{"slug": "asahi-linux", "name": "Asahi Linux", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "A Linux distribution for Apple Silicon Macs, built on reverse-engineered hardware drivers.", "recommenders": 14, "commenters": 21, "warners": 1, "score": 13.753, "rising": 7.04, "first": "2025-12-30", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "Loved for running Linux as a daily driver on M1 and M2 Macs and admired for the team's impressive reverse-engineering progress.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 15, "neutral": 8, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 3, 4, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Daily driver", "Impressive effort"], "caveat": "Hardware gaps", "short_quote": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo", "icon": true, "domain": "asahilinux.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://asahilinux.org/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Asahi Linux"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved for running Linux as a daily driver on M1 and M2 Macs", "cites": [{"id": 797376800, "item_id": 49836050, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49836050", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo", "excerpt": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo if you're in the market.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon laptop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series"}, {"id": 791091520, "item_id": 49443220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49443220", "by": "regexorcist", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever.", "excerpt": "Yeah for a lot of us macOS really gets in the way of using the otherwise excellent hardware. My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever. It's a real shame that the newer M models can't run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}, {"id": 793524048, "item_id": 49595253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49595253", "by": "dylanger", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "99% of the time I'm booting into AsahiLinux", "excerpt": "I have an M2 Macbook Air that I love, it's the best machine to read news from and access other machines over SSH, I only use macOS to use rekordbox, 99% of the time I'm booting into AsahiLinux", "context": "M2 MacBook Air owner", "use_case": "Linux on M2 MacBook Air", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 799349585, "item_id": 49959349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959349", "by": "flkiwi", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that experience was also top notch", "excerpt": "I use both macOS and Linux (NixOS + gnome/niri) regularly. When everything is working properly--and, to be clear, I'm talking about the macOS side--I see almost no difference between the two operating systems. I'm on a ThinkPad on one side and an M2 Macbook Pro on the other. The only meaningful difference not attributable to something like different screen size is that Apple displays are damn good, and their speakers", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Air", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}]}, {"text": " and admired for the team's impressive reverse-engineering progress.", "cites": [{"id": 797985632, "item_id": 49874102, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874102", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Asahi Linux is a testament to a team attempting the impossible and making unbelievable progress", "excerpt": "I believe it is critical for regulators to force mega-corporations (and software vendors in general) to permit third party clients. I use services like YouTube every day, why can I get sued if I write my own YouTube client that's better than the one provided by Google? Why can I get sued if I create a chat client that aggregates the myriad of chat services I use? I'd argue that this even extends down the stack. Why i", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps (2025)"}, {"id": 766569440, "item_id": 47910590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910590", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort", "excerpt": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort, my setup requires an encrypted ZFS root file system, which is unreasonably hard to achieve with a Mac. The fact, that there has to be a macOS partition for maintenance ruling out ZFSBootMenu somehow is very unfortunate - but I've accepted it. Maybe the new Framework 13 Pro will be at least in the region of an alternative... :-/", "context": "needs encrypted ZFS root", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}, {"id": 790997264, "item_id": 49437329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437329", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress", "excerpt": "Happy with M4 Mini, although I recommend using a well ventilated M.2 enclosure instead of the integrated docks as I just had a 2TB Kingston die which I'm pretty sure was caused by \"zero thermal forks given (chopsticks only)\" UGreen hub design. Also can use as a laptop and replace screen/keyboard/whatever when failed/unsuitable. Higher resulting device longevity, especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress.", "context": "M4 Mini user", "use_case": "Linux on Mac mini", "switched_from": "", "story": "New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 804160880, "item_id": 50260055, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50260055", "by": "gosub100", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love and respect what Asahi has done", "excerpt": "I would buy apple hardware instantly if you could seamlessly install Linux on it just like a PC. Even if you had to \"burn a fuse\" to permanently detached it from Apples support and ecosystem. I love and respect what Asahi has done but I want apple to support a turn key, open drivers, everything works, system.