Latest Asahi Linux Brings AAA Windows Games to Apple M1 MacBooks With Intricate Graphics Driver and Translation Stack

[Cpt.Jank]

While Apple laptops have never really been the first stop for PC gaming, Linux is slowly shaping up to be an excellent gaming platform, largely thanks to open-source development efforts as well as work from the likes of AMD and NVIDIA, who have both put significant work into their respective Linux drivers in recent years. This makes efforts like the Asahi Linux Project all the more intriguing. Asahi Linux is a project that aims to bring Linux to Apple Silicon Macs—a task that has proven rather difficult, thanks to the intricacies of developing a bespoke GPU driver for Apple's custom ARM GPUs. In a recent blog post, the graphics developer behind the Asahi Linux Project showed off a number of AAA games, albeit older titles, running on an Apple M1 processor on the latest Asahi Linux build.

To run the games on Apple Silicon, Asahi Linux uses a "game playing toolkit," which relies on a number of custom graphics drivers and emulators, including tools from Valve's Proton translation layer, which ironically was also the foundation for Apple's Game Porting Toolkit. Asahi uses FEX to emulate x86 on ARM, Wine as a translation layer for Windows apps, and DXVK and vkd3d-proton for DirectX-Vulkan translation. In the blog post, the Asahi developer claims that the alpha is capable of running games like Control, The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 at playable frame rates. Unfortunately, 60 FPS is not yet attainable in the majority of new high-fidelity games, there are a number of indie titles that run quite well on Asahi Linux, including Hollow Knight, Ghostrunner, and Portal 2.



Amusingly, the custom driver used by Asahi Linux is the only driver currently available for Apple Silicon that conforms to OpenGL, OpenCL, and Vulkan APIs. Gaming, of course, isn't the only focus for Asahi Linux, and the team has already started implementing general purpose x86 emulation to Asahi Linux for more generalist and workstation workloads. Asahi Linux is based on Fedora 40, and ships by default with KDE Plasma as the desktop environment, and it has support for all manner of Mac computers with M1 through M2 Pro and M2 Max SoCs, with varying degrees of hardware support. The distribution is freely available to download on the Asahi Linux homepage for anyone wanting to try it out—be sure to check out the support matrix to know what hardware is and isn't supported, since it is still an alpha, and there may be issues with audio, certain ports, and features like Touch ID.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[GoldenX]

The work the Asahi team is doing is priceless.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

The work the Asahi team is doing is priceless.

And the fact that Apple doesn’t lock down the Mac platform. They get some flack for mobile OSes being locked down, but the Mac platform and macOS do allow for projects like this. I wonder if any Apple programmers are quietly contributing to the project.

 

[Vya Domus]

And the fact that Apple doesn’t lock down the Mac platform.

Apple absolutely loathes the idea of non Apple software on their hardware, that's why there is no support for things like OpenGL or Vulkan in the first place, they replaced as much industry standard software from their systems as they could, it's pretty clear that they do want to lock down the mac platform and sooner or later they'll make it impossible to install other OSs as well, it's inevitable.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Apple absolutely loathes the idea of non Apple software on their hardware, that's why there is no support for things like OpenGL or Vulkan in the first place, they replaced as much industry standard software from their systems as they could, it's pretty clear that they do want to lock down the mac platform and sooner or later they'll make it impossible to install other OSs as well, it's inevitable.

I don't know how you can make that claim, considering they haven't stopped you from installing another OS on a Mac since at least 2006. It's actually even possible to install Linux on old PowerPC Macs, but back then Linux was far more difficult to get started and installed on any platform. iOS devices have never been open to tinkering, but Macs have been for a long, long time. Yes, they don't use OpenGL and Vulkan on macOS, but they made that move over 4 years ago, and that has done nothing to the openness of the Mac to other OSes. This Linux project has been going on since the launch of M1 in 2020, and Apple hasn't stopped a thing. If they indeed "loathed" the idea, I have no doubts that they could have easily killed this project 4 years ago when Asahi started. Apple has also said that they won't stop MS from bringing WOA over, but MS hasn't made a move, and they don't sell WOA as a standalone product.

It's also interesting how Apple has never formally gone after hackintoshes either. They don't make things easier, but they haven't taken any steps to stop that either. I've never heard of them going after a Hackintosher. The only time they've jumped in legally is when someone tries to turn it into a formal business.

 

[Nanochip]

This is what Apple itself should’ve done but no they don’t do that.

 

[Caring1]

Asahi Brewery? It's a Japanese Beer.

 

[Vya Domus]

If they indeed "loathed" the idea, I have no doubts that they could have easily killed this project 4 years ago when Asahi started.

It's also interesting how Apple has never formally gone after hackintoshes either. They don't make things easier, but they haven't taken any steps to stop that either. I've never heard of them going after a Hackintosher. The only time they've jumped in legally is when someone tries to turn it into a formal business.

macOS has an established presence with some professionals/academics, completely locking it down would drive those people away, however macOS is still a minuscule fraction of total systems and so Apple has no interest in killing off this small but loyal customer base. Should that ever change they will put the lock on macOS make no mistake about it, complete control over software is Apple's signature strategy.

