Linux Kernel 'Linux 5.13' Will Support Apple M1 System-on-Chip | Now Available for Public Testing

Urian B., Tech Times 12 May 2021, 01:05 am

The Apple M1 chip has recently started to gain much traction and is now fully recognized as another possible processor to choose for high-end performance. It seems like the recognition now stems past Apple as the latest version of the popular Linux kernel known as the Linux 5.13 would introduce support for Apple's M1!

Apple M1 on Linux

Apple made headlines for deciding to step away from their long-time chip supplier, Intel, as the company decided to manufacture their own CPUs. Apple made headlines with their M1 chip and are now spreading the chip to other units that they own. Aside from Apple, it now looks like Linux is recognizing its power.

According to the story by AppleInsider, the Linux 5.13 reportedly introduces support for Apple's popular M1 system-on-chip and is currently available as a certain release candidate. The Apple M1 support was also previously reported for the Linux 5.13 but there was no release date given during that time.

Linux Torvalds Announcement

As of Tuesday, May 11, Linux officially announced that the candidate version is currently available for public testing. The announcement was released by none other than the Linux kernel principal developer known as Linux Torvalds himself.

Although it was said that the security researchers were able to successfully boot Linux on the Apple Silicon some time in the past, it still really required quite a few fairly technical workarounds. With the current preliminary support in the new Linux 5.13, Linux new distributions and systems will reportedly have a much easier time when it comes to running on Apple's own SoC.

Linux Kernel Linux 5.13

In addition to the whole Apple Silicon support, Linux kernel 5.13 also reportedly introduced a whole slew of new as well as updated drivers. The new Linux kernel 5.13 even has other under-the-hood improvements when it comes to the architectures, file system, tooling, and even the process handling as well as other new updates.

According to the report by 9to5Linux, the current final version of the Linux 5.13 is expected to be released to the public some time during the end of June or maybe even some time early July. This, however, depends on just how many release candidates Torvalds would decide to officially release during the whole development cycle.

What is Linux Kernel?

The Linux kernel is known as an open source system kernel that was previously created by Torvalds all the way back in 1991. It reportedly forms the whole basis for a number of Linux operating system distributions. It is also reportedly deployed in mainframes, servers, and even on mobile devices.

One example of this is Android since it is actually based on a certain modified version of the kernel itself. With the new Linux kernel 5.13, users will be able to try out the Apple M1 on other Linux devices for the first time ever.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian B.