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is incomplete hardware support, especially for external displays,", "cites": [{"id": 791056688, "item_id": 49441043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49441043", "by": "Jnr", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1.", "excerpt": "Because it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1. Now I have M4 for work and it doesn't support Asahi at all. I just use Linux PC as much as possible instead. And that 4$ M4 is just a fancy presentation computer I use when I travel. Personally I would spend thousands on an actually great Linux laptop, but there are still none around.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 796783088, "item_id": 49798943, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49798943", "by": "roodrax", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "its way better than having to use MacOS", "excerpt": "These are reasons enough. I switched to Asahi recently on my Macbook Pro M1 My fingerprint reader doesn't work, nor does my speaker. But hey, its way better than having to use MacOS. Atleast, linux lets me use my computer the way I want.", "context": "MacBook Pro M1 user", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Pro M1", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}, {"id": 792979664, "item_id": 49561229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49561229", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work", "excerpt": "Too new, but my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work (due to a lack of external display support and other issues).", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on M1 MacBook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' from ex-employee's MacBook in OpenAI suit"}, {"id": 791154978, "item_id": 49447186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49447186", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall.", "excerpt": "M1 Pro here 32GB 1TB good machine but slowing down so much that I really hate it. I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall. I'm running a Linux desktop well spec and am quite happy with it. But on the road and in the office I use the MBP. I'm thinking, now that I fully gotten used to and am in love with fedora Workstation and Gnome I should give it another try maybe", "context": "M1 Pro MacBook Pro owner and Linux desktop user", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}]}, {"text": " and newer M-series chips are not yet supported.", "cites": [{"id": 791056688, "item_id": 49441043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49441043", "by": "Jnr", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1.", "excerpt": "Because it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1. Now I have M4 for work and it doesn't support Asahi at all. I just use Linux PC as much as possible instead. And that 4$ M4 is just a fancy presentation computer I use when I travel. Personally I would spend thousands on an actually great Linux laptop, but there are still none around.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 791091520, "item_id": 49443220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49443220", "by": "regexorcist", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever.", "excerpt": "Yeah for a lot of us macOS really gets in the way of using the otherwise excellent hardware. My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever. It's a real shame that the newer M models can't run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 793400049, "item_id": 49587503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49587503", "by": "jjtheblunt", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the (awesome) Asahi efforts are challenged by reverse engineering of changes from M2 to M3", "excerpt": "I'd recommend reading up on it, and perhaps trying it, because it's very useful. For folks lamenting that the (awesome) Asahi efforts are challenged by reverse engineering of changes from M2 to M3, and so on, those changes vanish into the abstraction, but their benefits do not. That's why i switched from Asahi a couple years ago to UTM in apple silicon hypervisor mode. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hyperv", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Daily driver", "summary": "Several owners run it full-time on M1 and M2 machines and call it their favorite laptop setup.", "quotes": [{"id": 797376800, "item_id": 49836050, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49836050", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo", "excerpt": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo if you're in the market.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon laptop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series"}, {"id": 791091520, "item_id": 49443220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49443220", "by": "regexorcist", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever.", "excerpt": "Yeah for a lot of us macOS really gets in the way of using the otherwise excellent hardware. My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever. It's a real shame that the newer M models can't run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}]}, {"label": "Impressive effort", "summary": "Commenters praise the team for making remarkable progress on a very hard reverse-engineering problem.", "quotes": [{"id": 797985632, "item_id": 49874102, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874102", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Asahi Linux is a testament to a team attempting the impossible and making unbelievable progress", "excerpt": "I believe it is critical for