The Asahi Linux project has made significant strides recently in enabling Linux to run on newer Macs equipped with Apple Silicon. Although the project had already achieved many functionalities, including support for USB, displays, graphics, wireless connectivity, and cameras, microphone support remained elusive.
Now, Asahi Linux has announced that it is capable of supporting microphones on most of the supported laptops, including MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models featuring the M1 and M2 processors. This advancement addresses one of the key outstanding issues in the project.
Many recent Macs are heralded for their high-quality microphones when used with macOS, attributed to a mix of hardware configuration and software optimizations. However, these laptops use three Pulse Density Modulation microphones, which tend to be quite sensitive and can pick up excessive ambient noise, resulting in less-than-ideal audio for applications like Zoom.
Apple mitigates this issue through a technology called “beamforming,” which allows microphones to focus on sounds directly in front, while filtering out background noise. Given that there was no equivalent tool available for Linux, Asahi developer James Calligeros created an open-source tool named Triforce to perform a similar function for Apple MacBooks.
While Calligeros acknowledges that Triforce relies on basic engineering principles and might not completely replicate the sound quality of macOS, it significantly improves microphone usability for users running Linux on MacBooks equipped with M-series processors.
In addition to microphone support, recent updates from the Asahi Linux team include capabilities for running ARM64 Windows virtual machines via KVM and the launch of Fedora Asahi Remix 42 Beta, which possesses improved functionalities for x86_64 emulation. This version also allows Bluetooth Low Energy devices paired with macOS to automatically connect the first time users boot up Fedora Asahi Remix, though it is currently compatible only with Bluetooth 4.x devices.
For more detailed information, visit the Asahi Linux blog.
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