NVMe Patches to Allow macOS-Linux Dual Boot Under Review

SSD hard drive

Work is underway to support Linux on newer Macs, and NVMe patches are currently under review. This would make it easier to dual-boot Linux and macOS.

NVMe Patches

NVMe is a protocol used by Apple for PCIe solid state drives. It replaces the older Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI). On Tuesday, three NVMe patches were submitted to the Linux kernel to deal with Mac SSDs that use this protocol.

On Apple 2018 systems and newer, their I/O queue sizing/handling is odd and in other areas not properly following NVMe specifications. These patches take care of that while hopefully not regressing existing NVMe controller support.

Some issues with the code were raised, but if all goes well we could see this support potentially added for the Linux 5.4 kernel cycle later in the year.

Things that still need to be addressed on Linux is support for newer Mac touchpads and keyboard.

Further Reading:

[Apple Execs Visit Samsung Over iPhone Chip Shortages]

[Sky: Children of the Light Now Widely Available]

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