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here's a (possibly dumb) question - assuming a 100% complete and successful "Asahi Linux", what does this mean for distros? Is this a kernel replacement, as in

here's a (possibly dumb) question - assuming a 100% complete and successful "Asahi Linux", what does this mean for distros? Is this a kernel replacement, as in I could run Manjaro Gnome, and just load the Asahi Kernel and it all Just Works? Or will Asahi Linux need to be a full distro of its own, in order to be useful?

idle_zealot 5y ago
It looks like installing a Linux distro on an m1 Mac requires a special installation package, rather than a standard iso. So Asahi is going to be a distro packaged/distributed specifically for m1 Macs, but changes to the kernel etc are being upstreamed, so other distributions should be able to build their own installation media for m1 Macs too in the future.
Raqbit 5y ago
They are working on creating a full distro, based on Arch Linux ARM, which will be an easy-to-use package for end-users with bleeding-edge versions of the software they develop.[1] That said, all components will be upstreamed into their respective projects such that other distributions should eventually be able to add support for Apple's line of desktop computers with Apple Silicon. [1] https://asahilinux.org/about/#is-this-a-linux-distribution https://asahilinux.org/about/#is-this-a-linux-distribution
marcan_42 5y ago
It's several things (yes, we know it's confusing). Asahi Linux is the overall project. m1n1 is our bootloader, which once installed will present a standard (ish) U-Boot/UEFI boot environment. From there you will be able to boot any distro or USB installer, in principle, once the changes trickle upstream. Our installer will install m1n1 and then give you the choice of also installing a distro image. We'll be providing our own based on Arch Linux ARM, but we're open to other distros providing images so we can add them to the list. We already have interest from Fedora, for example. So we expect that people who want to run Linux (or in fact openbsd or anything else) on these Macs will first use our bootloader installer, then either pick one of the built-in images or use their own USB installation media from whatever distro.

idle_zealot 5y ago

It looks like installing a Linux distro on an m1 Mac requires a special installation package, rather than a standard iso. So Asahi is going to be a distro packaged/distributed specifically for m1 Macs, but changes to the kernel etc are being upstreamed, so other distributions should be able to build their own installation media for m1 Macs too in the future.

Raqbit 5y ago

They are working on creating a full distro, based on Arch Linux ARM, which will be an easy-to-use package for end-users with bleeding-edge versions of the software they develop.[1] That said, all components will be upstreamed into their respective projects such that other distributions should eventually be able to add support for Apple's line of desktop computers with Apple Silicon. [1] https://asahilinux.org/about/#is-this-a-linux-distribution https://asahilinux.org/about/#is-this-a-linux-distribution

marcan_42 5y ago

It's several things (yes, we know it's confusing). Asahi Linux is the overall project. m1n1 is our bootloader, which once installed will present a standard (ish) U-Boot/UEFI boot environment. From there you will be able to boot any distro or USB installer, in principle, once the changes trickle upstream. Our installer will install m1n1 and then give you the choice of also installing a distro image. We'll be providing our own based on Arch Linux ARM, but we're open to other distros providing images so we can add them to the list. We already have interest from Fedora, for example. So we expect that people who want to run Linux (or in fact openbsd or anything else) on these Macs will first use our bootloader installer, then either pick one of the built-in images or use their own USB installation media from whatever distro.