Linux Improves Compatibility With Apple Silicon Macs and Adds Support for USB4 and Thunderbolt

Linux continues to expand so it can be installed on more devices, an expansion that comes thanks to the work of the developer community that supports free software. They are now trying to bring the operating system to Apple computers that use the company’s own Apple Silicon processors.

The latest development is the addition of support for USB4 and Thunderbolt connectivity on Apple computers with M1, M2, and M3 processors.

Linux Adds USB4 and Thunderbolt Support for Apple Silicon Macs

The latest patch adds support for faster USB4 and Thunderbolt connections to the Linux kernel of the Asahi Linux project for these first three generations of Apple Silicon processors. Support has been added to the main kernel, although the project’s documentation says that it is still in its early stages and may contain errors. Little by little, work is continuing to make it more stable.

For now, support does not include PCI Express tunneling or DisplayPort support for connecting an external monitor. There is also an issue with system suspend when a USB4 device is connected. These problems are the result of the early implementation and will be fixed later.

Asahi Linux has been trying for some time to get Linux working correctly on Apple Silicon. With these patches, they show the active work of the community and the progress being made so that, at least, the most essential functions work correctly when running Linux on a Mac with an Apple Silicon SoC.