but what do I know? The only time I've spent more than £300 on a computer (or phone for that matter) was when my eldest insisted on a Windows machine for gaming. He's written out of the will now...

[DS999]

Linus Torvalds

He's been vocal about wanting a good ARM PC for years, and after the M1 Macs came out stated that he'd really like having something like the new Macbook Air if it could run Linux. He might not be ready to order yet (probably doesn't like the USB stick for network) but he won't care about the lack of graphics acceleration, which doesn't matter for email and compiling kernels.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Linus Torvalds

Not having hardware acceleration is nowadays more than just a minor irritatiion, especially on ARM.

The best bet is to wait until another manufacturer sees the opportunity and releases their own ARM-based stuff. Though this would be easier if Microsoft or Google were keener on providing support.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Who for?

Why would you want to run Linux on that ?

Because it's there !

[Dave559]

Re: Who for?

A not entirely uncommon use case for Linux on Macs is for Mac users who find their current Mac eventually stops being supported by MacOS updates (boo), but still is perfectly usable hardware. The Mac can then be repurposed for another use with Linux, or passed on as a hand-me-down. Consigning older but still functional computers to recycling is still relatively wasteful if further use could still be made of it otherwise.

The Mac user will still most likely buy a new replacement Mac when necessary anyway, so it's not as if Apple are losing out. Apple would certainly get quite a bit of goodwill by not putting obstacles in the way of running Linux (or *BSD) on Mac hardware.

[ForthIsNotDead]

Re: Who for?

If your vendor (i.e. Apple) orphans your still full-functional hardware, I'd say that is a good argument for not buying their hardware in the first place.

There are plenty of hardware vendors that can supply Linux fully installed and ready to go. I'd rather buy from them.

[Dave559]

Re: Who for?

If you want a Linux computer from the word go, then perhaps yes. But that wasn't what I was saying, it was about what you could (and should be able to) do with an older Mac, once you had been happily using it as a Mac for several years, but then Apple stopped supporting it with OS updates. Microsoft is perhaps almost as bad in terms of ending OS support for older hardware as well.

The fact that there are also vendors out there who sell supported Linux laptops is a good thing, of course.

[Zolko]

Re: Who for?

"people who buy Apple hardware and Linux users"

me for example: I like(d) the Apple hardware, but not the walled garden, and for the same configurations Macs aren't (or rather: weren't, I don't buy them anymore) expensive compared to Sony Vaois or IBM Thinpads. All software I use is *nix anyway, andsupport for that has degraded in MacOS with time.

[Anonymous Coward]

One more second

And we can expect an Apple lawsuit.

[Down not across]

Re: One more second

On what grounds?

Its not like Hackintosh where you are installing software against license.

Is there a seal on the packaging saying "by breaking this seal thou agree not to install non-Apple OS" ? (not that those are necessarily legally enforceable)

You've bought the hardware, you can run whatever you want on it.