regulators to force mega-corporations (and software vendors in general) to permit third party clients. I use services like YouTube every day, why can I get sued if I write my own YouTube client that's better than the one provided by Google? Why can I get sued if I create a chat client that aggregates the myriad of chat services I use? I'd argue that this even extends down the stack. Why i", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps (2025)"}, {"id": 766569440, "item_id": 47910590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910590", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort", "excerpt": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort, my setup requires an encrypted ZFS root file system, which is unreasonably hard to achieve with a Mac. The fact, that there has to be a macOS partition for maintenance ruling out ZFSBootMenu somehow is very unfortunate - but I've accepted it. Maybe the new Framework 13 Pro will be at least in the region of an alternative... :-/", "context": "needs encrypted ZFS root", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}, {"id": 790997264, "item_id": 49437329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437329", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress", "excerpt": "Happy with M4 Mini, although I recommend using a well ventilated M.2 enclosure instead of the integrated docks as I just had a 2TB Kingston die which I'm pretty sure was caused by \"zero thermal forks given (chopsticks only)\" UGreen hub design. Also can use as a laptop and replace screen/keyboard/whatever when failed/unsuitable. Higher resulting device longevity, especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress.", "context": "M4 Mini user", "use_case": "Linux on Mac mini", "switched_from": "", "story": "New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra"}]}, {"label": "macOS alternative", "summary": "Users like getting Apple hardware without having to use macOS.", "quotes": [{"id": 796783088, "item_id": 49798943, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49798943", "by": "roodrax", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "its way better than having to use MacOS", "excerpt": "These are reasons enough. I switched to Asahi recently on my Macbook Pro M1 My fingerprint reader doesn't work, nor does my speaker. But hey, its way better than having to use MacOS. Atleast, linux lets me use my computer the way I want.", "context": "MacBook Pro M1 user", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Pro M1", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 793523200, "item_id": 49595200, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49595200", "by": "dylanger", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just don't trust macOS enough to run the hw, AsahiLinux/Linux Kernel I do", "excerpt": "I just don't trust macOS enough to run the hw, AsahiLinux/Linux Kernel I do, I love Apple hardware but want to run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 780097376, "item_id": 48756086, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756086", "by": "cavoirom", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "this project brings open platform to my MacBook, I'm happy with that.", "excerpt": "I use MacBook anyway, this project brings open platform to my MacBook, I'm happy with that. I guess many people have the same situation like me. I don't use other laptop because their hardwares aren't comparable to MacBook.", "context": "MacBook user", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux 7.1 Progress Report"}]}, {"label": "Hardware longevity", "summary": "Some see it as a way to keep Apple Silicon machines useful after Apple drops support.", "quotes": [{"id": 793462208, "item_id": 49591388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49591388", "by": "cfstras", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2018s going to be a godsend for people with M1 macs", "excerpt": "It\u2018s going to be a godsend for people with M1 macs when Apple or App vendors decide to drop support for them. The hardware is super capable and will make a great fileserver, TV box or HomeAssistant instance once I\u2018m done using it as daily driver. Similarly, because of distros like Fedora and Ubuntu, I can keep using a 15y old Samsung notebook with a modern firefox, whereas Windows 8 already broke Samsung\u2018s display br", "context": "M1 Mac owner", "use_case": "repurposing old M1 Macs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 790997264, "item_id": 49437329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437329", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress", "excerpt": "Happy with M4 Mini, although I recommend using a well ventilated M.2 enclosure instead of the integrated docks as I just had a 2TB Kingston die which I'm pretty sure was caused by \"zero thermal forks given (chopsticks only)\" UGreen hub design. Also can use as a laptop and replace screen/keyboard/whatever when failed/unsuitable. Higher resulting device longevity, especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress.", "context": "M4 Mini user", "use_case": "Linux on Mac mini", "switched_from": "", "story": "New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 761079056, "item_id": 47567441, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567441", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-03-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Without Asahi Linux I would not buy a Mac in 2026.", "excerpt": "I strongly recommend not buying a Macbook and instead hacking a mini: https://github.com/vk2diy/hackbook-m4-mini ... cheaper and restores control of peripheral selection and replacement. That is to say \"such a system will last ~forever instead of ~3 years [when the first major component dies and replacement costs ~70% of