Fedora Asahi Remix 40 is another big step forward for Linux on Apple Silicon Macs

Asahi Linux, the project that aims to bring desktop Linux to Apple devices equipped with Apple silicon – the M series chipset – is now live Fedora Asahi Remix 40. More hardware features of Apple devices are supported Fedora Linux 40New KDE-based distribution ships Desktop Plasma 6Countless numbers of errors are crushed, replacing them with more packets.

Fedora Asahi Remix is ​​a “fully integrated distribution,” according to the Asahi team, and you can “expect a robust, high-quality experience without any unwanted surprises.” It supports all M1 and M2 devices in the MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Studio and iMac lines. It’s certified for OpenGL 4.6 and OpenGL ES 3.2, and comes with “the best sound I’ve ever heard for a Linux laptop.”

So, should you install it on your Mac? Keep scrolling down Asahi release page And check the “Hardware Support” section. Thunderbolt, USB4, built-in microphones, and Touch ID support on most Apple M-series devices are still missing, as well as USB-C display support. Speakers are not supported on iMac. and HDMI audio is in an approximate state, being able to “Cut off the sound on the system completely“.

However, for someone who uses their Apple laptop primarily as a mobile device, or simply connects to a monitor using less modern all-in-one cables, there’s a desktop PC waiting for them. Installing it is a single cURL command. Let’s try.

Installation is very easy, given the purpose

The rest of this post was written inside Fedora Asahi Remix 40, freshly installed on an M2 MacBook Air. The Asahi installation script was as useful and straightforward as a terminal script that resizes your hard drive. After choosing a size, choosing which version of Fedora Asahi to install (KDE by default, but GNOME or server options are available), and reading an extended warning about how to properly reboot the machine in Fedora, I was almost on board, but not quite.

You must first stop at the Barren Mac Recovery Environment, giving your new Linux partition permission to have an alternative security system. I was fine with this until the command prompt asked me to type the user who approved this change, with no options to select. The macOS interface does a very thorough job of stripping down your actual Unix username to the point where I had to guess a few times until I got it right. Make sure you have written what you want before you jump in.

Finally, you’ve arrived at the Fedora Asahi Remix desktop. I’m not familiar with KDE in general, but it’s not difficult to get around. Within a few hours of use, I experienced no crashes, no visual anomalies, and only a few harsh speaker clipping when adjusting the volume. I’ve set up the keyboard to a sensible fax image for my familiar Mac hand (left command as control, change alt+tab to control+tab). The touchpad settings lacked palm sensitivity options, so after a few accidental swipes and selections, I turned tap-to-click off.

Chicken and egg scenario

The biggest obstacle to getting the perfect setup in Asahi Linux remains architecture. Most software outside of Fedora’s own repositories is not available on 64-bit ARM (or “Arch64“), at least not without some deeper compilation and configuration work. That means no Slack or Steam for now. I know there is Ways to get there, but since everything works fine in my Fedora-certified desktop, I’m not ready to scatter parts across the lawn just yet. As my colleague Andrew Cunningham pointed out in his Raspberry Pi 5 desktop experience, using and interacting with Asahi Linux, Raspberry Pis, and other ARM variants of the Linux operating system can only help, although it will take some time.

It’s easy to forget how great Asahi Linux is on a broad level. The availability of a popular Linux distribution for these very new, purpose-built devices is impressive in all respects. With this, the second release of Fedora Remix, Asahi has become almost a regular distro to install, and a reasonable place to compute. Where it leads from here should be exciting.