Live data from Hacker News

Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

git.kernel.org

151–160 of 337 posts

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#151
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a very similar Dell. I'm not sure it fits your use case, but I just run on the Intel graphics with the nvidia one powered down and no nvidia drivers installed. The Intel card runs multi-monitor 4K desktop stuff smooth as silk (I use Wayland, but I checked X too). Whenever I need to run CUDA stuff (my only use case for the nvidia GPU), I power it up, and pass it through to a VM that also runs Linux, but with th…

I'd be curious to see your setup, purely because I have never found a way to have the iGPU handle the HDMI output. It seems it's directly soldered to the Nvidia card.

Strange. I thought that solution (output soldered onto the GeForce) was discontinued a long time ago for this range of machines. My setup works really well both with the HDMI output, with the Thunderbolt output, and of course with the laptop display.

I have this going on two very similar machines: A circa 2017 XPS 9560, and a circa 2020 XPS 7590. Both are 15". I don't have the 9560 near me at the moment, but the 7590 has

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation CoffeeLake-H GT2 [UHD Graphics 630]

01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / Max-Q] (rev ff)

I'm happy to help you debug if you want. What happens if you remove all nvidia drivers and plug something into the HDMI port? Do you notice any response from the external screen if you hit for example control f2?

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#152

Will this have an impact of tools that depend on linux like docker on mac? Maybe android emulation? If so, then I'm super excited for it. I'm using an m1 macbook air right now and it's the first compelling mac laptop for me since 2015. It's absolutely amazing. But for any workload that uses docker, my linux desktop is streets ahead.

Last time I checked, the Android Emulator running on Apple Silicon still has issues and isn't functionally as good as running it on an Intel Mac.

There is no point in getting the M1 Macbook (which is last year's model) since they will either announce a M1X or even a M2 Macbook this year which will most certainly be more performant and optimised than the last generation.

One of the several reasons why I stayed away from the first generation of Apple Silicon Macs, and still the software ecosystem is still unoptimised for it.

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#153
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a certain Zen to using Apple interfaces (IMHO): You have to relax and just accept that this is how it is, and it's best to get used to it. I fully understand if you find this to be not really good enough, but this is the only way to make them work for you.

Ah yes, but if you suggest that someone do this when using Linux, you get shit on.

To be fair, customizability and freedom aren't Apple's selling points.

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#154

Hi HN! I wrote an article about this initial support series and what it took to make things work properly on this machine: https://asahilinux.org/2021/03/progress-report-january-febru... It still applies to what got merged; the past month was spent on clean-ups, fixes, and review feedback, but there are no major changes to the approach. This initial merge was quite complex as it has to touch a number of subsystems an…

(Side note: I'm happy to see that shilling your patreon is becoming a socially accepted norm. Best of luck with your work!) One thing I was surprised by: LuaJIT doesn't compile on an M1. LuaJIT 2.1.0 technically compiles, but it core dumps whenever you have a syntax error, which makes it quite a bit less useful. A reason for this might be due to the lack of __threadlocal support in M1's (apparently, or so says clang)…

Have you tried to use the zld linker to build luajit?

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, you can now run Docker natively without a virtual machine.

I think it'll still be a virtual machine? It'll just mean that there could be an ARM native virtual machine rather than one emulating x86.

The secret to the lightweight nature of Docker is that it just uses various namespacing, cgroup etc functionality provided by Linux with no virtualized OS kernel or hw virtualization mechanisms involved.

(Yep you need ARM Docker images when running on ARM of course)

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#156
post #108
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - You need an extra click on another window before you can interact with it I don't have this issue, I can interact with a window just by hovering over it with the mouse pointer > - If you're running multiple displays macos for some reason always picks the most awkward display to open new windows in You can set the default display in the settings (under arrangement, drag the white bar to the display you want to mak…

> I don't have this issue, I can interact with a window just by hovering over it with the mouse pointer Hm, maybe it's just Firefox that's a bad citizen here, like with the global shortcuts.

Do not blame Firefox, this is actually how MacOS UI works by default: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/269622/macos-windo...

I think the other poster has some addon installed and forgot about it.

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#157
post #121

I say this as a long-time PC user; MacBook laptop hardware is unrivaled in the PC space (trackpad, screen and keyboard - not pure price/performance). Having any distro running Gnome 40 with full gesture support would be seriously compelling for daily driving.

As a long time Mac user, I'm surprised you praise the keyboard :) I think shipping the unreliable butterfly keyboards for so long might be the largest mishap modern Apple has made.

They've more than redeemed themselves for me with their 2020 keyboards though. In direct comparison between my current 2020 Intel 13", my previous late 2013 13" and a work-issued 2018-ish 13" butterfly MBP, the 2020 wins hands down. Feels mostly like the late 2013, but slightly less mushy, not that I'd ever considered the late 2013 one mushy, but in direct comparison, it's slightly mushier, if that makes sense.

That said, I know at least one person who genuinely prefers the butterfly mechanism, there must be dozens such people out there.

Edit: The late 2013 one got a new keyboard in early 2020 as part of a inflated battery exchange, so it's not mushy due to wear.

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#158

Did Apple pay anything for this? If not, they should.

They didn't, and I disagree they should pay to get Linux porting effort going. Instead, they should publish info about M1 SoC that would make writing kernel extension or drivers for it much easier. That would make adapting any OS for M1 possible.

Why not both?

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#159
post #35

This is very anecdotal but every single laptop I have bought in the last 10 years (4) worked perfectly out-of-the box with either Linux Mint or Ubuntu (which are the same on the inside). I only vaguely remember once I had to change some conf file for my trackpad to work after a dist update but that was it. Not sure why everyone in this thread is so hesitant about Linux on a laptop? It literally just works (tm) for me…

Every single laptop my company bought me in the last 10 years (3+) had kernel/driver issues, especially with Ubuntu, since the kernel version was usually lower than that from other distros, like Fedora. This includes mostly graphics driver issues (either simply Nvidia, or hybrids, or some exotic protocols such as DisplayLink), but also touchpad, power/suspend issues (e.g. wake-up failure), lack of fingerprint or smar…

I'd recommend buying one of the new Laptops with actual, official LVFS support by the vendor. My new (Tiger Lake) Dell XPS 13 for example even has support for the fingerprint reader, face unlock etc. by default, and the new ThinkPads and many other High-End models come with Linux support and Linux pre-installed nowadays. They also have a proper hibernation toggle (Linux/Windows mode) in the BIOS so it "just works".

Re: Initial M1 support merged into Linux SoC tree

#160

Did Apple pay anything for this? If not, they should.

Why?

Because they save money - as they will not pay salaries and taxes on this effort and then when it matures they'll likely appropriate the solution and boast how M1 is great for developers. This should be illegal. In my country a person cannot work for a company for free, they need to receive at least a minimum wage. This port is essentially unpaid and untaxed work for Apple.
Post reply on HN