While not as exciting as if it were Apple M3/M4 device support hitting the upstream mainline Linux kernel, but for those with some older Apple (pre-M1) devices around, support for a number of older SoCs and boards is set to arrive with the upcoming Linux 6.13 kernel.
Support for a number of older Apple SoCs and boards will land in the upcoming Linux 6.13 merge window but before getting too excited it’s the very basic / initial form of support. Hector Martin sent out the Apple SoC DeviceTree updates today of material ready for Linux 6.13. He explained in the pull request to the SoC tree:
“Please merge these DT changes for v6.13.
This batch adds a bunch of pre-M1 Apple iDevice SoC and board device trees. These are bare-bones right now, just basic bring-up.”
This includes support for the Apple A7, A8, A8X, A9, A9X, A10, A10X, and A11 SoCs and devices. So as part of that is the DeviceTree files for devices like the Apple iPhone 8 series and iPhone X series while going back to the iPhone 5S, iPad Air, iPad Mini 2/3, and others.
While it’s exciting seeing these additions and opens the way for running Linux on these older Apple ARM devices, keep in mind this is just the very basic / barebones support for being able to boot the mainline Linux kernel.
In any event those interested in this Linux kernel work for older pre-M1 Apple devices can see the staged code via the asahi-soc-dt-6.13 Git branch.
The Linux 6.13 merge window is expected to be opened next week if Linux 6.12 indeed releases on schedule and then will see Linux 6.13-rc1 debut 1 December while the Linux 6.13 stable kernel will be out in late January or early February.
