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Apple recently introduced its first Macs with ARM processors, and while they offer incredible performance, users can’t run Windows or Linux natively on these machines – at least for now. Popular developer Hector Martin today announced Patreon funding to help bring Linux to Apple Silicon Macs.
Hector Martin is a developer known for porting Linux to a variety of devices. In 2016, he announced a project that brought 3D-accelerated Linux to PlayStation 4. Now Martin wants to run Linux natively on newer Macs with the M1 chip – and possibly any other Apple Silicon Mac.
As advertised on its Twitter earlier today, he created a Patreon fund for those who wish to support his work of porting Linux to Apple Silicon Macs. According to Martin, he wants to run Linux on the M1 Macs at peak performance rather than creating a “simple tech demo.”
Apple has just released a new line of ARM-based Apple Silicon Macs that blow all other ARM machines in the same class out of the water. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could run Linux too?
Ultimately they can, but someone has to do the job.
As he pointed out, running Linux on these ARM machines isn’t exactly difficult, but getting it to work well with all of the Apple drivers, such as those required by Apple’s custom GPU, is complicated. Martin will focus first on making Linux work with dual boot on the new M1 Mac mini, but later the project will also be updated with compatibility with other M1 Macs.
The project will be open-source and will be available on GitHub. Users can help fund the project with donations of $ 3, $ 6, or $ 12 per month – and each tier offers different project-related benefits. The developer promises not to make any fees until he hits $ 4,000 in contributions, which is what he needs to secure his time investment in the project.
You can read more about Hector Martin’s project on the Patreon website.
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