GoKawiilAsahi Linux ships 7.3 with major macaudio and AVD driver upstreaming push
Asahi Linux released its 7.3 progress update, reporting that its macaudio driver—requiring substantial ALSA core changes—is now ready for upstream kernel review after roughly 3,100 lines of driver and Devicetree code. The project also submitted its AVD video decode driver, about 13,000 lines, just three months after it appeared in the downstream tree, alongside initial Devicetrees for M4 Pro, Max and M5 chips.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The rapid AVD turnaround suggests the Asahi team is moving toward an upstream-first workflow, which could reduce long-term maintenance burden and speed official kernel support for newer Apple Silicon Macs. Early M5 Devicetree work and upstream-first USB-PD, SPMI and Thunderbolt development indicate the project is positioning itself to support new hardware generations faster than before.
- macaudio driver, requiring major ALSA changes, is ready for upstream submission after ~3,100 lines of code
- AVD video decode driver (~13,000 lines) reached upstream submission just three months after downstream introduction
- Initial Devicetree support for M4 Pro, Max, and M5 chips has been added, alongside upstream-first work on USB-PD, SPMI, and Thunderbolt
Apple MacBook Air M2 — If you're following Asahi Linux's progress bringing mainline Linux support to Apple Silicon, having an M-series MacBook is the natural way to try it yourself. The M2 Air is a great entry point for experimenting with Asahi's audio and graphics drivers as they mature.
See Apple MacBook Air M2 on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: asahilinux.org, 2026-11-07
Published there as: “Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.3”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.