Device Drivers?

[vocalnick]

Apologies if this has been covered (or if it’s just a dumb question). I did have a search but may have missed something.

I’m assuming that hardware peripherals (audio interfaces, video capture etc.) that aren’t class-compliant will need new drivers written by the vendors before they can work on the M1 machines? Or would Rosetta 2 be able to handle that? My gut says no to the latter, but I’m not an expert...

I’m pondering picking one up, but wondering if I’ll need to budget for some replacement bits and pieces.

 

[wyrdness]

I've heard that Rosette 2 doesn't support device drivers. This isn't confirmed, but I suspect that it's probably true. It might be best to wait until there are machines in the wild and contact your hardware vendor(s) to see if your devices will be supported.

 

[citivolus]

Funny, I didn’t think about this until I read this thread. My 5 year old Brother printer needs a MacOS device driver. I wonder how many older peripherals are going to get updated drivers...

 

[wyrdness]

Funny, I didn’t think about this until I read this thread. My 5 year old Brother printer needs a MacOS device driver. I wonder how many older peripherals are going to get updated drivers...

Brother seem pretty good about updating their drivers for OS X. My 6 year old DCP-9020CDW has current 64-bit drivers, but it also supports AirPrint for driverless printing. So if/when I buy an AS mac, I'll know that it will definitely work with AirPrint and I'd be very surprised if Brother don't release an AS driver for it too.

 

[mr_roboto]

About the Rosetta Translation Environment | Apple Developer Documentation

Learn how Rosetta translates executables, and understand what Rosetta can’t translate.

developer.apple.com

What Can't Be Translated?​

Rosetta can translate most Intel-based apps, including apps that contain just-in-time (JIT) compilers. However, Rosetta doesn’t translate the following executables:

• Kernel extensions
• Virtual Machine apps that virtualize x86_64 computer platforms

If your driver does not require a kernel extension (KEXT), there is a good chance it will work. This should include nearly all printer drivers.

 

[citivolus]

About the Rosetta Translation Environment | Apple Developer Documentation

Learn how Rosetta translates executables, and understand what Rosetta can’t translate.

developer.apple.com

If your driver does not require a kernel extension (KEXT), there is a good chance it will work. This should include nearly all printer drivers.

That's good news, will find out very soon!

 

[vocalnick]

Now we’ve got some machines out in the wild, has anybody tried this?