Asahi Linux 7.1 adds Apple M3 support and fixes macOS 27 boot

Category: Linux/Kernel
Status: confirmed
Sources: Asahi progress report, HN discussion
Summary: The Asahi Linux 7.1 progress report, published 2026-06-30, describes bring-up on Apple M3 machines: working PCIe, WiFi, Bluetooth, NVMe, keyboard and trackpad drivers, speaker and headphone audio, and CPU frequency switching with big.LITTLE scheduling. It also fixes a regression where macOS 27 updates dropped Asahi from the boot picker, traced to a new Apple firmware requirement for an APFS bootable flag, and an SMC battery-interface change that caused emergency shutdowns. The m1n1 1.6.0 bootloader release requires Rust for its stage 2 build and adds GPU initialization and M3/M4/A18 Pro support, and custom AVD firmware enables V4L2 hardware AVC decode up to 10-bit 4K.
Why it matters: M3 support and the macOS 27 boot fix are the practical blockers for running Linux on current Apple Silicon laptops, moving the newer hardware toward daily-driver viability.