Canonical Releases VM Software That Allows Ubuntu to Run on M1 Macs
Canonical has released a Multipass version to run Ubuntu on Apple devices with an M1 chip. Users can run the Linux operating system in a virtual machine.
The ability to run Linux on M1 Macs comes via an update to Multipass. That virtual machine software comes in version 1.8.0 with the ability to run Ubuntu in a VM on M1 platforms. The software makes it possible to run Ubuntu with minimal setup, according to developers at Canonical. Users can download the Multipass vm software for free for the platform and launch a vm image with a single command.
Until now, it was only possible to run Linux distros on M1 devices using Parallels. That VM software could also run Windows 11 on Apple’s new socs. Multipass does the same, but is free. The software works with the recent releases of Ubuntu: 21.04 and 21.10.
Multipass works for running Ubuntu with so-called Aliases. This makes it possible to execute commands within a VM in the host operating system. According to Canonical, this provides “an almost native experience for any Linux program.”