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Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0

655 points by elisaado

by brynet

2 subcomments

>.. macOS only ever programs CS42L84 to operate at either 48 or 96 kHz, we could only add support for those two sample rates to the Linux driver ..
> However, CS42L42 supports all the other common sample rates, and while the register layout and programming sequence is different, the actual values programmed in for 48 and 96 kHz are the same across both chips. What would happen if we simply took the values for all other sample rates from the CS42L42 datasheet and added those to the CS42L84 driver? As it turns out, you get support for those sample rates!
> The patch to enable hardware support for 44.1, 88.2, 176.4 and 192 kHz sample rates on both the input and output of the headphone jack was submitted directly upstream, and has been merged for 7.1. We also backported this to Asahi kernel 6.19.9, allowing users to take advantage of this immediately.
Nice bit of chip sleuthing and reverse engineering from the Asahi team!

by kakwa_

16 subcomments

While I absolutely love the technical write-up from the Asahi team, and being absolutely impressed by their accomplishment, to the risk of being an overly negative contrarian, I remain a bit skeptical.
I'm concerned that after all these years, it's still a separate project and not an effort sustained directly within the kernel mainline and mainstream distributions like Ubuntu, Debian or Fedora.
These kinds of reverse engineering projects are extremely challenging. With skills & field knowledge, it's "easy" to get to "80%" and have something useful for you and the most dedicated users. But reaching the "95%" required for a polished & general public ready experience needs nearly as much effort, often on tedious and time consuming tidbits.

by georgeburdell

4 subcomments

I really hope this project continues to gain momentum. Apple Hardware + Linux is the least fscked OS running on the best hardware. MacOS continues to be a tire fire with endless bugs and churn between versions.

by jwr

11 subcomments

When I think about it, I don't understand why Apple wouldn't want to help this effort and just provide all the documentation.
All the classic reasons ("competitive advantage", "secrets", etc) do not hold water in this day and age.

by felixding

4 subcomments

"Amaze, amaze, amaze!"
I wonder if there would be interest in an Asahi Remix spin focused on a more Mac-like out-of-the-box experience: cmd as the main modifier key, Mac-like keyboard shortcuts, theming, gestures, etc.
Of course, you can tweak any distro however you want, but I think a curated default experience is a different thing.

by GeekyBear

1 subcomments

Nice to see M3 support coming along as they work their way through the upstreaming backlog and improve tooling:
> finding their way into the Asahi kernel tree are patches to enable more hardware on M3 machines. This includes support for PCIe, MacBook keyboards and trackpads support, the SMC-based RTC and reboot controller, and the NVMe controller, courtesy once again of Michael Reeves and Alyssa Milburn. This brings Linux support for the M3 up to roughly the same level as the first Asahi Linux alpha for M1!

by bogzz

0 subcomment

I wonder if the hardware or the software will be the first to make a dream dev machine happen - a MacBook Pro + Linux experience
either Asahi gets there from the software side or Framework gets there from the hardware side

by mbeavitt

0 subcomment

These kind of project reports showing consistent breakthroughs and clearly a finger on the pulse of what users are encountering as pain points are a good indication that the Asahi team are real pros :)
Look forward to switching back to Asahi full time soon!!

by sandreas

1 subcomments

While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort, my setup requires an encrypted ZFS root file system, which is unreasonably hard to achieve with a Mac.
The fact, that there has to be a macOS partition for maintenance ruling out ZFSBootMenu somehow is very unfortunate - but I've accepted it.
Maybe the new Framework 13 Pro will be at least in the region of an alternative... :-/

by jordand

0 subcomment

M3 support nearly at alpha is fantastic news, and I'm really looking forward to M4 in the future. I am not looking forward to whatever Apple has planned this year for macOS, or next.

by dreamcompiler

1 subcomments

I run Asahi (the previous release) on an M2 Air and it works great except for high power drain when sleeping.
I still want to run it on an M3 MBP so it's nice to hear progress on that is happening.