You're just refusing to accept the facts if you think Apple isn't slowly but surely locking everything down, macs had far wider support for both software and hardware in the past. Think about this, you have to install a totally different OS or slow buggy translation layers if you want to use industry standard software, that's pretty much the most draconian measure to prevent people from using your products in ways you don't want them to while keeping the excuse of "hey you can still totally do this if you want to".

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

macOS has an established presence with some professionals/academics, completely locking it down would drive those people away, however macOS is still a minuscule fraction of total systems and so Apple has no interest in killing off this small but loyal customer base. Should that ever change they will put the lock on macOS make no mistake about it, complete control over software is Apple's signature strategy.

You're just refusing to accept the facts if you think Apple isn't slowly but surely locking everything down, macs had far wider support for both software and hardware in the past. Think about this, you have to install a totally different OS or slow buggy translation layers if you want to use industry standard software, that's pretty much the most draconian measure to prevent people from using your products in ways you don't want them to while keeping the excuse of "hey you can still totally do this if you want to".

I don't know man. You are arguing against a point I'm not making. I never claimed anything about macOS and what it does or doesn't support. My comment is entirely about Apple allowing other OSes on the platform of Mac, which is something they've done dating all the way back to PowerPC. They introduced Metal in 2014, and you could still boot other OSes on a Mac. They brought Metal to Mac in 2017, and you could still boot other OSes on a Mac. In 2020, they changed their entire CPU and GPU architecture, and they still left the ability to boot other OSes on a Mac. We are nearing the 4th generation of Apple silicon, and there are no signs of them removing this ability. Even then, I think you are wrong in your claim. With the losses Apple had in the EU courts, they now have no choice but to open up platforms never open before (iOS). For them to take Mac the other direction would just be an invite to more EU scrutiny. I'm sure I could be wrong, but I don't see any reason why they'd remove this ability when they appear to have intentionally left it in there when they changed architectures. We wouldn't even be in this discussion if Apple had killed this ability with the AS rollout.

 

[igormp]

This Linux project has been going on since the launch of M1 in 2020, and Apple hasn't stopped a thing.

In fact, Apple has even helped Asahi at some times by releasing some stuff that made their life easier after some requests:

Apple Helps Asahi Linux | Hacker News

news.ycombinator.com

Think about this, you have to install a totally different OS or slow buggy translation layers if you want to use industry standard software, that's pretty much the most draconian measure to prevent people from using your products in ways you don't want them to while keeping the excuse of "hey you can still totally do this if you want to".

The same applies to linux tho. I can freely compile whatever I want on both my linux and MacOS machines, but the problem starts with proprietary software that was meant to run in a specific device running in a specific system to begin with.
Tbh I find it way easier to develop stuff for MacOS than Windows, and millions times better to develop stuff on (I would plainly refuse any job that forced me to deal with windows ever again).
And I say that as a MacOS hater since it more often than not just gets in my way, whereas some stuff is wayyy easier on linux.

 

[Scrizz]

And I say that as a MacOS hater since it more often than not just gets in my way, whereas some stuff is wayyy easier on linux.

I've actually found Windows great to work on after they added WSL.

 

[Shihab]

They are doing good work, but they should learn from Imagination Tech's fiasco. Apple is already working with their own compatibility layers, plus the singularity they're going for would make it less sensible to have Macs an "open" platform (in contrast with iPhones/Pads). And Asahi sure as hell don't have the corporate arsenal of legal and logistical gunnary to survive what Imagination went through a few years ago.

Nah. Way I see it, the best future Asahi has is one where Apple absorbs its talent and then shuts it, and any other potential replacement, out.
Unless of course, some regulator out there figured how to get things done in less than a decade.

whereas some stuff is wayyy easier on linux.

Only thing linux made easier for me is having a centralized, OS-managed installation of development libraries, headers, compilers, etc. But honestly, I still think Visual Studio makes Windows a superior dev environment. Having a build system set by the gui without even being aware of its existence spoiled me. I only want to make stuff I can immediately use, not waste time with arcane, software engineering jargon.

 

[Chrispy_]

Good. Translation layers that cross OS and hardware boundaries like this are the future.

The more hardware-agnostic and OS-agnostic our software future is the less anti-consumer and assholery the corporations making OSes will be (hopefully). At the moment, Apple, Microsoft, and to some extent Google - they all foist very questionable stuff on their (mostly) captive audience who cannot easily go elsewhere because of their hardware, drivers, or application compatibility. At the moment, it's not technically a monopoly on any of the major OSes, but it might as well be in terms of the end-user experience.

 

[Mack4285]

I don't know how you can make that claim, considering they haven't stopped you from installing another OS on a Mac since at least 2006. It's actually even possible to install Linux on old PowerPC Macs, but back then Linux was far more difficult to get started and installed on any platform. iOS devices have never been open to tinkering, but Macs have been for a long, long time. Yes, they don't use OpenGL and Vulkan on macOS, but they made that move over 4 years ago, and that has done nothing to the openness of the Mac to other OSes. This Linux project has been going on since the launch of M1 in 2020, and Apple hasn't stopped a thing. If they indeed "loathed" the idea, I have no doubts that they could have easily killed this project 4 years ago when Asahi started. Apple has also said that they won't stop MS from bringing WOA over, but MS hasn't made a move, and they don't sell WOA as a standalone product.