a new Apple product]\". Particularly with Asahi Linux progressing so quickly. https://asahilinux.o", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "My MacBook Keyboard Is Broken and It's Insanely Expensive to Fix"}]}, {"label": "Performance", "summary": "One user says it outperforms Linux on a recent Intel laptop at almost everything.", "quotes": [{"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Hardware gaps", "summary": "Some hardware still doesn't work, such as the fingerprint reader and speakers.", "quotes": [{"id": 791056688, "item_id": 49441043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49441043", "by": "Jnr", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1.", "excerpt": "Because it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1. Now I have M4 for work and it doesn't support Asahi at all. I just use Linux PC as much as possible instead. And that 4$ M4 is just a fancy presentation computer I use when I travel. Personally I would spend thousands on an actually great Linux laptop, but there are still none around.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 796783088, "item_id": 49798943, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49798943", "by": "roodrax", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "its way better than having to use MacOS", "excerpt": "These are reasons enough. I switched to Asahi recently on my Macbook Pro M1 My fingerprint reader doesn't work, nor does my speaker. But hey, its way better than having to use MacOS. Atleast, linux lets me use my computer the way I want.", "context": "MacBook Pro M1 user", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Pro M1", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 792979664, "item_id": 49561229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49561229", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work", "excerpt": "Too new, but my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work (due to a lack of external display support and other issues).", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on M1 MacBook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' from ex-employee's MacBook in OpenAI suit"}]}, {"label": "External displays", "summary": "Missing USB/DP Alt external display support makes it hard to use for work for some people.", "quotes": [{"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}, {"id": 792979664, "item_id": 49561229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49561229", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work", "excerpt": "Too new, but my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work (due to a lack of external display support and other issues).", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on M1 MacBook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' from ex-employee's MacBook in OpenAI suit"}, {"id": 791154978, "item_id": 49447186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49447186", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall.", "excerpt": "M1 Pro here 32GB 1TB good machine but slowing down so much that I really hate it. I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall. I'm running a Linux desktop well spec and am quite happy with it. But on the road and in the office I use the MBP. I'm thinking, now that I fully gotten used to and am in love with fedora Workstation and Gnome I should give it another try maybe", "context": "M1 Pro MacBook Pro owner and Linux desktop user", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}]}, {"label": "Newer chips", "summary": "Newer M-series Macs such as the M4 are not supported, and reverse engineering each generation is slow.", "quotes": [{"id": 791056688, "item_id": 49441043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49441043", "by": "Jnr", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1.", "excerpt": "Because it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1. Now I have M4 for work and it doesn't support Asahi at all. I just use Linux PC as much as possible instead. And that 4$ M4 is just a fancy presentation computer I use when I travel. Personally I would spend thousands on an actually great Linux laptop, but there are still none around.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 791091520, "item_id": 49443220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49443220", "by": "regexorcist", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever.", "excerpt": "Yeah for a lot of us macOS really gets in the way of using the otherwise excellent hardware. My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever. It's a real shame that the newer M models can't run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 793400049, "item_id": 49587503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49587503", "by": "jjtheblunt", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the (awesome) Asahi efforts are challenged by reverse engineering of changes from M2 to M3", "excerpt": "I'd recommend reading up on it, and perhaps trying it, because it's very useful. For folks lamenting that the (awesome) Asahi efforts are challenged by reverse engineering of changes from M2 to M3, and so on, those changes vanish into the abstraction, but their benefits do not. That's why i switched from Asahi a couple years ago to UTM in apple silicon hypervisor mode. