The new Macs with the M1 chip undoubtedly shine in all their reviews for their incredible power and the versatility they present. But not everything is perfect in these teams since having a processor with ARM architecture leads to making important changes to maintain the experience that was had with Intel. With this we refer to the installation of other operating systems in partitions, something that at the moment cannot be done.
Linux prepares to arrive on Mac ARM
On a Mac with Intel processors it was relatively common to dedicate a partition on the storage drive to Windows or Linux. The problem is that these two systems are not adapted to work with an ARM processor natively, but through virtualization. But this is about to change as the developer Héctor Martín has announced the Linux port to Mac with M1 chip. This is something that it has already done with many other technological devices such as the PS4.
Obviously, this port has a price and the developer himself has opened a financing channel through his Patreon. In this way, anyone who is interested in this port can support it directly. Obviously the sooner the financing is, the sooner you can enjoy Linux on a Mac with an M1 chip. Specifically, the financing goal reaches up to 4,000 dollars.
The developer himself has detailed that running Linux on an ARM architecture is not too difficult. What is really complicated is that all Apple‘s proprietary drivers work so that you can use the keyboard, mouse or WiFi connection without problems. At first you will want to focus on making Linux boot on a Mac mini with an M1 chip, but in the future obviously the chip will evolve to the rest of Macs.
And what about Windows?
The most widely used operating system is undoubtedly Windows. In many users it is vital to have a partition with Windows in its latest version to install programs that are not adapted to macOS, especially in the scientific field. That is why it is vital that the installation can be done on a Mac with ARM, something that cannot be done at the moment. Officially Microsoft does not allow the installation to be carried out on any Windows 10 ARM device. This is something that is only licensed to OEMs, as reported from Microsoft, it is not among their plans to extend it now.
In order for this installation to finally take place, Apple and Windows will have to carry out a negotiation that may take time to start. In the end it will depend on what users want, whether or not they are interested in having this software on their computer. For now, we will have to settle for virtualization programs that obviously offer worse performance but will allow the use of the software that is required.