Asahi Linux caught the eye for being the first Linux distribution for Macs with M1. Now, the distro has reached new airs and gained support for the Apple M2, the new generation of Apple’s processor. That’s what show the operating system update notes published on Monday (18).
Support is part of the July 2022 update. According to the project developer, the software can be installed on computers with the Apple M2. And all this with the possibility of using basic features such as usb port, Wi-Fi and more.
“With a few more days of work, we were able to make the keyboard/trackpad work, bringing it to parity of features with existing systems,” they announced. “After a few more integration work, we are proud to announce experimental support for M2 machines in the Asahi Linux installer!”
However, not everything is working properly. No for nothing, the developers warned, “this is even more experimental than M1 support, so expect bugs. To get the installation option on M2, you need to enable advanced mode in the Asahi Linux installer.”
This is the case with the keyboard, which will not work in U-Boot/GRUB. Instead, the user needs to use an external peripheral via USB to mess with the bootloader. In addition, during development, project officials said they only tested on the 13-inch MacBook Pro and Apple M2.
“The firmware/stub used for Linux is based on a ‘special’ version of macOS 12.4 that Apple released only for these machines [MacBook Pro and Air with M2]. We are not yet committing to long-term support for this release,” they said in the update notes. “We will decide how to proceed in the future and add the necessary upgrade mode to the installer when the time comes if necessary. We may have supported 12.4, but no promises.”
The new version also ensured another improvement to other Apple processors with ARM architecture. According to the update notes, Macs with Apple Silicon have gained preliminary support for Bluetooth. However, the feature is not yet complete and presents problems when it is used next to the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network.
The new MacBook with Apple M2 weren’t the only ones to benefit this week. Those responsible for the project also announced support for Mac Studio, which features the Apple M1 Ultra chip. And as expected, not all features work properly.
“You can expect most hardware to work as expected (at the Mac Mini level), except for the front USB ports on the M1 Max model and the Type A ports on all models (these are locked in the special upload support firmware also required for the four-port version of the iMac M1)”, Warned.
