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Do I need to virtualize ubuntu AMD on my Macbook air M2?

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polisac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2023
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Hello,

When changing the laptop from macbook pro 2011 for the new Macbook m2, to work I need to virtualize Ubuntu amd x64 and I have tried several programs but it does not support it. someone could help me ? Is it possible that there is nothing for the management that I need? Regards, thank you
 
Last edited:
Basic75 said:
Eso no es cierto, Ubuntu también está disponible para ARM y POWER, así como para IBM Z y algunos RISC-V. La versión ARM debería funcionar virtualizada en una Mac M1/M2 sin ninguna emulación involucrada.
Click to expand...
Correct, with applications like parallels I have been able to install ubuntu, but what I need would be, on my macbook m2, to install some program that can work with ubuntu amd x64
 
polisac said:
Correct, with applications like parallels I have been able to install ubuntu, but what I need would be, on my macbook m2, to install some program that can work with ubuntu amd x64
Click to expand...
Then UTM is probably your best, or at least easiest, chance. Or you could look into using Rosetta 2 from within ARM Linux to run x86-64 Linux binaries inside of a virtualised ARM Linux. I believe Apple supports this, you'll need to search the web for instructions.
 
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polisac said:
Hello,

When changing the laptop from macbook pro 2011 for the new Macbook m2, to work I need to virtualize Ubuntu amd x64 and I have tried several programs but it does not support it. someone could help me ? Is it possible that there is nothing for the management that I need? Regards, thank you
Click to expand...
Amd64 is, confusingly, the Intel 64-bit architecture. Apple Silicon Macs, like the MacBook Air with M2, use arm64 architecture. amd64 will not natively run on the M2.
As others have suggested, you’d need an emulator like UTM to use amd64 Linux. Performance will not be great.
 
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polisac said:
Hello,

When changing the laptop from macbook pro 2011 for the new Macbook m2, to work I need to virtualize Ubuntu amd x64 and I have tried several programs but it does not support it. someone could help me ? Is it possible that there is nothing for the management that I need? Regards, thank you
Click to expand...
You can try running it natively as a dual boot option with asahi Linux
 
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There are daily builds of Ubuntu Desktop for arm64: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ or https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/focal/daily-live/current/ (Pick your version by going through the directory structure)

There are also regular Ubuntu Server builds for arm64: https://ubuntu.com/download/server/arm (You can install a GUI if you have a need for it.)

Would not necessarily run them natively, but the Apple Silicon Macs should be able to virtualize them fine. What I would not do is try to virtualize the amd64 builds, even if it may work. Performance would be subpar.
 
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As mentioned by @Basic75 Apple has the tools to run x86 applications under virtualized ARM Linux, but the process is involved. I do not know if Parallels or VMWare have Rosetta support built in. Another option, as previously mentioned, is to use UTM.
 
chrfr said:
Amd64 is, confusingly, the Intel 64-bit architecture.
Click to expand...
Why confusingly? AMD was the originally the first, who introduced 64-bit instructions for x86, not Intel. Intel tried to force their Itanium platform, but failed hard and that platform died a slow death*.

en.wikipedia.org

x86-64 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

* The x86-64 architecture is distinct from the Intel Itanium architecture (formerly IA-64). The architectures are not compatible on the native instruction set level, and operating systems and applications compiled for one cannot be run on the other.

en.wikipedia.org

IA-64 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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opeter said:
Why confusingly? AMD was the originally the first, who introduced 64-bit instructions for x86, not Intel.
Click to expand...
The confusing part is that AMD64, Intel 64, x86-64 and x64 are all used as names for essentially the same thing. At least EM64T and IA-32e are no longer in common use.
 
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chrfr said:
Amd64 is, confusingly, the Intel 64-bit architecture.
Click to expand...
Interesting story regarding Intel's initial 64bit architecture. They with HP rolled out Itanium, a cpu that was supposedly going to replace the X86 and it benefited from not having any cross licensing with AMD. AMD created 64bit extensions for the X86 CPU, and as Itanium failed, Intel had to pivot and adopt AMD's extension - that's why you still see AMD-64 as the option since they created it.
 
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opeter said:
Why confusingly? AMD was the originally the first, who introduced 64-bit instructions for x86, not Intel. Intel tried to force their Itanium platform, but failed hard and that platform died a slow death*.
Click to expand...
"Confusingly" because amd64 looks a lot like arm64 when you're looking at a directory that contains files for both platforms. Also, because there are several terms for Intel 64-bit in common use.
 
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maflynn said:
Ubuntu requires an X86 processor and such it will not work natively. You can try using UTM which will emulate an x86 virtually but performance is rather poor.

Take a look at Asahi Linux
Click to expand...
There are ARM distributions of Ubuntu. and Asahi is meant to run natively on M1 Macs, it is not a good candidate for emulation.
 
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While there are eumlators like QEMU, the performance for whole-os operation is so bad as to be essentially useless.

Virtualization engines will require ARM based guests. Note that those guests will not run Intel software, except for Windows 11 which as a rosetta-like capability built in - linux guests will not run intel software. Parallels and Fusion are the two options. Right now Parallels has much better windows 11 arm support, but they do some sketchy things license-wise (e.g. they're getting install media from somewhere that's not disclosed). Fusion is perfectly fine for ARM though.

If you really do need an intel guest, then you need to run an intel host. There's no other realistic option.
 
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leman said:
As mentioned by @Basic75 Apple has the tools to run x86 applications under virtualized ARM Linux, but the process is involved. I do not know if Parallels or VMWare have Rosetta support built in. Another option, as previously mentioned, is to use UTM.
Click to expand...
It's rudimentary at best, and not ready for prime time.
 

Ubuntu for ARM | Download | Ubuntu

Download Ubuntu Server for ARM with support for the very latest ARM-based server systems powered by certified 64-bit processors.
ubuntu.com ubuntu.com

I recommend Parallels. I have been virtualizing Windows on a Mac since Leopard and no other VM software has been more balanced and functional. It is expensive, but they don't give away Porsches for free.

Application and Desktop Delivery | Parallels RAS

Download Parallels to run Windows on Mac, Chrome, gain access to virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with DaaS, & Toolbox to secure private files, & more.
www.parallels.com www.parallels.com
 
polisac said:
Hello,

When changing the laptop from macbook pro 2011 for the new Macbook m2, to work I need to virtualize Ubuntu amd x64 and I have tried several programs but it does not support it. someone could help me ? Is it possible that there is nothing for the management that I need? Regards, thank you
Click to expand...
The latest large Linux distributions for AArch64 work well in regular virtual machines in UTM.

For a project at work I’m running Rocky Linux 8 AMD64 via QEMU emulation in UTM since the AArch64 version of that distribution isn’t compatible with the M1 series of CPUs. It works but performance is a bit hit-or-miss. You’d see something similar with an AMD64 version of Ubuntu.

UTM

Securely run operating systems on your Mac
mac.getutm.app mac.getutm.app
 
MallardDuck said:
It's rudimentary at best, and not ready for prime time.
Click to expand...
I don't think it will ever be a consumer-level feature where "it just works". This is intended for developers and maybe sysadmins. And if you know how to get the x86 libs, runtimes and loaders it works just as well as rosetta does on macOS. But the setup is an involved process and I think it will stay that way. But if you're testing your own x86 Linux program it works perfectly fine
 
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