More Apple Silicon M1 Bring-Up On The Way For Linux 5.17

[phoronix]

Phoronix: More Apple Silicon M1 Bring-Up On The Way For Linux 5.17

The enablement work for supporting Apple's M1 SoC under Linux continues and with the v5.17 kernel next year will be yet more additions...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=More-Apple-M1-For-Linux-5.17

[akira128]

I love the work that Hector, Sven, Alyssa and others have accomplished so far on this front. But could somebody please add the device bindings for the SPI interfaces?
**needed for the keyboard + touchpad to work on the Macbook M1 Air + Pro
The corellium project had those bindings defined almost a year ago.
https://github.com/corellium/linux-m...le-m1-j274.dts

[torsionbar28]

A nifty project, but no self-respecting Linux user should be buying Apple hardware. I miss the days of hardware vendors wanting to help Linux developers out by providing specs, API's, register maps, etc. simply because they think it's cool. Apple on the other hand, is stonewalling Linux devs, in an effort to prevent the bring-up of a non-Apple OS on the hardware. Vote with your dollars. Don't buy Apple hardware.

[akira128]

A nifty project, but no self-respecting Linux user should be buying Apple hardware. I miss the days of hardware vendors wanting to help Linux developers out by providing specs, API's, register maps, etc. simply because they think it's cool. Apple on the other hand, is stonewalling Linux devs, in an effort to prevent the bring-up of a non-Apple OS on the hardware. Vote with your dollars. Don't buy Apple hardware.

I can see if from both perspectives. Each "side" has completely valid points. If the vendor doesn't care, then screw them right? Yeah, but on the other hand it's exciting and dare I say fun to reverse engineer and get Linux running on a platform that it has no business running on --it's like "the thing that should not be" sort of thing. I mean, it's nice if a vendor can provide you with support on a silver platter (that's how it should be don't get me wrong). On the other hand, the thrill is in the chase --you know what I mean?. It's like against all odds, the open source community came together to do what they do best: hacking hardware, reverse engineering, collaborating, discovering, sharing, documenting, learning...and just generally getting s**t done. I'm pretty sure this is mostly a passion project for these developers --I know, I know Hector is being paid via patreon and github sponsers....but come on, no one gets into this field and perseveres strictly because "it pays well". Some people like to hack s**t....and I say let them hack.

[caligula]

A nifty project, but no self-respecting Linux user should be buying Apple hardware. I miss the days of hardware vendors wanting to help Linux developers out by providing specs, API's, register maps, etc. simply because they think it's cool. Apple on the other hand, is stonewalling Linux devs, in an effort to prevent the bring-up of a non-Apple OS on the hardware. Vote with your dollars. Don't buy Apple hardware.

M1 is more powerful CPU than Ryzen 5950X in some cases. People want to buy the best CPU. M3 will probably outperform both Ryzen 9 7950X and Core i9 13900K.

[Developer12]

A nifty project, but no self-respecting Linux user should be buying Apple hardware. I miss the days of hardware vendors wanting to help Linux developers out by providing specs, API's, register maps, etc. simply because they think it's cool.

It's a sad day when some of the most trustable and user-respecting hardware comes from apple. It may be no POWER9 but Apple's hardware is a lot cheaper.

Intel management engine? AMD Platform Security Processor? Get fucked. Companies learned they can bury their DRM into the silicon, but it means not documenting it.

With these chips, by every indication, you own the main CPU cores 100% after boot finishes. Yes, there are small cores running firmware which you communicate with through various mailbox interfaces or from safely behind an IOMMU. That's why Asahi spent so much time getting the DART working.

Oh, you don't like firmware? I agree, it's horrible. But even Stallamn's laptop has a secret i486 running the intel iGPU. And 8051 cores running power/thermal management. And a proprietary Embedded Controller. We're loosing that battle and have been for a long time, burying our heads in the sand and claiming "it's OK if it's ROM".

Apple on the other hand, is stonewalling Linux devs, in an effort to prevent the bring-up of a non-Apple OS on the hardware. Vote with your dollars. Don't buy Apple hardware.

This is false. This chips are based on apple's mobile chips and they could have used the same system on the M1, which would have COMPLETELY shut out all efforts to run linux. They didn't. In fact, not only did they not do that, but they invested developer time and money into developing the current boot management system.

It is no accident that linux can run on these platforms. It runs because Apple expended effort to make it possible. It may not be hand-holding, but it's no small gesture.

[discordian]

Damn, someone offer me a job hacking on those things pls. Somehow I haven't been as intrigued about a new hardware since the Amiga500(basically the thing that was everything apple claimed to be back then, but history is teached by survivors)

[hvis]

I can see if from both perspectives. Each "side" has completely valid points. If the vendor doesn't care, then screw them right? Yeah, but on the other hand it's exciting and dare I say fun to reverse engineer and get Linux running on a platform that it has no business running on --it's like "the thing that should not be" sort of thing. I mean, it's nice if a vendor can provide you with support on a silver platter (that's how it should be don't get me wrong). On the other hand, the thrill is in the chase --you know what I mean?. It's like against all odds, the open source community came together to do what they do best: hacking hardware, reverse engineering, collaborating, discovering, sharing, documenting, learning...and just generally getting s**t done. I'm pretty sure this is mostly a passion project for these developers --I know, I know Hector is being paid via patreon and github sponsers....but come on, no one gets into this field and perseveres strictly because "it pays well". Some people like to hack s**t....and I say let them hack.

I think it's a fun exciting project for the developer, but as a user you're put in a difficult position because of Apple's choices. Even when this project really takes off, with GNU acceleration and peripherals working. Because without proper documentation, and with new revisions of hardware coming out, Linux could hardly offer the same stability that the base OS does. So those very same users would revert to macOS on a regular basis.

But if they see themselves as actually macOS users (and Linux enthusiasts, in their spare time), I suppose it's fine for them.

[trethlyn]

I’m interested in this because Apple is going to say the hardware is no longer supported eventually for MacOS. I’d hate to have a machine that was perfectly capable become a brick because someone said so.

[xhustler]

A nifty project, but no self-respecting Linux user should be buying Apple hardware. I miss the days of hardware vendors wanting to help Linux developers out by providing specs, API's, register maps, etc. simply because they think it's cool. Apple on the other hand, is stonewalling Linux devs, in an effort to prevent the bring-up of a non-Apple OS on the hardware. Vote with your dollars. Don't buy Apple hardware.

As a macbook pro user, I choose to look at it from the other side of the mirror. Despite Apple's efforts, a couple of talented bright minds are doing the 'impossible' - getting Linux to boot and run on proprietary kickass hardware (this I admit grudgingly). Kudos to Alyssa, the panfrost team, the Asahi team and all those involved.