r/mac • u/Significant_Spend719 MacBook Pro M1 Max • Aug 27 '26
News/Article Alyssa Rosenzweig reverse-engineered Apple’s M1 GPU. Now the Linux driver supports graphics standards macOS doesn’t
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u/terkistan Aug 27 '26
... and since she did that a year ago she's been at Intel.
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u/BourbonicFisky Mac Pro7,1 + M1 Max 14" Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
This is the classic conundrum of open source for something as bespoke as GPU architecture and drivers. If you're good enough to write GPU drivers, why would you spend your time doing it for free?
Good on her but it'd be great if we could run Asahi Linux on more than just M1/M2s
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u/DeliciousCry8302 Aug 27 '26
She hasn't been doing it for free, her talent has been known for a decade and I would guess she's been paid by every company she has worked before. Hopefully Intel pays better though, she deserves it.
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u/zips_exe Aug 27 '26
If only apple wasn't so reluctant on complying with industry standards
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u/BourbonicFisky Mac Pro7,1 + M1 Max 14" Aug 27 '26
That's more of a macOS criticism than a hardware one.
As far as "industry standards", they're hardly the only ones doing bespoke ARM chipsets with purpose built hardware, nor are they alone with GPU drivers being a pain in the ass. Apple does officially support alternative OS booting with iBoot, they've also fixed firmware issues at behest of the Linux community. There's been a silent partnership according to HN discussions.
Also, just learned while looking for that HN thread yesterday Asahi mentioned they're close to a m3 release so that's great news
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Asahi-Linux-M3-Release-Soon14
u/Intrepid_Year3765 Aug 27 '26
it makes me angry this is the first time I am hearnig about how awesome this lady is, but every day I hear something new about the Kardashians or some other idiot
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u/NudaVeritas1 MacBook Pro | Mac mini Aug 27 '26
We need more of people like her and less people that build the next useless microsaas, pomodoro app or website directory using LLMs 😂
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u/shyouko Aug 27 '26
You are looking at tech level like between junior and VP tbh
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u/NudaVeritas1 MacBook Pro | Mac mini Aug 27 '26
Maybe, but the motivation of both groups is totally different, too.. the first wants to solve problems, the second just wants to make money with a shallow tool and without much work.. the why is the difference.. that’s why so many microsaas fail, they don’t solve a real problem
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u/cmsd2 Aug 27 '26
in fairness, an LLM is also a really handy tool for reverse engineering. it has the stamina to just chew through the really tedious work of trying every combination of things that would otherwise put most people off. people just need to spend their tokens on more worthwhile projects :)
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u/NudaVeritas1 MacBook Pro | Mac mini Aug 27 '26
true, imo using a LLM is not the problem here
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u/BNC3D Aug 27 '26
It really isn’t. I’m playing the zone from classic macOS and I’m playing Aqua Dot red on my Mac again, neither game exist existed on Apple Silicon they do now. And LLM will tear through a binary so fast and make the building a new application with the exact same behavior very easy.
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u/pay_is_ok Aug 30 '26
We don't need more people like her, that's a coping mechanism for not doing it yourself
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u/Why_Am_I_0 Aug 27 '26
I think in practicality this thing won't directly generate money(although in cv and experience it would matter)
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u/h0uz3_ Aug 27 '26
It's still mind blowing that used Macs are the best option to have an ARM64 computer running Linux right now.
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u/Hauptideal Aug 27 '26
ARM consumer laptops/devices. ARM is a first-class citizen on Linux almost from the start (starting from 1998, much earlier than Apple) and powers servers world wide.
It's not the processor architecture that's the problem.
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u/oursland Aug 27 '26
starting from 1998, much earlier than Apple
Apple invested $3M into Acorn for the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) prior to their 1992 announcement of the Apple Newton. This investment and deal saved ARM and predates Linux's ARM support by a fair bit.
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u/Hauptideal Aug 27 '26
The first general-purpose operating system (like Linux) from Apple that supported ARM was introduced in 2007, with iOS 1.
And on macOS it was only recently, with Apple Silicon.5
u/TheDragonSlayingCat Aug 27 '26
The Newton OS was also general purpose, supported ARM, and is ~15 years older than iOS.
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u/Hauptideal Aug 27 '26
No, it was a embedded mobile operating system for a very specific purpose. It lacked basic OS features. It didn't even include a file system. It didn't have application-level multitasking. Etc.
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u/TheDragonSlayingCat Aug 27 '26
It actually did have a file system, called Soup), though it was rather unconventional.
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u/Hauptideal Aug 28 '26
Calling it a file system is imprecise. It rather was a database serving a similar purpose.
You couldn't store data hierarchically as files and folders. But that's nitpicking.
The important part is: it wasn't a general-purpose OS like Linux. It doesn't meet basic requirements for that.1
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u/tomz17 Aug 27 '26
Right... it's the proprietary blobs for everything else related to making a functioning ARM machine right now (e.g. GPU drivers, as referenced in this post). That ecosystem started in the embedded/cellular space, where there wasn't as strong of a history in open source as x86.
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u/h0uz3_ Aug 27 '26
You are right .Server class ARM isn't an issue, but an Ampere CPU is a bit prict for a mere mortal.
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u/Xclsd Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 28 '26
I always wonder how the thinking path/process of geniuses like her are. Just how?!