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hyperv", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}]}, {"label": "Battery and sleep", "summary": "Sleep drains about 1% of battery per hour, and battery life is slightly worse than on macOS.", "quotes": [{"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}, {"id": 799349585, "item_id": 49959349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959349", "by": "flkiwi", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that experience was also top notch", "excerpt": "I use both macOS and Linux (NixOS + gnome/niri) regularly. When everything is working properly--and, to be clear, I'm talking about the macOS side--I see almost no difference between the two operating systems. I'm on a ThinkPad on one side and an M2 Macbook Pro on the other. The only meaningful difference not attributable to something like different screen size is that Apple displays are damn good, and their speakers", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Air", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}]}, {"label": "Setup limits", "summary": "Reinstalls can go wrong, and the required macOS partition complicates setups like an encrypted ZFS root.", "quotes": [{"id": 791154978, "item_id": 49447186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49447186", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall.", "excerpt": "M1 Pro here 32GB 1TB good machine but slowing down so much that I really hate it. I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall. I'm running a Linux desktop well spec and am quite happy with it. But on the road and in the office I use the MBP. I'm thinking, now that I fully gotten used to and am in love with fedora Workstation and Gnome I should give it another try maybe", "context": "M1 Pro MacBook Pro owner and Linux desktop user", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 766569440, "item_id": 47910590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910590", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort", "excerpt": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort, my setup requires an encrypted ZFS root file system, which is unreasonably hard to achieve with a Mac. The fact, that there has to be a macOS partition for maintenance ruling out ZFSBootMenu somehow is very unfortunate - but I've accepted it. Maybe the new Framework 13 Pro will be at least in the region of an alternative... :-/", "context": "needs encrypted ZFS root", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}]}], "who": [{"by": "roodrax", "context": "MacBook Pro M1 user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49798943", "date": "2026-09-22"}, {"by": "dylanger", "context": "M2 MacBook Air owner", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49595253", "date": "2026-09-07"}, {"by": "cfstras", "context": "M1 Mac owner", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49591388", "date": "2026-09-06"}, {"by": "jjtheblunt", "context": "engineer at Apple", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49589321", "date": "2026-09-06"}, {"by": "yesnomaybe", "context": "M1 Pro MacBook Pro owner and Linux desktop user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49447186", "date": "2026-08-26"}, {"by": "contingencies", "context": "M4 Mini user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437329", "date": "2026-08-25"}, {"by": "KetoManx64", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "date": "2026-08-19"}, {"by": "cavoirom", "context": "MacBook user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756086", "date": "2026-07-01"}, {"by": "gigatexal", "context": "full-time macOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47911546", "date": "2026-04-26"}, {"by": "sandreas", "context": "needs encrypted ZFS root", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910590", "date": "2026-04-26"}], "tags": ["for Apple Silicon Mac owners", "for macOS switchers", "for repurposing old Macs"], "use_cases": ["linux on apple silicon", "linux on apple hardware", "linux on m1 macbook", "daily driver os", "linux on m2 mac", "linux on macbook air"], "compared": [{"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 9, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "utm", "name": "UTM", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49586698", "title": "Asahi Linux on M3", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49433292", "title": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909226", "title": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50258521", "title": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118320", "title": "Apple ML Research: Muse Spark Open with MLX on Mac Studio", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49957116", "title": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 4}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2, "compare": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804160880, "item_id": 50260055, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50260055", "by": "gosub100", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love and respect what Asahi has done", "excerpt": "I would buy apple hardware instantly if you could seamlessly install Linux on it just like a PC. Even if you had to \"burn a fuse\" to permanently detached it from Apples support and ecosystem. I love and respect what Asahi has done but I want apple to support a turn key, open drivers, everything works, system.