Apple's New Hardware With The T2 Security Chip Will Currently Block Linux From Booting

[RussianNeuroMancer]

I think it's good. It'll eliminate a quarter of linux tech support posts. Can just point them to system76 or dell now.

Please dont't forget Lenovo and HP:

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd031426

https://certification.ubuntu.com/certification/make/HP/

[ThoreauHD]

I think it's good. It'll eliminate a quarter of linux tech support posts. Can just point them to system76 or dell now.

[starshipeleven]

This is a side effect of some understandable design choices from Apple, which include some pretty hefty disc encryption with the encryption key kept in an on-silicon secure enclave.

Disk encryption has nothing to do with this, the issue is that the bootloader can't trust Linux because you cannot add a key for it, unlike most other decent UEFI Secure Boot implementations.

A real world analogy would be burglar protection that ends up crippling handicap access.

Nah, it's just another case of Apple being Apple.

Seriously thou, not everything needs to be made for your purposes and considering how overpriced the new Mac Mini's are, Apple is probably doing as all a favor by doing this seeing how €900 for a machine with an i3 (quad core thou), 8GB or RAM and a 128 GB soldered-to-the-motherboard-SSD isn't exactly reasonable.

Yeah, because the T2 isn't also used in their new laptops, and their laptops are shining beacons of "not overpriced".

[r1348]

Well, fuck you too Apple!

[wizard69]

Unless you are a developer and want to test/develop on windows, macos and linux but don't want multiple machines around.

On the other hand don’t most developers have multiple machines laying around?

In the case of the Mac Mini I may seriously consider getting one, possibly next year, to run Mac OS. I really don’t see the Mini as being grossly over priced compared to similar Lonovo or NUC hardware. There are certain bad price points but I do have gray matter left between the ears.

It will be very interesting to see how these new models test out. As for Linux I have to wonder if all those Linux developers Apple recently hired are working on a Linux solution for T2.

[kpedersen]

Shouldn't disabling "Secure Boot" enable Linux bootloaders and therefore Linux to boot?

Apple just wants you to have to try to boot into their OS first at least once. This ensures that they can force you through their DRM / activation process and effectively brick an unopened Apple machine as soon as they turn off their activation servers for that model.

I think this is good. It is important for people to see that hardware is only going to get more hostile. I want them to jump though all the hoops and then try to tell me that keeping their freedom is too hard.

[Bigon]

Managing the trusted keys is IMHO the basic functionality you need with any TPM, otherwise it's not your machine anymore...

[Xaero_Vincent]

According to the T2 chip manual, Macs will have this utility:



Shouldn't disabling "Secure Boot" enable Linux bootloaders and therefore Linux to boot?

[commodore256]

Knowing Apple, that's just the beginning. I'm assuming going forward all Macs will have a T Security Chip and in about 5-8 years, Mac OS won't boot without it and killing off hackintosh.

[Wilfred]

Honestly, I've always wondered why someone would buy highly overpriced Apple hardware to put GNU/Linux on it.
I know some people buy Apple because it's cool and/or it shows that they have money to spend (often taxpayers' money, of my experience ; and after that, they say government must save money…) but a technically informed person (GNU/Linux user) should not do that.
I also heard some people saying macOS is easier to use than GNU/Linux (macOS most probably not harder to use, but distros like Mint are easy to use ; the only potential hard thing is BIOS configuration when installing, especially with UEFI) and safer than Windows (which (10) I actually find pretty hard and inconvenient when I use it for games ; I will never use it again as main OS), but in this case, you do not put GNU/Linux on your mac.

Linus Torvalds himself used to own a macbook running Linux.