Apple's macOS Sonoma makes Macs with Asahi Linux unbootable
About a year or so ago, the Asahi Linux people told me I was being paranoid about Apple’s macOS or firmware updates bricking or otherwise negatively affecting Asahi Linux installs, and that you shouldn’t rely on Linux on Apple M devices for anything serious. They told me Apple explicitly supports alternate operating systems on ARM Macs and that Apple can be fully trusted and relied upon.
Update
Related to this:
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Asahi Linux goes from Apple Silicon port project to macOS bug hunters
Asahi Linux, a project to port Linux to Apple Silicon Macs, has reported a combination of bugs in Apple's macOS that could leave users with hardware in a difficult-to-recover state.
The issues revolve around how recent versions of macOS handle refresh rates, and MacBook Pro models with ProMotion displays (the 14 and 16-inch versions) are affected. According to the Asahi team, the bugs lurk in the upgrade and boot process and, when combined, can create a condition where a machine always boots to a black screen, and a Device Firmware Update (DFU) recovery is needed.
From Apple-connected spinners:
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Linux developers stumble on macOS bug that makes MacBooks ‘unbootable’
While working on a Linux port for the latest version of macOS, the team at Asahi Linux has uncovered what they say is a bug in ProMotion MacBooks that could leave users with “a completely unbootable system.”
According to a post on GitHub, the bug is present whether or not you have Asahi Linux installed on your Mac and can be found on versions of macOS Ventura 13.6 and macOS Sonoma 14 and later: “As far as we can tell, ALL users who upgraded to Sonoma the normal way have an out-of-date or even broken System RecoveryOS, and in particular MacBook Pro 14- and 16-inch owners are vulnerable to ending up with a completely unbootable system.”
It apparently has to do with the way macOS Ventura and Sonoma handle refresh rates. As the Asahi team explains, “if the display (on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro) is configured to a refresh rate other than ProMotion, that system will no longer be able to boot into older macOS.” Asahi Linux does not support ProMotion.
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