NixOS on ARM/Apple Silicon Macs: Difference between revisions
Update supported devices list, add links to feature support lists |
Giantdwarf (talk | contribs) Added instructions for re-enabling the Apple touchbar on Macbook Pros |
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Currently, not enough hardware support is upstream for the official NixOS installer to work properly on Apple Silicon Macs. A [https://github.com/tpwrules/nixos-apple-silicon/blob/main/docs/uefi-standalone.md comprehensive guide] to using the Asahi Linux installer to install NixOS with a customized NixOS ISO is available. | Currently, not enough hardware support is upstream for the official NixOS installer to work properly on Apple Silicon Macs. A [https://github.com/tpwrules/nixos-apple-silicon/blob/main/docs/uefi-standalone.md comprehensive guide] to using the Asahi Linux installer to install NixOS with a customized NixOS ISO is available. | ||
=== Touchbar === | |||
Certain Macbook Pro models from 2020-2022 may include the Apple touchbar. Out of the box, the touchbar will be completely blank when running NixOS. The touchbar can be re-enabled by adding the following option to your configuration:<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">{ | |||
hardware.apple.touchBar.enable = true; | |||
}</syntaxhighlight>This will enable basic function row emulation using the [https://github.com/AsahiLinux/tiny-dfr tiny-dfr] package provided by the [https://asahilinux.org/ Asahi Linux project]. | |||
[[Category:NixOS on ARM]] | |||
Latest revision as of 18:24, 13 July 2025
| Apple Silicon Macs | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Apple |
| Architecture | AArch64 |
| Bootloader | Asahi Linux Project m1n1 + U-Boot |
| Maintainer | tpwrules |
Apple Silicon Macs are supported in large part by the efforts of the Asahi Linux project. All M1 Macs and most M2 Macs are supported currently, with M3 Mac support in progress.
Status
NixOS should be at least as well supported as the official Asahi Linux distribution. Enough hardware works currently for a pleasant desktop and laptop Linux experience, including booting off the internal NVMe drive.
Board Specific Installation Notes
Apple's boot and security architecture is complex, but abstracting all that away into a standard UEFI environment is handled by the Asahi Linux installer and project. Those who want to learn more may want to read Introduction to Apple Silicon.
Currently, not enough hardware support is upstream for the official NixOS installer to work properly on Apple Silicon Macs. A comprehensive guide to using the Asahi Linux installer to install NixOS with a customized NixOS ISO is available.
Touchbar
Certain Macbook Pro models from 2020-2022 may include the Apple touchbar. Out of the box, the touchbar will be completely blank when running NixOS. The touchbar can be re-enabled by adding the following option to your configuration:
{
hardware.apple.touchBar.enable = true;
}
This will enable basic function row emulation using the tiny-dfr package provided by the Asahi Linux project.