MX Mac Manual
Hardware support
Hardware support is the Asahi Linux project's, plus what the Aurora kernel adds. New installs on both channels get the Aurora kernel; Macs installed from the earlier Asahi stable image keep linux-asahi. The fork qualifies each release on real Macs and records the evidence with the release. Nothing below claims more than what has been exercised.
Supported Macs
A Mac is admitted by its device-tree identifier, never by its marketing name. The identifier is what the installer catalog lists and what the fork qualifies against, because one marketing name can cover boards with different hardware. Read yours with:
cat /proc/device-tree/model
tr '\0' '\n' < /proc/device-tree/compatible
The catalog on both channels admits 22 identifiers today, every M1 and M2 model the
earlier Asahi image admitted: apple,j274, j293, j313, j314s, j314c, j316s,
j316c, j375c, j375d, j413, j414s, j414c, j415, j416s, j416c, j456,
j457, j473, j474s, j475c, j475d and j493. The Aurora kernel was qualified on
two of them, the MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro (apple,j314s) and the MacBook Pro 16" M2 Max
(apple,j416c); the other 20 are admitted without their own hardware qualification. An
identifier that is not in the catalog is refused before anything on the disk is touched.
The current image admits no M3 or M4 Mac.
Reference machines
| Machine | Role |
|---|---|
MacBook Pro 14" 2021, M1 Pro, apple,j314s |
Full regression on every release; when it is offline the M2 Max stands in, as for runtime channel 58. Aurora kernel, Limine integration testing. |
MacBook Pro 16" 2023, M2 Max, apple,j416c |
Multi-display work: five displays through HDMI and USB4. VM acceptance host for packages and images (images are built on GitHub). |
What works
works on both kernels unless noted. Aurora only needs the Aurora kernel, which every new install has; Macs on the legacy Asahi kernel lack it. The stable lane carries rc's hardware-qualified kernel, so both lanes have these; rc gets new kernels first. known issue is tracked.
| Area | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apple GPU | works | Mesa vulkan-asahi, hardware acceleration. llvmpipe is a failed install. |
| Internal display, brightness | works | |
| Keyboard, backlight, trackpad | works | Early-loaded HID modules; MTP trackpads on M2 need the fork's fix |
| Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | works | NetworkManager with the iwd backend. 5 GHz occasionally times out right after first boot; retry connects. |
| Speakers, microphone, headphones | works | WirePlumber convolver chain, speakersafetyd active |
| Suspend and resume | works | Verified per release from a local session |
| Battery, lid, power profiles | works | Apple SMC through the fork's integration |
| One external display | works | HDMI on models that have it |
| Several external displays, USB4 / DisplayPort alt-mode | Aurora only | Aurora kernel. Five displays on the M2 Max. |
| Variable refresh rate, camera (ISP), always-on processor | Aurora only | Aurora kernel |
| Fullscreen window on a very wide display | known issue | Hyprland paints only a band of a fullscreen window on a 5120×1440 output next to a scaled internal display. Upstream Hyprland issue. |
| Fourth external display after HDMI unplug | known issue | A stale DisplayPort link on the M2 Max after unplugging HDMI; replug or reboot |
| Text console between Plymouth and the greeter | known issue | Cosmetic, a few seconds |
| Widevine DRM in browsers | works | When the package is available from the Asahi repositories |
| Steam | works | Optional, through the Asahi FEX environment |
What Asahi supports on your chip
Everything below the desktop is the Asahi Linux project's work, and the authoritative, current list of what each Apple chip supports is theirs:
Anything marked work-in-progress there, Thunderbolt device support among them, is work-in-progress here too. The Aurora kernel adds the display, camera and USB4 work described above on top of that.
Validation
Every release goes through the checklist in apple-silicon-hardware-validation.md: platform identity, desktop and graphics, networking, audio, power and suspend, update safety and snapshots. Boot-critical changes additionally require a cold boot on a test Mac, never a warm reboot, before the release proceeds.
Reporting a problem
Include the output of:
uname -a
cat /proc/device-tree/model
tr '\0' '\n' </proc/device-tree/compatible
pacman-conf --repo-list
cat /var/lib/omarchy/apple-silicon-channel /usr/share/omarchy/apple-silicon-kernel
Never post passwords, Wi-Fi credentials, private keys or complete connection profiles. Issues go to maralcbr/omarchy-mx-mac.