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Comment by jasoneckert | Hacker News Reader

For the same reasons, I prefer Linux - but also like Apple Silicon platform. As a result, I use Fedora Asahi Remix natively on the hardware. It's a few generations behind in support (M1- and M2-based systems right now), but I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to use Linux natively on Apple Silicon hardware. In my workflow, Fedora Asahi Remix runs at least twice as fast as macOS on the same hardware for any task (and 4-6 times faster for heavier tasks).

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It's a few years behind is true, but the gap keeps widening. DP Alt Mode isn't supported. M3 and M4 support might never happen. It doesn't seem like a viable long-term alternative to be honest.

The gap is widening largely because the maintainer left the project due to the Linux kernel rust drama. But there is still plenty of very talented contributors who have taken over. That, combined with a rapidly growing interest to run Linux on Apple Silicon instead of macOS, will likely result in faster development over the next few years.

But for me, the long term momentum of new platforms as they release doesn't matter - what IS supported is excellent (including the brilliant GPU driver).

My Mac Studio M1 Ultra runs Fedora Asahi Remix perfectly with full support and is exactly what I need. So those who are looking for a fast Apple Silicon system that can run Linux natively will save $$ and buy a used M1/M2 from Apple or otherwise.

What about support for graphics? Does it work?

Yes, thanks to the heroic efforts of Alyssa Rosenzweig <https://rosenzweig.io/>, Asahi Lina <https://www.youtube.com/c/AsahiLina>, and others.

Unfortunately, a lot of this effort seems stalled by some of the Linux kernel developers' hostility towards Rust, which also prompted Hector Martin (marcan42) to leave the project.

Now at the current rate, Apple is still moving backwards faster than the FOSS community is moving forward. I actually miss macOS 10.5 on PowerPC.

Is Rust the only programming language that is usable for this work?

No, however it makes driver development easier and all the work to date is in rust, so changing languages would be exceedingly painful.

So far nearly all of the kernel/driver code in the modern (~1990+?) history of osdev has been written in C/C++. However it appears that Rust can make you incredibly productive, at the very least in experimental/explorative development based solely on reverse engineering.

It's promising.

Hmm what about Debian? https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Apple/M1

I still have to use macOS for mobile app development, but definitly want to use Linux on M2.

Curious, what kind of tasks are these where you see a big uplift? Anything to do with containerization?

Yes - it's a developer workstation and I run a few different staging environments on it, including a K3s cluster and a big FreeBSD VM - both of which are lightening fast. But what always surprises me is how fast it is at compiling anything.

Why not just run an OS in a VM and full screen it?

Because it's very cumbersome. Managing with multiple audio devices and displays must be done in the host OS. Keyboard shortcuts might not work correctly. Gestures might not work correctly. Suspending and resuming is a pain, basically need to login twice. It's a lot of friction.

Do you even need to 'login' on a system which only you, personally is running in a VM?

I'd disable that as one of the first things. Just autologin with no password.

For the thing running in the VM, not the host.

That’s what Mitchell Hashimoto does.

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