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "New 14\u2011inch MacBook Pro with M6"}, {"id": 802201649, "item_id": 50137603, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137603", "by": "soulofmischief", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "compare", "quote": "I plan to transition it to Asahi or Gravity soon", "excerpt": "We will see, Ternus was previously senior VP of hardware engineering so my money has been on it getting worse. I'm excited for Gravity Linux though. I appreciate your suggestion. I'm curious if the machines you repaired then had aluminum unibodies? My understanding is that if my chassis heats up quickly, then the thermal coupling is good, since the unibodies act as a heat sink. Certainly, blasting the fans at 100% ty", "context": "M2 and M5 Mac owner with thermal issues on macOS 26", "use_case": "Linux on M2 Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple ML Research: Muse Spark Open with MLX on Mac Studio"}, {"id": 799349585, "item_id": 49959349, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49959349", "by": "flkiwi", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that experience was also top notch", "excerpt": "I use both macOS and Linux (NixOS + gnome/niri) regularly. When everything is working properly--and, to be clear, I'm talking about the macOS side--I see almost no difference between the two operating systems. I'm on a ThinkPad on one side and an M2 Macbook Pro on the other. The only meaningful difference not attributable to something like different screen size is that Apple displays are damn good, and their speakers", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Air", "switched_from": "", "story": "Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back"}, {"id": 797985632, "item_id": 49874102, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874102", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Asahi Linux is a testament to a team attempting the impossible and making unbelievable progress", "excerpt": "I believe it is critical for regulators to force mega-corporations (and software vendors in general) to permit third party clients. I use services like YouTube every day, why can I get sued if I write my own YouTube client that's better than the one provided by Google? Why can I get sued if I create a chat client that aggregates the myriad of chat services I use? I'd argue that this even extends down the stack. Why i", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps (2025)"}, {"id": 797376800, "item_id": 49836050, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49836050", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-09-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo", "excerpt": "Asahi + M2 Macbook air is the best laptop I have ever owner. I would highly recommend the combo if you're in the market.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon laptop", "switched_from": "", "story": "Linux support is coming to Snapdragon X2 series"}, {"id": 796783088, "item_id": 49798943, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49798943", "by": "roodrax", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "its way better than having to use MacOS", "excerpt": "These are reasons enough. I switched to Asahi recently on my Macbook Pro M1 My fingerprint reader doesn't work, nor does my speaker. But hey, its way better than having to use MacOS. Atleast, linux lets me use my computer the way I want.", "context": "MacBook Pro M1 user", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook Pro M1", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 793524048, "item_id": 49595253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49595253", "by": "dylanger", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "99% of the time I'm booting into AsahiLinux", "excerpt": "I have an M2 Macbook Air that I love, it's the best machine to read news from and access other machines over SSH, I only use macOS to use rekordbox, 99% of the time I'm booting into AsahiLinux", "context": "M2 MacBook Air owner", "use_case": "Linux on M2 MacBook Air", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 793523200, "item_id": 49595200, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49595200", "by": "dylanger", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I just don't trust macOS enough to run the hw, AsahiLinux/Linux Kernel I do", "excerpt": "I just don't trust macOS enough to run the hw, AsahiLinux/Linux Kernel I do, I love Apple hardware but want to run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 793462208, "item_id": 49591388, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49591388", "by": "cfstras", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2018s going to be a godsend for people with M1 macs", "excerpt": "It\u2018s going to be a godsend for people with M1 macs when Apple or App vendors decide to drop support for them. The hardware is super capable and will make a great fileserver, TV box or HomeAssistant instance once I\u2018m done using it as daily driver. Similarly, because of distros like Fedora and Ubuntu, I can keep using a 15y old Samsung notebook with a modern firefox, whereas Windows 8 already broke Samsung\u2018s display br", "context": "M1 Mac owner", "use_case": "repurposing old M1 Macs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 793429136, "item_id": 49589321, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49589321", "by": "jjtheblunt", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Asahi linux on M1 for a couple years, and dual booted", "excerpt": "I used Asahi linux on M1 for a couple years, and dual booted, and worked as an engineer in an inner part of Apple. I definitely know what Asahi is.", "context": "engineer at Apple", "use_case": "Linux on M1 Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 793400049, "item_id": 49587503, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49587503", "by": "jjtheblunt", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the (awesome) Asahi efforts are challenged by reverse engineering of changes from M2 to M3", "excerpt": "I'd recommend reading up on it, and perhaps trying it, because it's very useful. For folks lamenting that the (awesome) Asahi efforts are challenged by reverse engineering of changes from M2 to M3, and so on, those changes vanish into the abstraction, but their benefits do not. That's why i switched from Asahi a couple years ago to UTM in apple silicon hypervisor mode. