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Linus Torvalds doubts Linux will get ported to Apple M1 hardware:
In a recent post on the Real World Technologies forum—one of the few public internet venues Linux founder Linus Torvalds is known to regularly visit—a user named Paul asked Torvalds, "What do you think of the new Apple laptop?"
If you've been living under a rock for the last few weeks, Apple released new versions of the Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, and Mac Mini featuring a brand-new processor—the Apple M1.
The M1 processor is a successor to the A12 and A14 Bionic CPUs used in iPhones and iPads, and pairs the battery and thermal efficiency of ultramobile designs with the high performance needed to compete strongly in the laptop and desktop world.
"I'd absolutely love to have one, if it just ran Linux," Torvalds replied. "I've been waiting for an ARM laptop that can run Linux for a long time. The new [Macbook] Air would be almost perfect, except for the OS."
[...] In an interview with ZDNet, Torvalds expounded on the problem:
The main problem with the M1 for me is the GPU and other devices around it, because that's likely what would hold me off using it because it wouldn't have any Linux support unless Apple opens up... [that] seems unlikely, but hey, you can always hope.
[...] It's also worth noting that while the M1 is unabashedly great, it's not the final word in desktop or laptop System on Chip designs. Torvalds mentions that, given a choice, he'd prefer more and higher-power cores—which is certainly possible and seems a likely request to be granted soon.
Previously: Apple's New ARM-Based Macs Won't Support Windows Through Boot Camp
Apple Claims that its M1 SoC for ARM-Based Macs Uses the World's Fastest CPU Core
Your New Apple Computer Isn't Yours
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @02:46AM (1 child)
I don't agree.
Apple can do this because they control the platform top to bottom. The PC world is compromised by having too many vested interests, all of which are only interested in things that give them more control, and all of which therefore are hated by users who are completely happy with x86 and don't want things that are just there to screw them. There might be enough of a market for a Linux-only laptop running ARM, but it needs to be well designed, not just a proof of concept.
ARM isn't, after all, some inherently superior alternative. It's just different. It has a heritage in low power devices so it's good at being low power. It's just barely catching up in performance, just like Intel/AMD are just barely catching up in power consumption.
This is kind of like when Apple switched to PowerPC and everyone said x86 was dead. It's RISC! That's the future! Intel will never keep up! And then it didn't happen.
ARM will probably contine to make inroads in servers, where power consumption is more important than software compatibility and usually more important than performance and Microsoft can't get in everyone's way. Among laptops, what will happen is that Intel or AMD will come out with an ultra low power x86 that sips power and it'll be fine. And Apple will change architectures again in ten years like they always do. (1975-6502 1985-68K, 1995-PPC, 2005-x86, 2020-ARM). If anything, Apple is five years late this time.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 30 2020, @03:16AM
What part of my comment don't you agree with?
I don't think x86 will die soon, and x86 and ARM will coexist for a long time to come. ARM is already very prevalent in HTPCs, SBCs (many capable of acting as desktops), smartphones, and tablets. It is in laptops [theverge.com], moreso in Chromebooks, but AMD x86 is coming back strong in both. Servers might be one of the worst markets for ARM because of resistance to change, but at least hyperscalers like Amazon can add their own ARM CPUs and rent them out, with low commitment from the renter.
I just think it's interesting that smartphones, tablets, SBCs, etc. all pretty much end at 8 cores (MediaTek did produce some 10-12 core Helio SoCs for smartphones, but have pulled back), even though DynamIQ (the new big.LITTLE) allows up to 32 clusters with 8 cores each. Bloomberg reported in April that Apple was working on a 12-core SoC, and I believe they are probably planning to add even more cores to replace Xeon-based Mac Pros. So my guess is that other companies will start to boost core counts for things intended to be plugged into the wall, even if they still lag behind Apple A/M chips in single-threaded peformance and other areas.
If Apple does decide to change architectures again, I think it would be a response to monolithic 3D chip development that increases performance by orders of magnitude. That would be a good time to throw everything out, go in a completely new direction, and emulate as needed. But they have the perpetual license and now a huge ecosystem of products using ARM.
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