Corellium has announced it has Ubuntu Linux running on an M1 Mac, in what is described as a “completely usable” experience.

Mac computers are popular options for Linux users and developers. Many want to combine their operating system (OS) of choice with machines that are widely considered to be among the best industrial designs in the business.

With Apple moving to its own custom silicon, however, there was doubt about the future of Linux on Macs. Apple’s new M1 chip is an ARM-based designed, similar to what the company has been running in iPhones and iPads for years.

Even Linus Torvalds has said he would love to run one of the new M1 Macs, but wasn’t optimistic it could run Linux.

It appears the folks at Corellium have managed to get it done. Corellium specializes in ARM-based virtualization software that runs on iOS, making them the perfect team to get Linux running on the new Macs.

Chris Wade, Corellium’s CTO made the announcement via Twitter:

Linux is now completely usable on the Mac mini M1. Booting from USB a full Ubuntu desktop (rpi). Network works via a USB c dongle. Update includes support for USB, I2C, DART. We will push changes to our GitHub and a tutorial later today. Thanks to the @CorelliumHQ team ❤️🙏 pic.twitter.com/uBDbDmvJUG

— Chris Wade (@cmwdotme) January 20, 2021

A company blog post provides a detailed explanation of what went into making this happen and is well worth a read. While there’s obviously still work to be done, the future is definitely looking promising.

After a few days of figuring out the details of USB, we were finally able to connect an external USB hub and connect a keyboard, mouse and a Flash drive, opening the possibility for running a normal desktop Linux distribution.