by p0w3n3d

0 subcomment

The mentioned light sensor started malfunctioning on my work's m3 after upgrading to tahoe. After a sleep it sometimes dimms the screen at max. Thankfully I have the monitor control app which brings it back for me. Such unneeded and faulty mechanism.

by giancarlostoro

0 subcomment

Really hope that by the time all my M4 Macs are no longer updated by Apple I can just switch to Asahi and get a 1:1 compatible OS in terms of supporting all the hardware my Macs come with.

by GZGavinZhao

2 subcomments

It's always sad to think what more can be achieved / how faster we might've arrived at M3 support if Asahi Lina is still active.

by karussell

0 subcomment

Does somebody know the power values for idle and sleep for this release? When I tried Remix 43 on a m2 mb pro 1 month ago the idle power usage was above 5W (max 10h) and sleep roughly 3W (~20h).

by lwhi

1 subcomments

I really dislike Mac OS.
When is Asahi likely to be viable as a daily OS?

by yuhmahp

0 subcomment

Fascinating project like always. Thank you Asahi team!

by jcalvinowens

1 subcomments

Is anybody running Linux headlessly on the m4 mac minis successfully? I'm seeing them flying around used now at tempting prices...

by perarneng

1 subcomments

Thunderbolt would be a great addition, its a showstopper right now for many

by jtotheh

1 subcomments

I got into Linux because it gave me things I couldn't get with Windows/Mac (in 1994). There are less things that is true for now, by far. I am drawn to the ideals of Free Software (maybe BSD style, maybe GNU style) like a moth to the flame. Nonetheless, I have a smartphone, which since 2016 has been an iPhone.
Now there are things I can't get with Linux that I value with macOS. The integration with the phone is just not possible if am running Linux. The power management and convenient things like Apple Music, too.
I was disgusted to see Tim Cook abase himself before Trump and spent a while researching alternative phones. I did not find anything that looked like a serious option. There are things I need that are only available for iPhone or Android, it's become table stakes for life nowadays. My E-car charger required an app to function, for instance.
I admire people who "vote with their wallet" and/or suffer inconvenience for their ideals. But I am not going to install Linux (or OpenBSD) on my M1 Macbook pro. It's too essential for me the way it is.
For the record, I pour a lot of time into my 2014 macbook running arch and a thinkpad running OpenBSD, and keep an arch server/desktop running pretty much 24/7. I spend tons of time trying to find/devise things on Linux to match things I use that are closed-source/apple only.
Hats off to people who can program at the level required to make this happen. It's beyond me. And also to those trying to make Pine Phone etc a realistic option. I think that's the most important free software battleground now.

by thelastgallon

3 subcomments

Is there an equivalent of this for iphones so we can give them a second life?

by JSR_FDED

0 subcomment

Asahi for the MacBook Neo, that would be a killer combination.

by cromka

0 subcomment

Unfortunately no word on mainlining the external display support.

by a1o

2 subcomments

Does anyone knows if it runs on M4 Mac machines?

by gigatexal

1 subcomments

I am both a monthly supporter of the Asahi project and a full-time macOS user. Why? I love to support hackers. But I am also a realist and have given up on the idea of a linux laptop that "just works" and have embraced teh first party experience of the wholly integrated software and hardware experience of the apple ecosystem.
am I just a smooth brained dumb dumb that has drunk the koolaid? perhaps. but I don't lose sleep on it and am not tinkering with hardware, or software anymore, I just get stuff done now.

by LoganDark

1 subcomments

> The bulk of the installer is written in Python
Well that's a weird choice of systems programming language.

by ronin_niron

0 subcomment

[dead]

by atlasagentsuite

0 subcomment

[dead]

by raks619

0 subcomment

[dead]

0 subcomment

by ajdude

2 subcomments

I'm glad they dropped the ban on HN readers[1]. That was my very first impression of Asahi Linux that I ever encountered and it's unfortunately what I think of every time I see it show up here.
[1] https://github.com/AsahiLinux/AsahiLinux.github.io/commit/e0...

by bishopp92

6 subcomments

Genuine question: can't LLMs be used to accelerate this project?