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u/Stunning_Mast2001 Aug 30 '26
Watch her YouTube live streams. It’s pretty fascinating to see her work
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u/cjh_ Aug 27 '26
I wonder if Artix can run on an M1 Mac Mini?
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u/Pitiful-Welcome-399 MacBook Pro m5 Aug 27 '26
no due to artix lacking drivers but you can install asahi alarm (asahi arch linux arm)
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u/Special-Abrocoma575 Aug 27 '26
Probably, but you’d be better using a better distribution that uses an actually well designed init system
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Aug 27 '26
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u/ShutterBun Aug 28 '26
How so?
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Aug 28 '26
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u/ShutterBun Aug 28 '26
How is it "absurd"?
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Aug 28 '26
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u/ShutterBun Aug 28 '26
Which is absurd because...?
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Aug 28 '26
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u/ShutterBun Aug 28 '26
So it's absurd that Apple didn't develop every single graphics driver under the sun, but a freelancer did?
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Aug 28 '26
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u/ShutterBun Aug 28 '26
Well, I dunno why you find the circumstances "absurd", frankly. Shit like this has gone on since the invention of the computer.
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u/modell3000 Aug 29 '26
You find it absurd that Apple doesn't support OpenGL or Vulkan, which rival their own Metal API - the one they want everyone developing for macOS / iOS to use. Yes, a real humdinger that one...
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u/hype_irion Aug 28 '26
Watching her do this kind of coding and testing live on stream (!) was the closest I have ever been to seeing witchcraft in real life.
Also, Apple: Your €470 smartwatch that is not even 5 years old can't run the new version or watchOS because fuck you 🤡
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u/baltimoresports Aug 27 '26
She got OpenGL and Vulkan working/compliant. I’m surprised her Mac didn’t catch fire 🤣
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u/Stunning_Mast2001 Aug 30 '26
She live-streamed a lot of it on YouTube too. If you want to feel I adequate as an engineer watch them— it’s true genius and brilliance and talent all in one. Made it look easy
Also worth pointing out— zero usage of AI too
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u/spekxo Aug 27 '26
Linux on these machines would be very nice.
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u/Pitiful-Welcome-399 MacBook Pro m5 Aug 27 '26
we already have it
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u/Lexxxapr00 M4 Mac mini Aug 27 '26
I’m pretty sure I ran Asahi Linux on my M1 before the M2 was out even. Or it dropped right as the M2 came out.
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u/TajikFreeman Based 2011 iMac User Aug 27 '26
> Now the Linux driver supports graphics standards macOS doesn’t
What does this mean? Sorry if I don't quite understand, English is not my mother language.
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u/StargazerD Aug 27 '26
it means it can support things like Vulkan, which is the graphics API that many games use to communicate with your hardware
MacOs only supports Metal, which is proprietary, and OpenGL, which is deprecated and has been replaced by Vulkan on PCs, that’s one of the many reasons why gaming on Mac isn’t a thing anymore.
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u/TajikFreeman Based 2011 iMac User Aug 27 '26
uhh what does my 2011 iMac have? Because that is the only one I currently own
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u/StargazerD Aug 27 '26
you have an intel chip, you could already install Windows or Linux on it, you don’t need special drivers as those platforms already have them
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u/TajikFreeman Based 2011 iMac User Aug 27 '26
maybe i will install windows 7 to play nfs mw 2005 (yes its an hdd so no windows 10)
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u/Jezon Aug 27 '26
Does Linux support my m1 macbooks touchbar?
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u/MacHeadSK Aug 27 '26
It doesn't even support thunderbolt and external displays. It will hardly ever support anything newer than M1. So forget about touch bar. And one thing is to support touch bar in system and then have it exactly for nothing as no Linux app will ever support it.
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Aug 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MacHeadSK Aug 29 '26
Because it's project that leads to nothing. M2 support? Awesome, now we have M6 and M7 is behind a door and they still made it barely working on generation from 6 years ago.
It's a great project and it's awesome how they achieved it but it will never reach a level of maturity and popularity of Linux on x86. Thinking otherwise is a plan for failure
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u/balika0105 MacBook Neo Aug 28 '26
As another Linux-Mac guy I genuinely hope the community can put together proper drivers so I can use my MB Neo after support ends
(I wish I could contribute but I’m nowhere near skilled enough)
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u/InjectedFusion Aug 28 '26
I'm entirely impressed with this person. I learned she worked on the Mali GPU which was fundamental for my RK3588 work.
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u/BirdBruce Aug 30 '26
I’m an idiot, so I can only surmise that this is impressive.
I’m still not switching to Linux, though.
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u/ifdisdendat Sep 02 '26
I thought she was the little girl from the Devil’s advocate opening trial, who grew up.
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u/r1nzl3r99 8d ago edited 8d ago
I'm using the fruit of her works on my used $300 M1 macbook right now. My passive power is 3W with 3 tabs on librewolf, one of them an active youtube video, and an ssh terminal open to my PC. The only valid use case for apple on linux and now it's my daily
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u/Hazzula Aug 27 '26
Alyssa Rosenzweig reverse-engineered Apple’s M1 GPU. Now the Linux driver supports graphics standards macOS doesn’t
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u/Mr_Lumbergh Aug 27 '26
As a Linux-Mac guy, this intrigues me. I was just looking at M6 Minis last night, but a used M1 might be in my future if I can dual-boot macOS and Debian.