Gaming on Linux for Apple M1 and M2 is here! Asahi Linux, a community-driven project that aims to port the Linux kernel and related software to Apple Silicon-powered Macs, has just launched its game-playing toolkit – a breakthrough that integrates Vulkan 1.3 drivers with x86 emulation and Windows compatibility, plus a bonus: conformant OpenCL 3.0 support.
This means that, for the first time, Asahi Linux is shipping conformant OpenGL, OpenCL, and Vulkan drivers for Apple’s M1 and M2 hardware, bringing powerful gaming capabilities to the platform.
A capable Vulkan driver is a major requirement for smooth gaming. In April, Asahi introduced Honeykrisp, the only Vulkan 1.3 driver available for Apple hardware. Since then, support for DXVK has been added, enhancing compatibility for various games.
- Tessellation: Games like The Witcher 3 rely on tessellation to generate geometry. While the M1 chip has basic tessellation hardware, itโs too limited for Vulkan, DirectX, or OpenGL. Asahi gets around this by implementing tessellation using compute shaders.
- Geometry Shaders: Although M1 lacks native geometry shader support, Asahi emulates this with compute shaders. This isnโt the fastest solution, but itโs sufficient for older games like Ghostrunner.
- Enhanced Robustness: Robustness ensures stability when shaders access buffers beyond their limits. Asahi has added support for VK_EXT_robustness2, allowing it to match the behavior expected by DirectX, which is critical for many modern games.
However, Asahi is far from finished. This alpha release is just the beginning. The team is working on adding sparse texturing to Honeykrisp, which will unlock support for more demanding DirectX 12 titles.
While newer games like Cyberpunk 2077 can run, they donโt yet hit 60fpsโbut performance is expected to improve over time. Indie favorites like Hollow Knight, however, already run at full speed.
Lastly, to begin your gaming journey with Asahi Linux, you’ll need to install Fedora Asahi Remix. Once installed, you can update to the latest drivers with the command:
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh && rebootCode language: Bash (bash)After that, simply install Steam by running:
suso dnf install steamCode language: Bash (bash)Then, you’re all set to play! It is also worth noting that while all M1 and M2 systems are compatible, most games require at least 16GB of memory due to emulation overhead.
For more information, refer to the official announcement on the Asahi website.
