Ubuntu Developers Get it Up And Running On Apple's M1 With Early Parallels Desktop Build

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu Developers Get it Up And Running On Apple's M1 With Early Parallels Desktop Build

There has been some early success geting Ubuntu up and running on Apple's M1 ARM hardware with using the Apple Hypervisor Framework but it looks like a much better experience is on the way with the forthcoming Parallels Desktop for Apple Silicon...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Apple-M1-Parallels-Pre

[Xaero_Vincent]

Windows ARM also run on Parallels M1 beta, including GPU acceleration and games:

https://www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/c...r_8gb_3545fps/

As for Linux, this guy is looking for Patreon supporters so that he can port native Linux to Apple Silicon as a full-time job:

https://www.patreon.com/marcan

[eltomito]

Excuse me for asking a stupid question but why does it seem so much harder than running Ubuntu on other ARM-based hardware such as Raspberry Pi?

[Michael]

Excuse me for asking a stupid question but why does it seem so much harder than running Ubuntu on other ARM-based hardware such as Raspberry Pi?

Broadcom (and Raspberry Pi and others) provide drivers for Linux support... Including Broadcom having employed Eric Anholt for the original graphics driver support for OpenGL (and starting on Vulkan) while RPI Foundation now employs Igalia to work on the Vulkan driver...

Apple does not provide any resources or documentation. Especially around the GPU that will be a big task to bring-up without any big support.

[bug77]

As for Linux, this guy is looking for Patreon supporters so that he can port native Linux to Apple Silicon as a full-time job:

https://www.patreon.com/marcan

I'd be really, really surprised if Apple doesn't pull a stunt and makes running anything other than macOS impossible. At some point.

[Xaero_Vincent]

I'd be really, really surprised if Apple doesn't pull a stunt and makes running anything other than macOS impossible. At some point.

I'm surprised they haven't already. The switch to Apple Silicon would of been their perfect opportunity to completely lock-down the boot process. I guess we can give Apple a sliver of praise for choosing not to do that.

[Jumbotron]

I would imagine that even when Ubuntu is up and running on the M1 fully with the exception of being fully optimized for the M1's GPU it will still run faster than on the Surface Pro X that Microsux and Qualcomm jointly developed. PC World just released an article showing just how scandalously bad the Surface Pro X with the jointly developed Microsoft/Qualcomm SQ1 SoC is to the M1. Here's a clip...


Conclusion: Windows on Arm needs a miracle


" Two years ago, the future of Windows on Arm looked bright. With what we hoped was a 64-bit emulator waiting in the wings, the Snapdragon’s “good-enough” performance could hold its own, especially with the perks of all-day battery life and LTE connectivity. Today, Project Athena/Evo laptops from Intel’s partners have caught up in all these area. Qualcomm hasn’t launched a significant Windows on Arm chip in about two years, and during its recent Snapdragon Tech Summit the company had basically nothing to say about its future PC plans.

Microsoft’s 64-bit X86 emulator is still in beta, so we can’t make definitive statements about its success. But it’s hard to believe that further development will bridge the vast gulf of performance between Windows on Arm and Apple’s M1-based Macs. In six months, Microsoft may be able to boast that its emulation performance has improved by a significant amount. But without the combined miracle of a much better CPU from Qualcomm or another Arm chipmaker and continued improvements from Microsoft, the future of Windows on Arm looks grim. "

Even worse for Qualcomm now comes news from Anandtech showing that Qualcomm's latest flagship Snapdragon 888 just released trails behind Apple's last year A13 phone SoC found in their low end iPhone SE much less than the A14 found in the iPhone 12 and MUCH MUCH less than the M1. Here's a clip...

" While the Snapdragon 888 doesn’t look like it’ll match the peak performance scores of the A13 or A14 SoCs used in Apple's iPhones, sustained performance will depend quite a bit on the power consumption of the chip. If this lands in at between 4 and 4.5W, then the majority of flagship Android phones in 2021 will likely be able to sustain this peak performance figure and allow Qualcomm to regain the mobile performance crown from Apple. Otherwise if the chip has to significantly throttle, then 888 will probably fall short of retaking the crown. "

Qualcomm had better crap or get off the pot for they are being completely blown away by Apple Silicon.

Links to both articles follow below...


https://www.pcworld.com/article/3601...w-mac-m1s.html


https://www.anandtech.com/show/16325...888-benchmarks

[Jumbotron]

Sorry...I should have said A14 SoC in the iPhone 12. I wish we could edit mobile posts like you can using the desktop site.

(nix this....was able to get on desktop site and edit the above post.)

[morydris]

Three points:

1. We have already been able to do this for awhile. Personally I use https://github.com/evansm7/vftool but there are others
2. Apple very much doesn't mind. Parallels and vftool are all based on frameworks Apple provide and Apple has thrown out enough tibits to help people booting non-macOS on the M1 platforms
3. Marcan is working on native boot. Consider supporting him: https://www.patreon.com/marcan

[tildearrow]

Windows ARM also run on Parallels M1 beta, including GPU acceleration

How?!

How did they suddenly write a complete driver for it in 1 month?!
Yeah, I am aware they are a large company with paid employees, but still.....