Ubuntu Linux is now used on M1 Macs

For the first time, users of Apple Silicon Macs using Apple’s M1 chip – such as the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini and MacBook Air – can now get started with Linux and use it, of course.

The vintage being played here is Ubuntu, and the port was developed by Corellium, which otherwise virtualizes iOS and other ARM-based operating systems to make security testing easier. It is also worth noting that Apple has sued the company in the past because of the iOS security test tool. The lawsuit did not go Apple’s path.

Corellium Technology Office Chris Wade Announces Highlights of Team Work yesterday on Twitter. And in a blog post on Corellium’s website, the team behind the port writes that it was developed in parallel with the group’s efforts to model the [M1] for our safety research section. ”

The blog post contains numerous additional details about the obstacles Corellium had to overcome, including dealing with how Apple’s SoC yields additional CPU cores, dealing with Apple’s own interrupt controller and much more. Corellium has added, among other things, ” a preloader that serves as a cover for Linux and provides a trampoline for starting processor cores. ‘

The post contains a guide for installing Ubuntu on M1 Macs, and there is a Github repo (corellium / linux-m1) from which you can download the kernel. If you follow the steps, you will start directly from USB. However, we are a long way from the boot camp style with double startup here. Even after the Corellium team’s work, the necessary steps are more complicated and technical than most users would like to waste, and it is definitely not recommended to do so as your daily manager.

Still, enthusiasts or those who want to get in front of the bow now have an option, so if this is your jam, go to the city. Wade calls the port ‘fully usable’, and you get the fully functional Ubuntu desktop if you go through this process.

There are other attempts to bring Linux to M1 Macs there, and further refinements of each will definitely come, so it’s still early. And before you ask: doing this with Windows seems rather vague. You have to use the ARM version of Windows, and this is not currently an option for most people.

When we interviewed Apple’s marketing SVP Craig Federighi and asked to have Windows originally run on Apple Silicon Macs, he said: “It depends on Microsoft … we have the core technologies to do it to running their ARM version of Windows which in turn naturally supports x86 user mode applications, but it’s a decision Microsoft has to make to license that technology for users to work on these Macs. But the Macs are definitely very capable of it. “

List by Samuel Axon