First Linux Distribution with Apple M1 Support: Asahi Linux

Prepared for Apple Silicon Asahi Linux It’s available to everyone and is the first Linux distribution to offer native support for Apple M1 chips. Since this is an alpha version, we should point out from the beginning that there may be errors and some important shortcomings. However, the development team says that “everything will move faster going forward.”

development team “We’re really excited to finally take this step and start rolling out Linux to everyone at Apple Silicon,” he said in a blog post. More importantly, no jailbroken device is required to install Asahi Linux on your Mac. Also, the security of your macOS installation is not adversely affected, while Mac features such as FileVault, running iOS apps, and watching Netflix in 4K may continue.

The team also shared a list of system requirements, an installation guide, and a list of (not compatible) features. However, this alpha version is primarily intended for “developers and power users.”

You can currently install Asahi Linux Alpha on an M1, M1 Pro or M1 Max system running macOS 12.3 and later and you need at least 53GB of free space. You can access the Asahi Linux Desktop after running the installer, which will guide you through tasks such as resizing your macOS partition (if needed) and installing your new operating system. In addition, a setup wizard is offered to get your system ready.

Installation options are also available for minimal Asahi Linux and UEFI-only environment. So you can start the operating system installer from a USB-connected drive. However, it has some features that don’t work:

• DisplayPort
• Thunderbolt
• HDMI
• Bluetooth
• GPU acceleration
• Video codec acceleration
• Neural Engine
• CPU deep idle
• sleep mode
• Camera
• Touch Bar

The use of some applications is problematic in the alpha version. Chromium is not working and Emacs has problems.