I would prefer serioulsy to jump from my x86_64 workstation to a RISC-V workstation.
ARM64 Linux Workstation
151–160 of 493 posts
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#152I cannot wait for Linux to be fully usable on my Apple Silicon MBP. That is going to be such a killer environment to develop on.
Crazy fast hardware, great high refresh screen, insane battery life, fantastic touchpad, gestures and keyboard.
There is the potential that Windows games could run on it with some combination of x86 translation and Proton.
Using MacOS on it feels like I have a ferrari with square wheels.
Want to play games? Not unless the developers use Apple graphics APIs (not happening for new titles and never happening for old titles).
Want to run containerized workloads? Enjoy a cumbersome, slow, virtualized experience.
Want to use FUSE? Not on your work computer locked to high-sec mode as you cannot install kernel extensions (where is our user space FS Apple?).
Want to write a program that targets MacOS? Expect a cumbersome CI/CD experience because Apple expects you to manually compile distributables.
I could go on but as someone who has used MacOS for years and generally appreciates it, Apple really doesn't care much for developers. Other than its POSIX shell, MacOS doesn't have much going for it.
At least with my Intel MBP I could dual boot Windows so I could carry one laptop and switch between work and play. Now I have to carry around two computers when I travel for extended periods if I want to game.
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#153Depending on the country you live earth overshoot day is pretty soon. 128GB of RAM and other specs for a workstation certainly sound like overshoot. I'd wish smart people would use their brains and saving resources instead of wasting them.
How can Earth overshoot day be different from country to country? Isn't it related to the Earth as a whole?
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP's requirements pretty much uniquely match what Asahi on a desktop M2 provides -- heavy compute, not heavy graphics, no onboard speakers, one big display, no webcam/touch-id, etc. It sounds like if you're developing services hosted in a cloud, Asahi Linux is a great fit for a desktop Mac.
Do they ever sell old graviton machines as salvage? Arenithey on revision 3 now? I'd like one of those.
You can find the Annapurna Labs AL73400 (Graviton 1st gen) in some devices, but I'm not sure you can easily install your own OS.
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#155Depending on the country you live earth overshoot day is pretty soon. 128GB of RAM and other specs for a workstation certainly sound like overshoot. I'd wish smart people would use their brains and saving resources instead of wasting them.
If the 128GB grants a greater level of efficiency and allows more tasks to be completed in less time and thus saving energy, then how is this overshoot?
Might it be that you're just failing to measure reality objectively?
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Screen brightness works on the beta kernel. Speakers work but are disabled by default because there is a risk it could blow up the hardware
> Speakers work but are disabled by default because there is a risk it could blow up the hardware Wait, what? This sounds like a pretty egregious design flaw on Apple's part.
The (very good) writeup conveys this much better than I could, but briefly for folks not inclined to click/read through: it’s a design trade off. Apple’s solution conditionally sends excess power to the speakers—higher power to achieve better sound under safe conditions, lower power to protect the speakers from damage. It’s quite clever (and quite effective, although I’m sure some audiophiles would disagree), but it’s not the kind of design you’d want to use without an equivalent solution. It’s also an unintuitive benefit of having a whole lot of compute headroom to play with, where you can create an intentional footgun that has meaningful benefits but risks physical consequences, and then spend some of that headroom to disarm the gun.
A pure software analogy (because that’s what I know better) would be something like: race a bunch of speculative variant algorithms in parallel, knowing that you’re “wasting” compute time, where the probability of speculation being more optimal than hand tuning is high and pathological cases have a “safe” straightforward deoptimization.
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Use the web versions?
The web version of spotify doesn't work on my m2 air in either chromium or firefox. The Spotify website errors with: "Playback of protected content is not enabled." Slack works just fine from the browser on Asahi though.
You're likely missing the Widevine DRM plugin. IIRC, many distros don't include it, or don't enable it by default.
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#158Only thing that would make this better is if the containers were running under Rosetta instead of QEMU.
I'm hoping this is possible at some point on macOS.
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#159I cannot wait for Linux to be fully usable on my Apple Silicon MBP. That is going to be such a killer environment to develop on. Crazy fast hardware, great high refresh screen, insane battery life, fantastic touchpad, gestures and keyboard. There is the potential that Windows games could run on it with some combination of x86 translation and Proton. Using MacOS on it feels like I have a ferrari with square wheels. Wa…
> Want to use FUSE?
Fuse is infuriating on MacOS - why is it not included by default??
Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation
#160I'd be curious to see properly done benchmarks against top of the line Intel or AMD machines. I'd be surprised if the Mac was faster. I do understand that people want the Mac for the build quality of the laptop, not just for speed.
> I do understand that people want the Mac for the build quality of the laptop, not just for speed. I find LG Gram laptops to be of higher build quality than Mac laptops. They may be pricier too depending on which LG Gram and which Mac you buy though. Mac laptops feel and are incredibly brittle. They may look shiny and the screen may look gorgeous, but they're simply brittle. People here and there like to make fun of…
Only anecdata of course, but my several years old MBP has recently taken a few beatings (falls to the floor at various angles from 3-4 feet, getting narcoleptic with age is fun!). I haven’t noticed any problems I could attribute to any one of these incidents or their cumulative impact. There are a few very obvious dents in the casing, even behind the screen which I’d expect to cause distortion on the display… but nope, the tank keeps taking beatings without a problem. Granted there are other ways the MBP is showing its age but they’re just more pronounced versions of issues that well predate any physical incident.