It's also interesting how Apple has never formally gone after hackintoshes either. They don't make things easier, but they haven't taken any steps to stop that either. I've never heard of them going after a Hackintosher. The only time they've jumped in legally is when someone tries to turn it into a formal business.

If Asahai makes Linux work on a Mac flawlessly, I definately think the heads at Apple will consider locking it down. I bet Apple did not think someone would have the time, balls and nerves to reverse engineer everything perfectly, but now they are on track of doing just that. The Apple is rotten and predictable.

 

[Vya Domus]

The same applies to linux tho

It really doesn't, these are totally different, one is an OS shipped with a product which is specially only meant to work with that product, you don't have access to any of the source code and you don't have access to the hardware either, it's a complete black box and if you want to do something with it that wasn't design to do you need to scrap the whole thing. With linux as long as you have access to the hardware documentation you can do whatever you want.

 

[unwind-protect]

Impressive work.

Almost as much as ZFS on Windows, which must be for the truly masochistic.

 

[igormp]

I've actually found Windows great to work on after they added WSL.

I've had to use WSL before, the slowness in IO made it awful for me, and it felt like most of the time you're just doing workarounds to have as much as you can inside of WSL and not on windows itself. By then, why not just get rid of windows?
But that's me, ofc, to each their own, and the stack one works with also has a lot of relevance on that choice.

Only thing linux made easier for me is having a centralized, OS-managed installation of development libraries, headers, compilers, etc. But honestly, I still think Visual Studio makes Windows a superior dev environment. Having a build system set by the gui without even being aware of its existence spoiled me. I only want to make stuff I can immediately use, not waste time with arcane, software engineering jargon.

I don't miss the big VS at all
I like having my make/build commands, make it easier to replicate stuff in my CI/CD pipelines.

It really doesn't, these are totally different, one is an OS shipped with a product which is specially only meant to work with that product, you don't have access to any of the source code and you don't have access to the hardware either, it's a complete black box and if you want to do something with it that wasn't design to do you need to scrap the whole thing. With linux as long as you have access to the hardware documentation you can do whatever you want.

What do you mean? MacOS has tons of open source components, and lots of documentation on booting other systems, those were even used by the Asahi team.
They do not distribute drivers for other system, nor have public documentation for most of its hardware, but that applies to lots of other hardware as well.
On Linux you more often than not do not have access to hardware documentation either.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I wish them the best, the M series macs are impressively powerful, with great battery life, but the lack of software compatibility is a major sore spot. Asahi would fix that, especially for things like Steam Proton.

I'd not mind a macbook if I could run proton on it.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Nobody is asking so I'm going to do it. How can they even run those games if they don't have a powerful dedicated GPU??

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Nobody is asking so I'm going to do it. How can they even run those games if they don't have a powerful dedicated GPU??

The iGPUs in the Macs aren’t so bad. They get a lot more bandwidth than most, which I think should help. Back when Apple introduced the M1, they showed it running SOTR, which was running emulated. The pro and max versions of those chips should be pretty decent, I’d think.

 

[Vya Domus]

Nobody is asking so I'm going to do it. How can they even run those games if they don't have a powerful dedicated GPU??

It's not like they're running maxed out or particularly fast, things like RT destroyed people's perception of performance, a lot of games run fine on lower settings on underpowered hardware.

 

[igormp]

Nobody is asking so I'm going to do it. How can they even run those games if they don't have a powerful dedicated GPU??

Apart from what was said above, have you taken a look at the current iGPUs? The likes of 680m, 890m and whatnot are really usable.

 

[unwind-protect]

I wish them the best, the M series macs are impressively powerful, with great battery life, but the lack of software compatibility is a major sore spot. Asahi would fix that, especially for things like Steam Proton.

I'd not mind a macbook if I could run proton on it.

Wine, the root of Proton and similar Wine derivatives, actually runs on Macs with macOS just fine. On M1 you can run both 64 and 32 bit Windows/x86 executables.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Wine, the root of Proton and similar Wine derivatives, actually runs on Macs with macOS just fine. On M1 you can run both 64 and 32 bit Windows/x86 executables.

Being able to install Wine =! being able to run Proton. running games on M series macs via proton is like taking a time machine back to 2010, in the bad way. tons of stuff either doesnt work or barely runs. That's because all the game specific optimization Proton has made requires vulkan, which Apple doesnt support on M series Macs.

This is why Asahi, trying to get vulkan running on M series hardware, is so exciting.

 

[star-affinity]

If Asahai makes Linux work on a Mac flawlessly, I definately think the heads at Apple will consider locking it down. I bet Apple did not think someone would have the time, balls and nerves to reverse engineer everything perfectly, but now they are on track of doing just that. The Apple is rotten and predictable.

So they will lock down software that makes their hardware even more attractive?
I doubt it, but we'll see I guess.

The Apple isn't perfect but it sure ain't as bad as some seem to think.