Lilbits: Linux on Apple Silicon (updated)

Linux 6.2 was released last week and, among other things, it includes some initial support for Apple’s M1 series processors. That’s an important step toward allowing a wide range of GNU/Linux distributions to run on Macs released in the past few years.

But it’s still just a baby step. While there had been a widely-cited report suggesting mainstream Linux support was here, the developers at Asahi Linux who are responsible for upstreaming support for M1 chips note that “you will not be able to run Ubuntu nor any other standard distro with 6.2 on any M1 Mac. Please don’t get your hopes up.”

For example, there’s no trackpad or keyboard support for MacBooks with Apple Silicon yet. So if you want to run Linux on a computer with an Apple processor today, you’re going to have to use Asahi Linux. That won’t be true forever.

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

A clarification about Linux 6.2 and Apple Silicon [Asahi Linux]

Liliputing was one of many websites that cited the inaccurate report. The good news is that the developers at the Asahi project say they’re already working with some of the folks from other GNU/Linux distributions, and “expect to announce official Apple Silicon support for a mainstream distro in the near future. Just not quite yet!”

Honor unveils the first silicon-carbon battery with higher energy density than lithium-ion [GSM Arena]

Honor says silicon-carbon batteries could bring 12.8% higher energy densitiy to smartphone batteries. But there’s no word on when you’ll be able to buy a phone with one.

Honor Magic Vs might be the Galaxy Z Fold 4 killer in Europe [Phone Arena]

The Honor Magic Vs is a foldable smartphone with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip that launched in China last year. Now a 12GB/512GB model is coming to Europe and other markets for €1,599.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro with Leica cameras is coming to Europe

The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro is the first of the company’s phones with Leica-branded cameras to launch outside of China. They’ll be available in Europe soon for 999 Euros and up (or 1299 Euros for the Pro if you want a 1-inch image sensor).

9 new features for Android and Wear OS [Google]

Google is bringing Fast Pair to Chromebooks for quicker connections to Bluetooth headphones (and headphones set up to work with your Android phone will automatically work with Chromebooks. That’s just one of several updates coming to Android and ChromeOS.

RIP to the OG as Sony Prepares the Final Nail in the Coffin of its E-Reader Business [Gizmodo]

The Sony Reader app for PC and Mac will no longer be available for download after March 31, 2023. This is the app that lets folks with a Sony eBook Reader transfer content to and from their devices. If you download before then it’ll continue to work, but this is another nail in the coffin of Sony’s eReader business.

postmarketOS v22.12 SP1 [postmarketOS]

The latest stable build of this mobile Linux distribution brings user interface updates, support for one additional phone, and device-specific improvements including camera improvements for the Librem 5 and CPU usage fixes for the PinePhone and PineTab.

Keep up on the latest headlines by following @[email protected] on Mastodon. You can also follow Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook, and keep up with the latest open source mobile news by following LinuxSmartphones on Twitter and Facebook.