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ARM64 Linux Workstation

jasoneckert.github.io

241–250 of 493 posts

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#241

> Everything - and I mean everything - is unbelievably fast. As a long time Linux user and someone forced to use MacOS, my hands are itching to buy a 2nd M1/M2 mac and install Asahi linux on it. I've never felt such excitement since the days of Compiz.

Don't do it. It's tempting. I bought a high-end System 76, and I am very happy with it.

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#242

I 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…

> I cannot wait for Linux to be fully usable on my Apple Silicon MBP Since TFA says "everything works" atm, including GPU, Bluetooth, Audio, USB, etc, what's stopping you from doing it now?

For me it’s the fact you can’t use external displays and the fact it can’t sleep yet so it drains while the lid is closed.

All things that should be fixed soon.

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to be in the minority, but I honestly don't get how people can develop productively on a laptop. The lack of full size keyboard, screen real estate, and uncomfortable touchpad compared to a mouse just feels horrible to me.

I’ve grown to hate using a mouse, and love the MacBook trackpad. Having your hands so close to both keyboard and trackpad means less travel time between.

That's why I like trackpoint. Mouse without as much as moving your fingers from the home row.

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#245
post #5

Depending 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?

In 2019 I thought that by now I could buy a bunch of 8GB Raspberry Pi 4s (or equivalent) for $20 apiece, install them all over the house and car for various purposes, and occasionally use them as a cluster for video editing or whatever.

The pandemic and trade wars put a wrench in the gears of that plan, but I still think that would be way cooler than lugging around a 128GB laptop and using it for everything, a.k.a. single point of failure.

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#246
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better than high performance mobile workstations, sure, but I was getting 10-12 hour battery off a macbook air running Gentoo nearly a decade ago. PBP gets 10+ hours. $25 scrap latitude with ~70% peak capacity gets 6-8 hours.

I actually think you're onto something with this. When I run compilation workloads on my M1 MBP, I get 3-4 hours battery life. VMs and games (crossover) also bring my battery life down to 4-6 hours. My old intel MBP would get around the same battery life when doing the same workloads (games under bootcamp Windows), it would get worse battery life sitting idle or for optimised workloads (like video playback). Mixed wo…

18 hours battery life is mostly marketing. Not even sure how to test that, maybe on 20% display brightness with no programs running, other than the OS...assuming it doesn't take screenlock/display off into account?

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#248
post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better than high performance mobile workstations, sure, but I was getting 10-12 hour battery off a macbook air running Gentoo nearly a decade ago. PBP gets 10+ hours. $25 scrap latitude with ~70% peak capacity gets 6-8 hours.

I actually think you're onto something with this. When I run compilation workloads on my M1 MBP, I get 3-4 hours battery life. VMs and games (crossover) also bring my battery life down to 4-6 hours. My old intel MBP would get around the same battery life when doing the same workloads (games under bootcamp Windows), it would get worse battery life sitting idle or for optimised workloads (like video playback). Mixed wo…

I need to go back and watch the marketing material, but I think everytime they brough up battery life, it was under conditions. Like 20 hour battery life browsing the web. 18 hour battery life with video playback. I don't think anywhere they claimed 20 hour battery life using something like Blender.

Which of course should be expected. My M1 probably gets about 18-20 hours when I am just web browsing. If I am compiling Xcode projects, half that. Messing around in C in Emacs, probably 14-16 hours battery life.

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#249
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm wondering if an M1 MacBook would actually have such a good battery life on linux. Not 100% the same, but the Asahi members reported something like 8 hours on a M1 Macbook, so that's better than most/all x86 laptops with Linux

> 8 hours on a M1 Macbook, so that's better than most/all x86 laptops with Linux It is makes no sense to compare an $1k/$2k M1 Macbook with random laptops. Those laptops exist because people want to run MS Word or Excel for $400. That's the feature. Various System76 laptops, Thinkpads (among many other laptops recommended by Linux users) give you battery life comparable to macOS on the M1.

> arious System76 laptops, Thinkpads (among many other laptops recommended by Linux users) give you battery life comparable to macOS on the M1.

that is a lie. system76 and thinkpads are nowhere close to giving you a full day of battery life on Linux.

Re: ARM64 Linux Workstation

#250
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm wondering if an M1 MacBook would actually have such a good battery life on linux. Not 100% the same, but the Asahi members reported something like 8 hours on a M1 Macbook, so that's better than most/all x86 laptops with Linux

> 8 hours on a M1 Macbook, so that's better than most/all x86 laptops with Linux It is makes no sense to compare an $1k/$2k M1 Macbook with random laptops. Those laptops exist because people want to run MS Word or Excel for $400. That's the feature. Various System76 laptops, Thinkpads (among many other laptops recommended by Linux users) give you battery life comparable to macOS on the M1.

I keep hearing about battery life being just as almost just as good or better on linux (and on Windows too, though that's a more realistic claim). Yet even the latest gens thinkpads are pretty awful w.r.t battery. My friend bought an i5 12xxx Thinkpad X1 and can barely do 5 or 6 hours of screen on time, when the stated capacity is 16h. Lenovo denied a refund, because it's working as intended according to them (and my colleagues with s76 laptops don't even really expect more than 3-ish hours of battery at best). My work provided t14 gen 3, that I like, can't even keep it's charge when unplugged and in my bag for long enough.

And I'm no Apple fanboy, the only Apple device I've ever used has been an ipad 5 years ago and my M1 macbook.

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