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/hyperv", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux on M3"}, {"id": 792979664, "item_id": 49561229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49561229", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work", "excerpt": "Too new, but my old M1 MacBook Pro runs Asahi and, while I love it and everything the team has done, it's not really daily drivable for work (due to a lack of external display support and other issues).", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on M1 MacBook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' from ex-employee's MacBook in OpenAI suit"}, {"id": 791154978, "item_id": 49447186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49447186", "by": "yesnomaybe", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall.", "excerpt": "M1 Pro here 32GB 1TB good machine but slowing down so much that I really hate it. I had Asahi on it 2 years ago but in the end had almost bricked it when I tried to reinstall. I'm running a Linux desktop well spec and am quite happy with it. But on the road and in the office I use the MBP. I'm thinking, now that I fully gotten used to and am in love with fedora Workstation and Gnome I should give it another try maybe", "context": "M1 Pro MacBook Pro owner and Linux desktop user", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 791091520, "item_id": 49443220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49443220", "by": "regexorcist", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever.", "excerpt": "Yeah for a lot of us macOS really gets in the way of using the otherwise excellent hardware. My daily driver is an M1 Pro with Asahi and it's easily my favorite computer ever. It's a real shame that the newer M models can't run Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 791056688, "item_id": 49441043, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49441043", "by": "Jnr", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1.", "excerpt": "Because it still doesn't fully support all of the hardware on M1. I know it because I used Asahi while I had M1. Now I have M4 for work and it doesn't support Asahi at all. I just use Linux PC as much as possible instead. And that 4$ M4 is just a fancy presentation computer I use when I travel. Personally I would spend thousands on an actually great Linux laptop, but there are still none around.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 790997264, "item_id": 49437329, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49437329", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-08-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress", "excerpt": "Happy with M4 Mini, although I recommend using a well ventilated M.2 enclosure instead of the integrated docks as I just had a 2TB Kingston die which I'm pretty sure was caused by \"zero thermal forks given (chopsticks only)\" UGreen hub design. Also can use as a laptop and replace screen/keyboard/whatever when failed/unsuitable. Higher resulting device longevity, especially with Asahi Linux making such great progress.", "context": "M4 Mini user", "use_case": "Linux on Mac mini", "switched_from": "", "story": "New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 790031696, "item_id": 49376981, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376981", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work", "excerpt": "I have an Asahi Linux M2 macbook that I use for work, tried MacOS for a day and just couldn't stand it compared to the flexibility of Arch + KDE plasma.", "context": "", "use_case": "work laptop OS", "switched_from": "macOS", "story": "Browser De-Slop"}, {"id": 789917424, "item_id": 49369839, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49369839", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use Asahi Linux as my M2 work laptop on a daily basis. Other than the lack of USB external display support, which I don't use, and sleep eating up about 1% of battery per hour it works incredibly well. I have an 13th gen Intel laptop that I got last year and Asahi just runs circles around it on Linux with just about everything.", "context": "uses it on an M2 work laptop", "use_case": "daily work laptop OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union"}, {"id": 783708640, "item_id": 48981790, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48981790", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "switch my Asahi ALARM M1 Macbook to official repos", "excerpt": "Very interesting! I'm going to have to test if I can switch my Asahi ALARM M1 Macbook to official repos. I know when I use the AUR for packages, they typically have both x86 and aarch64 paclage instructions, maybe 10% or so don't and then I just clone the file and add it in manually.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on M1 Macbook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building an Arch Linux Aarch64 Port for Holo Core"}, {"id": 780172384, "item_id": 48760774, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48760774", "by": "anonSrEng202309", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "explore Asahi Linux and maybe start contributing in a few months", "excerpt": "Still can't get work. I've pretty much given up working for anyone else building software. Had an offer on the table for good pay, rescinded after a credit check (gov't subcontractor, \"potential insider threat\" excuse; fishy happenings with primary contractor lead me to believe they had their own guy they wanted to install...) I found a little job in education (no tech at all) that pays $22k/yr. That'll float the bil", "context": "", "use_case": "exploring on older M1/M2 Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)"}, {"id": 780097376, "item_id": 48756086, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756086", "by": "cavoirom", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "this project brings open platform to my MacBook, I'm happy with that.", "excerpt": "I use