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Is it possible / does it make sense to use this as a Debian machine?
by 3dfan 8y ago
Is it possible / does it make sense to use this as a Debian machine?
- heartbreak 8y agoIf you want a mini-ITX form factor Debian machine, you're probably better off skipping the Apple tax and building one yourself. Pros of this Mac mini appear to include: seamlessly runs macOS and high build quality. The internal components (with the exception of specific Apple chips) are commodity. So if you don't want macOS support, you can just make it yourself.
- m_mueller 8y agodisk en-/decryption on the T2 chip would be interesting feature that you're missing out on - or is that kinda thing also commodity nowadays through accelerator cards?
- TazeTSchnitzel 8y agoDo you really need special hardware support? Apple's older FDE using Intel's AES-NI instructions available on all their CPUs was plenty fast.
- wmf 8y agoMost SSDs support Opal although good luck finding Linux distro support for it.
- mark-r 8y agoWhere would you find the software for the T2 chip without using macOS?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- teekert 8y agoPerhaps but why pay the Apple premium just for the case design when you can also opt for something like https://www.pcworld.com/article/3267074/computers/intel-hades-canyon-nuc-nuc8i7hvk-review.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/3267074/computers/intel-hade...
- juergbi 8y agoThere is no NUC with a 6C/12T i7, though. An important question is whether the Mac mini will throttle the i7 much for thermal reasons.
- mmjaa 8y agoWouldn't the T2 security chip mean an end to putting non-MacOS operating systems on Apples hardware? Honest question .. I don't know the answer .. but it seems like this is going to be a hurdle for Linux on Apple hardware going forward. EDIT: from another thread discussing Apples release today: >You can install Linux, if you can accept that a lot of functionality does not work. Even on most MacBook Pro 2016 models audio, suspend/hibernate, and WiFi don't work. https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux
- saagarjha 8y agoYou can install Linux. Hardware not working is not a result of the T2 chip, since the 2016 MacBook Pro doesn’t have one.
- Dunedan 8y agoA result of the T2 chip is, that you can't access the SSD under Linux yet, which makes running Linux on it pretty pointless.
- saagarjha 8y agoThe fundamental issue, that of Apple allowing you to boot alternative operating systems, is solved. The other problem of figuring out how to talk to the SSD is more of a technical (if important) issue.
- Dunedan 8y agoIn theory you should be able to install alternative operating systems by disabling "secure boot", but at least with Linux that isn't working properly yet. Trying to use the NVMe controller results in reboots, caused by the T2 chip. It's not clear so far if that's intended, a bug in the software running on the T2 chip, a bug in the NVMe implementation in Linux or if there is some logic necessary to properly initialize the T2 chip.
- snazz 8y agoI haven't tried running a Linux distro on any Mac with the T2 chip, but that might be a challenge if that chip is used for authenticating the boot process or something like that. Additionally, the fact that the thing is brand-new means that it might be a while before some of it works with Linux.
- saagarjha 8y agoYou should be able to install Linux by disabling verified boot.
- Dunedan 8y agoNope, at least not yet, as the NVMe controller in the T2 chip doesn't work with Linux yet. See https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/71 https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/71 for details.
- cestith 8y agohttps://system76.com/cart/configure/meer3b https://system76.com/cart/configure/meer3b is probably a better choice unless you need the 64GB.