MacOS 13 Introduces Useful Trick for Linux Users. An interesting change was introduced with the incoming macOS 13 Ventura in terms of a much better Linux support, offering fresh powers to all those that are running a Linux distro in a virtual machine (VM) on a Mac with the Apple Silicon allowing such users to run x86 software in that VM.
MacOS 13 Introduces Useful Trick for Linux Users
Just as reported by The Register, this ability is offered by the Rosetta 2, which Apple’s translation tech originally introduced with the M1, allowing that chip to run x886 apps.
With the macOS 13, Apple has plans to extend support for Rosetta’s x86-64-to-arm translation chops so that it works in Linux VMs, meaning that those that are running on Linux in such a way would be able to seamlessly make use of apps written for Intel x86 processors.
This string is certainly a neat one to add to the bow of Linux VMs, albeit for a somewhat niche set of Mac owners.
Apple Persuade Docker Developers
The work that was undertaken to get this neat new piece of functionality up and running likely was not trivial. And it could be part of a larger strategic move by Apple to persuade Docker developers that their next PC should be an Apple SoC-powered Mac – as it means that those devs could actually work with x86-64 containers on such a machine. This might be a not inconsiderable audience for Apple to tap into with future Macs running the Ventura.
Mac OS 13 Ventura
This is of course just a cool feature to have anyway, and one of many in the bag of tricks being introduced by macOS 13. Ventura has also promised to be ace with some important changes to the interface – like bringing in a stage manager and a bunch of smart accessibility improvements, plus let’s not forget the work on the gaming front, ushering in Resident Evil Village on the Mac Later this year.
If you cannot wait for the macOS to get here, with its debut scheduled for late 2022, then there is already a beta version that you can grab. It is an early build for developers, mind – the public beta does not kick off until July, at which point Ventura would undoubtedly be in a much better shape.
