If you’ve been waiting to run Linux on your Mac M1, we have good news: Linux 6.2, which was released this week, adds upstream support for the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra. However, there are some serious caveats.
The new Linux 6.2 is considered stable enough to distribute, but according to an Asahi Linux support document, many features on Apple Silcion are still labeled as work in progress and not ready for wider testing or distribution. like Thunderbolt, speakers and microphones. Other features including the webcam, Touch ID, and Touch Bar are listed as TBA (TBA), meaning they’re not even in the works at press time.
Despite the missing features, Linux 6.2 is functional enough for a user to work on and should be used as the default kernel for popular Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora. Linux 6.2 also includes support for Intel Arc graphics, Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series GPU, and updated drivers.
Lead Linux Kernel Developer Linus Torvalds Says 6.2 Is “Not a Sexy LTS [long-term support] release”, but the support for Apple silicon is definitely remarkable. Running Linux on Apple’s M-series chips has been a daunting task for the Linux community. The first version of Linux to run on a Mac mini M1 was released by Asahi Linux last July.
