Neal Gompa, who beat Apple to a major GPU milestone, discusses Asahi Linux on a MacBook. They also talk about the collaboration between Fedora and Asahi in creating the Fedora Asahi remix, a new flagship distribution for Apple Silicon. Other topics include privacy concerns, VoIP solutions, supporting the podcast with cryptocurrencies, openSUSE experiences, and Umbral, a Bitcoin node with an app marketplace.
The Asahi Linux team is considering adding telemetry to their installer to track installations accurately, sparking mixed responses within the community.
Fedora and Asahi have collaborated to create the Fedora Asahi Remix, a new distribution tailored for a polished Linux experience on Apple Silicon.
Running Linux on Apple M hardware, like an M1 Mac mini, has become more viable, offering a satisfactory experience with a few limitations.
Deep dives
Adding Telemetry to Asahi Linux Installer
Hector Martin is considering adding telemetry to the Asahi Linux installer to track installations accurately. The current method relies on installer downloads, which is not reliable. The proposed telemetry would gather information like installer version, device type, Mac OS and firmware versions, selected image and OS, but not include personal or sensitive data. The idea has mixed responses, with some supporting it to maintain momentum, especially since a Mac is already required for the project, but others raising concerns about privacy. The matter is being discussed within the Asahi Linux community.
Fedora Asahi Remix for Apple M Hardware
Fedora and Asahi have collaborated to create the Fedora Asahi Remix, set to become a new flagship distribution tailored for providing a polished Linux experience on Apple Silicon. The collaboration aims to integrate Asahi-specific fixes and improvements into Fedora's mainline, benefitting any ARM-based Fedora desktop users. The Fedora Asahi Remix is already available for testing and is expected to be officially launched soon, although some tweaks and fine-tuning are still in progress. The effort represents a step towards increasing Linux compatibility with Apple's M series hardware.
Running Linux on Apple M Hardware
Running Linux on Apple M hardware, such as an M1 Mac mini, has become more viable, offering a satisfactory experience with a few limitations. Current challenges include lack of hardware-accelerated video decoding and audio limitations due to missing firmware limitations for speaker safety. However, the battery life on the M1 Mac is impressive, lasting around 6-7 hours on average. The introduction of the Fedora Asahi Remix, a collaboration between Fedora and Asahi, further enhances Linux support for Apple Silicon. Other laptop options, like the Lenovo ThinkPad line, are worth considering for those seeking reliable Linux compatibility and performance.
Lama GPT: A Self-Hosted Open Source Chatbot
Lama GPT is a self-hosted offline chatbot powered by Facebook's open-source Llama-to engine. It runs on consumer-grade hardware, including Raspberry Pi and laptops. The chatbot has been optimized for performance, even on lower-end devices. The project offers an OpenAI-compatible API and supports code generation with the new Code Llama model. With easy setup using Docker, users can experiment with large language models and gain a better understanding of their capabilities and limitations.
Boosted Podcast Episode Highlights: Nix OS, Open SUSE Tumbleweed, and More
In this podcast episode, interesting topics such as Nix OS and Open SUSE Tumbleweed are discussed. Nix OS is praised for its solid performance on various machines, including Dell 7480 laptops and ancient machines, thanks to its support for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, which has been mainlined. The episode also touches on server temperatures, with insights shared by a listener who experienced throttle issues at inlet temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit for commercial grade servers. Finally, the hosts express gratitude for listener support and discuss the benefits of using Bitcoin and Sats (satoshis) for podcast funding.
We daily drive Asahi Linux on a MacBook, chat about how the team beat Apple to a major GPU milestone, and an easy way to self-host open-source ChatGPT alternatives.
Our new flagship distro: Fedora Asahi Remix — We’re still working out the kinks and making things even better, so we are not quite ready to call this a release yet. We aim to officially release the Fedora Asahi Remix by the end of August 2023. Look forward to many new features, machine support, and more!
Hector Martin: “Okay, I’m going to be honest…” — I apologize to all Asahi Linux users. You deserve better. When I chose Arch Linux ARM as a base I didn't realize it would have so many basic QA issues.
The first conformant M1 GPU driver — Our reverse-engineered, free and open source graphics drivers are the world’s only conformant OpenGL ES 3.1 implementation for M1- and M2-family graphics hardware. That means our driver passed tens of thousands of tests to demonstrate correctness and is now recognized by the industry.
llama.cpp — Port of Facebook’s LLaMA model in C/C++
Llama2.c — Inference Llama 2 in one file of pure C
Koboldcpp — A simple one-file way to run various GGML models with KoboldAI’s UI
lollms-webui — Lord of Large Language Models Web User Interface
LM Studio — Discover, download, and run local LLMs
text-generation-webui — A Gradio web UI for Large Language Models. Supports transformers, GPTQ, llama.cpp (ggml/gguf), Llama models.
A comprehensive guide to running Llama 2 locally — Code Llama is a state-of-the-art LLM capable of generating code, and natural language about code, from both code and natural language prompts.