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2fd33e32fa5bd358146b50bb7dc6af1423fc0375

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cmc <hello@cleberg.net> · 2025-05-04 16:23 UTC

update asahi-linux post

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content/blog/2025-05-02-asahi-linux.org +98 −3

	@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
1	#+date: <2025-05-02 Fri 21:10:00>	1	#+date: <2025-05-02 Fri 21:10:00>
2	#+title: Trying Out Asahi Linux on the M2 Macbook Pro 16"	2	#+title: Trying Out Asahi Linux on the M2 Macbook Pro 16"
3	#+description: Read about my experience with Asahi Linux on an M2 Macbook Pro 16".	3	#+description: Read about my experience with Asahi Linux on an M2 MacBook Pro 16".
4	#+filetags: :mac:apple:linux:	4	#+filetags: :mac:apple:linux:
5	#+slug: asahi-linux	5	#+slug: asahi-linux
6		6
7	* Trying out Asahi Linux	7	* Trying out Asahi Linux
8		8
9	While debating if I should find a replacement laptop and get rid of my Macbook	9	While debating if I should find a replacement laptop and get rid of my MacBook
10	Pro, I decided to try [[https://asahilinux.org/][Asahi Linux]].	10	Pro, I decided to try [[https://asahilinux.org/][Asahi Linux]].
11		11
12	To put the bottom line up front, I love the experience and support for popular	12	To put the bottom line up front, I love the experience and support for popular
	@@ -48,15 +48,77 @@ KDE on Asahi works wonderfully and supports all of the generic features I'd
48	expect from a vanilla installation:	48	expect from a vanilla installation:
49		49
50	- Snap to tile	50	- Snap to tile
51	- Theming	51	- Shell and window themes
52	- Graphical updates	52	- Graphical updates
53	- Sensible default applications (Dolphin, Firefox, KMail, Konsole, KWrite)	53	- Sensible default applications (Dolphin, Firefox, KMail, Konsole, KWrite)
54	- Support for battery percentages, keyboard backlight control, and miscellaneous	54	- Support for battery percentages, keyboard backlight control, and miscellaneous
55	sensor controls	55	sensor controls
		56	- Fast and reliable bluetooth adoption
		57	- Native game pad support
		58
		59	Here's a quick look at the default desktop. In subsequent screenshots, you'll
		60	see I started using the WhiteSur theme as it provides a more comfortable layout
		61	for macOS users.
56		62
57	#+caption: KDE	63	#+caption: KDE
58	[[https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20250502-asahi-linux/kde.png]]	64	[[https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20250502-asahi-linux/kde.png]]
59		65
		66	When diving into the system information panel, we can see that this machine is
		67	running Fedora Linux Asahi Remix 42 on an Apple M2 Pro laptop with 16GB of RAM.
		68
		69	#+caption: System Information
		70	[[https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20250502-asahi-linux/sysinfo.png]]
		71
		72	As I noted above, the first thing I did after installing Asahi and taking a few
		73	screenshots was to install and change themes.
		74
		75	I prefer the WhiteSur theme, as I used this theme previously on Linux before I
		76	switched to macOS. However, I also like themes that incorporate the gruvbox
		77	color palette, as well as the Nothing theme that uses a dark black and red color
		78	palette.
		79
		80	#+caption: Themes
		81	[[https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20250502-asahi-linux/themes.png]]
		82
		83	One of the things I use my laptop for the most is consuming media (music,
		84	television shows, movies, etc.), so I had to make sure that my bluetooth devices
		85	would connect properly.
		86
		87	As you can see in the screenshot below, my AirPods Pro 2 connect seamlessly and
		88	are available for use. By going through the normal button-holding process, I was
		89	able to pair my AirPods in about 10 seconds.
		90
		91	However, I have noticed that Asahi doesn't support some of the advanced AirPod
		92	capabilities like pausing media when you remove an AirPod from your ear. The
		93	lack of these advanced features doesn't bother me, but some people may be.
		94
		95	#+caption: Bluetooth
		96	[[https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20250502-asahi-linux/bluetooth.png]]
		97
		98	Next, I was able to connect my PS5 controller via USB-C and Asahi picked up the
		99	connect instantly in the settings menu. You can move the sticks and press all of
		100	the buttons to see if they're recognized within this settings menu.
		101
		102	#+caption: Game Pad Settings
		103	[[https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20250502-asahi-linux/gamepad_settings.png]]
		104
		105	I had a bit of an issue launching Steam the first time, as I was getting an AVC
		106	Denial error from SELinux. To fix this, I had to manually allow the Steam
		107	application access to the requested resources:
		108
		109	#+begin_src shell
		110	sudo ausearch -c 'passt' --raw \| sudo audit2allow -M my-passt
		111	sudo semodule -X 300 -i my-passt.pp
		112	#+end_src
		113
		114	While my MacBook only has 16GB of RAM, which seems to be the bare minimum
		115	required for the virtualization overhead, I was able to test one or two games
		116	before they crashed due to RAM errors.
		117
		118	However, I did confirm that my PS5 controller worked natively with these games
		119	on Steam! I don't think I will be gaming much on this laptop anyway, but it
		120	seems you should have at least the 32GB models if you want to game on Asahi.
		121
60	** Software Support	122	** Software Support
61		123
62	One thing to keep in mind is that Apple silicon chips (M*) are based on the ARM	124	One thing to keep in mind is that Apple silicon chips (M*) are based on the ARM
	@@ -67,6 +129,39 @@ While I have run into a handful of applications that do not have an ARM package
67	available, it is not as difficult as it used to be to find suitable apps for all	129	available, it is not as difficult as it used to be to find suitable apps for all
68	purposes on ARM.	130	purposes on ARM.
69		131
		132	*** Signal Desktop
		133
		134	One specific application that has been causing issues is [[https://signal.org/][Signal]]. The download
		135	page on their website will prompt you to install their Debian-based package,
		136	which does not work on RPM-based systems (or any other distribution except
		137	Debian & downstreams, such as Ubuntu).
		138
		139	There are a few different websites offering potential solutions, but I settled
		140	on the [[https://github.com/kenballus/asahi-signal-desktop/][asahi-signal-desktop]] repository for now.
		141
		142	#+begin_quote
		143	One thing to note is that this script does not work with all versions of Signal.
		144	I tested out 7.53.0 and found that the installer did not work at all.
		145
		146	I had to use 7.44.0, as noted in the project's README, for the script to work.
		147	#+end_quote
		148
		149	The installation process is simple. You can simply clone the repository and run
		150	the script:
		151
		152	#+begin_src shell
		153	git clone https://github.com/kenballus/asahi-signal-desktop/
		154	cd asahi-linux-desktop
		155	./install_signal.sh 7.44.0
		156	#+end_src
		157
		158	At this point, Signal should work. However, I have run into constant crashing
		159	issues, so it's not a great solution.
		160
		161	[[https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli][signal-cli]] may work, but I have not tested this yet on Asahi. Before I used
		162	macOS, I used [[https://github.com/isamert/scli][scli]], which provides a TUI for the signal-cli utility and it
		163	worked wonderfully.
		164
70	* Final Thoughts	165	* Final Thoughts
71		166
72	I am still in the early days of testing out Asahi Linux, so I will be sure to	167	I am still in the early days of testing out Asahi Linux, so I will be sure to

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