Linus Torvalds, the Linux principal developer, wants it to run on M1 Macs

Linus Torvalds is the man behind the Linux kernel and it turns out he's a fan of the new M1-powered MacBook Air. So much so that he'd like to see Linux running on it.

According to a post on the Real World Tech forum that was picked up by TNW, Torvalds was actually an 11-inch MacBook Air user back in the day. But the famously bad screen was enough to make him move on to pastures new.

I'd absolutely love to have one, if it just ran Linux.. I have fairly fond memories of the 11″ Macbook Air (I think 4,1) that I used about a decade ago (but moved away from because it took Apple too long to fix the screen – and by the time they did, I'd moved on to better laptops, and Apple had moved on to make Linux less convenient).

But while the idea of getting Linux to run on the new, powerful MacBook Air is something that appeals, the developer wants nothing to do with macOS. Or Apple, for that matter.

I've been waiting for an ARM laptop that can run Linux for alongtime. The new Air would be almost perfect, except for the OS. And I don't have the time to tinker with it, or the inclination to fight companies that don't want to help.

Even if Torvalds was in, Apple isn't going to make it easy for anyone to get Linux running on one of these things. Much to the chagrin of a whole ton of people.