Fedora Asahi Remix is now working on Apple M3

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

M3 SUPPORT STATUS

  • Fedora Asahi Remix now boots on M3 systems, including laptops; unclear from thread whether M3 Ultra is supported yet.
  • Multiple people note this is “breaking news” and Asahi’s official feature matrix may lag behind.
  • Some argue “now working” is a bit misleading because many subsystems are incomplete; others emphasize that just getting M3 to boot at all is a major milestone.

GPU, DISPLAY, AND PORTS

  • Current M3 support uses llvmpipe (software rendering), not the Apple GPU; several commenters say they don’t consider it “really working” for laptop use until GPU acceleration lands.
  • M3 GPU ISA differs significantly from M1/M2, so compiler and driver work must be redone.
  • DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB‑C is a key blocker for many; there are experimental “fairydust” kernel patches and a test branch people report as working on M1, with plans to make it generally available (timeline mentioned as early 2026).
  • Thunderbolt and ProMotion support are asked about; ProMotion is seen by some as marginal, while sleep, battery life, and external display support are higher priorities.

FUTURE CHIPS (M4, M5) AND SECURITY FEATURES

  • M4 is described as harder due to new hardware-level protections (Secure Page Table Monitor); there’s debate about how hard SPTM is to emulate for macOS virtualization used in reverse‑engineering.
  • M5 reportedly adds a new GPU generation and GPU-side neural accelerators; some think NPUs are not critical for Linux, others distinguish between GPU tensor units (already widely used) and separate NPUs.

WHY APPLE SILICON IS HARDER THAN X86

  • Intel/AMD contribute Linux support before hardware ships; Apple provides no docs and frequently changes GPU ISA and SoC details, forcing repeated reverse‑engineering.
  • ARM platform diversity and lack of consistent PC-style standards (UEFI/ACPI everywhere) make generic support harder than for “PC-compatible” x86.

USAGE, INSTALLATION, AND ALTERNATIVES

  • Asahi is already a solid daily driver for many on M1/M2 (Mac mini, laptops), with good trackpad and Wi‑Fi reported; Thunderbolt and high-end compute remain gaps.
  • Asahi’s installer is also used as a base to install other distros (e.g., NixOS); dual‑boot with macOS is standard and wiping macOS is discouraged.
  • Some recommend waiting for full GPU support or instead buying well‑supported x86 laptops (Intel Panther Lake, AMD Strix Halo) if Linux is the primary goal.

PROJECT HEALTH, COMMUNITY, AND ETHICS

  • Delays on newer chips are attributed to prior tech debt, focus on upstreaming patches, and a major harassment campaign targeting a lead developer.
  • Some discuss donating to support Asahi; others refuse to buy Apple hardware for ethical reasons, while a few see used Macs as excellent Linux ARM machines once supported.
  • A long tangent explores how talented young hackers get ground down by corporate work, plus debates on universal healthcare, FIRE, and economic structures enabling more independent tech work.