But as much as I love the RK3588 it's very much in the "low perf utility SBC" world than "good performing general PC". I use my two boards for NAS, Plex, Forgejo CI builders, etc.
I do recall that Jeff Geerling I think had some followup with that board that perhaps there could be firmware changes that improve the power efficiency later maybe?
It is very usable for email, editing documents, code review, etc - but it will struggle if you're trying to multitask heavily.
This CIX SoC is a fair bit faster than the RK3588 though I believe.
This SoC may actually have Linux drivers.
Anyway, I've been using it on my Macbook Air M2 and it works fine for my use case [3]. Pretty smooth.
[1] https://rosenzweig.io/blog/aaa-gaming-on-m1.html
[3] https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2024-12-01-asahi-linux-with-...
:(
The one feature that only works properly when using both Apple hardware and software...
On x86 it's because linux relies on the acpi tables which vendors don't bother to do properly.
On Apple ARM hardware/linux it's because Apple don't bother releasing any docs.
On other ARM SoCs... not sure. In theory every vendor wants volume orders for phones so they should be able to sleep properly?
It's sad if you're an Apple hardware + software slave and used to just closing the lid on your laptop and having it basically lose no battery for days, especially since ARM.
Say what you will about Microsoft, but sometimes a strong leader can make good things happen (TPM2 and modern standby)
Can't seem to get DP Alt Mode to work on my used 2021 M1 Pro though, even though it's listed as supported with an asterisk, maybe someone here has managed it?
(Also, if you're buying used and wiping MacOS are you truly giving Apple a dime? I guess it's a matter of perspective.)
What's wrong with Asahi?
Generally I'm reluctant investing in Linux on a hardware from company more or less hostile to it, but I also don't have any need for ARM laptop, and I'm happy with my Framework.
I wouldn't say the problem is hostility. It's complete non-interest. Apple wisely allowed us to load a non-chain-of-trust OS while maintaining the chain of trust in macOS, which is an incredible advancement still unmatched by other manufacturers.
And that's it. They have done zero work to accommodate Linux. At all. Perhaps if Microsoft ever figures out that NT used to run on more than one arch, Apple will revive Boot Camp for Windows and deem it useful to include Linux this time?
If Apple wanted to, they could already do that right now. Windows runs on arm just fine. Heck, windows on Arm in a parallels VM runs better on my macbook pro than it does natively on an x86 laptop.
If Apple would make some drivers, even just for Windows, I bet they'd sell more macs. But it would seem Apple either calculated that ecosystem/services lock-in is way more important to them than a potential boost in hardware sales for alternative OSes, or they are really reluctant to make drivers for Apple Silicon available elsewhere out of fear it'll expose some trade secrets, which they didn't have to worry about when they used intel.
The incremental bump in sales would be very small.
Even when Apple did provide bootcamp drivers to run Windows on old laptops, very few people used it as their daily driver for a Windows computer. I'm sure Apple has a better estimate of the market for people who bought Macs to use with alternative OSes back when they supported it, but they've calculated that it's not worth the effort.
> an incredible advancement still unmatched by other manufacturers
Sheesh, don't forget to zip up Tim's pants once you're done. I hope other manufacturers don't follow Apple in forcing proprietary bootloaders. Open alternatives like Clover and OpenCore are fully viable for booting macOS.
I'd advise buying a MacBook air m1 over an m2 if the goal is to run Linux...
...all the missing support?