by Thanks to the work of the Asahi Linux developers, Linux 6.2 is now ready to run on M1-powered Macs.
Asahi Linux
Linux 6.2 was released yesterday, and Linus Torvalds described the latest Linux kernel release as: “Maybe it’s not a sexy LTS release like 6.1 ended up being, but all the regular pedestrian kernels want some test love too.”
For once, I disagree with Torvalds.
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By adding upstream support for the Apple M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips, newer Mac owners can look forward to running Linux on their M1-powered machines. And for technologists, it’s sexy.
Getting Linux to run on the M1 family was not easy.
When these powerful ARM chips first arrived, Torvalds told me in an exclusive interview that he envisioned running Linux on these next-generation Macs. But while he had been “waiting for an ARM laptop that can run Linux for a long time,” he worried, saying, “The main problem with the M1 for me is the GPU and other devices around it, because that’s probably what would keep me away from use it because it won’t have any Linux support unless Apple opens up.”
Fortunately, Asahi Linux, with brilliant software engineer Alyssa Rosenzweig, was up to the challenge. By July 31, 2022, Torvalds was happy to announce that after waiting a _long_ time, (Linux on ARM and M1 was specific) finally reality, thanks to the Asahi team. We’ve had arm64 hardware around running Linux for too long, but none of it has really been usable as a development platform until now.”
Today, this support is finally ready for mainline Linux users. Of course, it’s all experimental at this point, but it won’t be much longer. Linux 6.2 is expected to become Ubuntu 23.04’s default kernel and to be included in Fedora 38 before the end of April release of Linux 6.3.
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Meanwhile, the 2022 Long Term Support (LTS) kernel, Linux 6.1, will continue to be maintained until at least the end of 2026. Fixes from the 6.2 release are expected to be backported to 6.1.
In addition, the Linux 6.2 kernel includes a number of features contributed by companies such as Intel, AMD, Google and Red Hat. Key additions include stable support for Intel Arc Graphics (DG2/Alchemist) enabled out of the box and initial support for Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series “Ampere” accelerated graphics with Nouveau open source. The Linux 6.2 kernel also includes updated drivers. This includes support for Sony DualShock 4 gamepads, sensors and fans in the OneXPlayer gaming handheld, Habana Labs Gaudi2 AI accelerator and Asus motherboards.
This new kernel also includes Call Depth Tracking to improve performance on older Intel Skylake-era PCs, along with various file system driver enhancements and security enhancements. In addition to new hardware support, the NTFS3 file kernel driver has also been improved and updated with new mounting options.
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Overall, the Linux 6.2 kernel offers significant new hardware enablement and features. But the real news, as far as I’m concerned, is the M1 support. This is a game changer for Linux Mac users.
