I'm not sure I understand the target user for Asahi.

Is this someone that only wants to run Linux and wants to use their GPU on Linux? Seems like this is not the case, yet.

Or, is this for someone that wants to dual boot and use Linux sometimes, and then reboot into MacOS when they want to use the GPU?

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brundolf 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Asahi on previous M-series chips supports the GPU, they just don't support it on M3 yet (they have to reverse-engineer the GPU to write the driver)

More info: https://alyssarosenzweig.ca/blog/asahi-gpu-part-n.html

	▲	xrd 34 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Oh, so an M2 will support GPU usage? Can you run CoreML and unsloth models in the same way you would use them on regular MacOS? Are there benefits to using Linux/Asahi for running models on Apple hardware?

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bjackman an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't think it makes much sense to expect such a cohesive/specific philosophy from an open source project like this.

The goal is "Linux on Mac". In a commercial product, specific details of what gets built usually stem from a more detailed vision that can be articulated as one. In open source projects those details are determined by what individual contributors are motivated to work on.

That doesn't means a cohesive vision can't emerge, there might be one for Asahi actually. But I think the default position is that it's kinda just a mob of people doing what they each feel like doing.

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herrkanin 37 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have an M2 Macbook Air that i sometimes boot into Asahi to play Steam games that doesn't work natively on mac. It works unreasonably well given that there is something like five different translation layers to make it work!

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xrd 30 minutes ago | parent [-]

Steam is incredible on Linux. I'm amazed my kids can play so many games using proton on Ubuntu.

So, if there are five translation layers, why not run a Linux VM using UTM and play there? Is there a technical reason that does not work?

	▲	teaearlgraycold 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It’s cooler to run Linux on bare metal

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tiffanyh 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why does it have to be for anyone other than the people involved in it?

(Though I’m sure people outside the project get value from it as well, like OpenBSD using Asahi bootloader)

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fwn 8 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I bought a Mac mini M4 simply because it was very cheap and the M4 chip offers great performance. It is currently mounted on the back of my TV and serves as a media station.

It runs macOS, but I have no particular interest in the operating system, nor do I own any other Apple hardware. The preinstalled software does not even properly update without an Apple account. As soon as I can switch over to Linux, I will. ... I would just wait for all the ports to work.

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raverbashing 6 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Honestly I wouldn't waste any of my time trying to run a worse OS than MacOS in a hardware that wasn't completely supported by the sw

As much as I like Linux this kind of tinkering is only for people with more time and less expectations about the experience

If I need Linux I can always go for UTM or something similar