Getting a backup laptop, and would like to dual boot it with Zorin. The CPU is the new Snapdragon and associated architecture. Will there be any issues with it? You would work it similar to an Apple dual boot - right?
I think that depends if the Kernel supports Snapdragon. You could try it with Zorin in LiveMode.
True - I've introduced a few Apple friends to Zorin with just a few redo's to get it right. When I lived in Co. I used to build Apple products - lol - on my new Thinkpad - Zorin/Ubuntu even has a Kernel that ends with .1024 - that was part of the additional drivers selection. So you think it will go down specifically, or just accepted as just another Arm 64 Architecture type.
Note this past post from devs re ARM. I have not seen anything new, so it is not done yet. Making an Arm version - #9 by AZorin
From my understanding, snapdragon processors are of the ARM architecture, as opposed to the usual x86 found in almost every computer and laptop.
Linux on that processor shouldn't be a problem, as qualcomn does provide official drivers for it on the upstream linux kernel. However, it is up to specific distributions to provide ARM versions that you can install and use. Zorin only provides builds for x86 (AMD and Intel), but they did mention a while ago they had plans to support the raspberry pi (which uses an ARM processor). Zorin might not be possible at the moment, but maybe in the future. However, there are distros that do offer ARM support right now and should work fine, like debian.
Zorin is based on Ubuntu's 22.04 LTS which is made for x86 architecture processors. The new Snapdragon is ARM-based processor. So until an ARM version of the operating system that supports that ARM processor comes out from Ubuntu/Zorin, no it won't work. But, you might be able to emulate an x86 virtual machine in order to use Zorin that way.
I've read that part of it's abilities to deal with some Windows apps will be to emulate an x86 to run the app, so there is that. I'll check first to see how it runs on the usb - that will tell a lot. Figure start in safe graphics/troubleshooting mode and go from there. And that will be after cruising the bios and adjusting a few things - lol.
From my understanding, the emulation is done inside windows, which means the operating system itself needs to be specifically designed to run on ARM.
In fact, that is not something new. The reason they are advertising it more than before now is because performance with this compatibility layer used to be really poor, but things seem to have improved significally.
Linux does have a way to run x86-only apps in ARM processors:
But, just like windows, this only works once the system is fully up and running, so the base system itself should still need to have been built for ARM specifically, which Zorin doesn't offer yet.
We are still some time away from having ARM-Linux being on-par with x86. Look how long it has taken Asahi Linux to get close to working in M-1 silicon. It works but it is still in Alpha. The resources and experience are in-place to make it happen with Snapdragon faster/better but it will be at least a year or so before you see something meaningful in the Linux landscape.
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