MacBook anyway, this project brings open platform to my MacBook, I'm happy with that. I guess many people have the same situation like me. I don't use other laptop because their hardwares aren't comparable to MacBook.", "context": "MacBook user", "use_case": "Linux on MacBook", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux 7.1 Progress Report"}, {"id": 774462080, "item_id": 48403880, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48403880", "by": "dllu", "date": "2026-06-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I also have a Macbook Air M2 running Asahi Linux.", "excerpt": "The NVIDIA DGX Spark that I use has a fairly decent ARM CPU that's roughly on par with the M3 Pro and AMD AI Max 395+ according to Geekbench, plus a GPU that's very powerful (RTX 5070 level). I'm sure it will be more than powerful enough for me to get a decent experience. I also have a Macbook Air M2 running Asahi Linux.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "DaVinci Resolve 21"}, {"id": 766584736, "item_id": 47911546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47911546", "by": "gigatexal", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am both a monthly supporter of the Asahi project", "excerpt": "I am both a monthly supporter of the Asahi project and a full-time macOS user. Why? I love to support hackers. But I am also a realist and have given up on the idea of a linux laptop that \"just works\" and have embraced teh first party experience of the wholly integrated software and hardware experience of the apple ecosystem. am I just a smooth brained dumb dumb that has drunk the koolaid? perhaps. but I don't lose s", "context": "full-time macOS user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}, {"id": 766569440, "item_id": 47910590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47910590", "by": "sandreas", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort", "excerpt": "While I love Asahi as such and am really blown away by the effort, my setup requires an encrypted ZFS root file system, which is unreasonably hard to achieve with a Mac. The fact, that there has to be a macOS partition for maintenance ruling out ZFSBootMenu somehow is very unfortunate - but I've accepted it. Maybe the new Framework 13 Pro will be at least in the region of an alternative... :-/", "context": "needs encrypted ZFS root", "use_case": "Linux on Apple hardware", "switched_from": "", "story": "Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0"}, {"id": 765663104, "item_id": 47853944, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47853944", "by": "blt", "date": "2026-04-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I will attempt to use Asahi as my daily driver once this is officially released.", "excerpt": "In the dev branch now! https://asahilinux.org/2026/02/progress-report-6-19/ I will attempt to use Asahi as my daily driver once this is officially released.", "context": "", "use_case": "daily driver OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Framework Laptop 13 Pro"}, {"id": 761079056, "item_id": 47567441, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567441", "by": "contingencies", "date": "2026-03-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Without Asahi Linux I would not buy a Mac in 2026.", "excerpt": "I strongly recommend not buying a Macbook and instead hacking a mini: https://github.com/vk2diy/hackbook-m4-mini ... cheaper and restores control of peripheral selection and replacement. That is to say \"such a system will last ~forever instead of ~3 years [when the first major component dies and replacement costs ~70% of a new Apple product]\". Particularly with Asahi Linux progressing so quickly. https://asahilinux.o", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "My MacBook Keyboard Is Broken and It's Insanely Expensive to Fix"}, {"id": 745200272, "item_id": 46575017, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575017", "by": "primer42", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Modern MacBooks DO run Linux", "excerpt": "Modern MacBooks DO run Linux Check out https://asahilinux.org/", "context": "", "use_case": "running Linux on Apple Silicon MacBooks", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}, {"id": 742997490, "item_id": 46437343, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46437343", "by": "soulofmischief", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I might soon put Asahi on this machine and go back to a fully virtualized system.", "excerpt": "I've been running either Qubes OS or KVM/QEMU based VMs as my desktop daily driver for 10 years. Nothing runs on bare metal except for the host kernel/hypervisor and virt stack. I've achieved near-native performance for intensive activities like gaming, music and visual production. Hardware acceleration is kind of a mess but using tricks like GPU passthrough for multiple cards, dedicated audio cards and and block dev", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux on Apple Silicon", "switched_from": "", "story": "Toro: Deploy Applications as Unikernels"}, {"id": 742942513, "item_id": 46433907, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46433907", "by": "bobajeff", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This reminds me of projects like asahi and cosmopolitan c.", "excerpt": "I like this idea and know at least a few who would love to use this if you can solve for the: 'unfortunate rough edges that people only tolerate because they use WINE as a last resort' Whether those rough edges will ever be ironed out is a matter I'll leave to other people. But I love that someone is attempting this just because of the tenacity it shows. This reminds me of projects like asahi and cosmopolitan c. Now ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Win32 is the stable Linux ABI"}]}