Ubuntu and ROS on apple M1 chip

I am going to write my master thesis with ROS and I am not sure if the software will run on Apple Macbook Air with M1 chip.

Did anyone use those tools and can share their experience and compatibility with ROS?

Solution 1:

M1 is not currently a chip architecture that Debian and Ubuntu build packages for.

Since M1 is a proprietary architecture, there's no way to guess when Apple will make the documentation available that enables volunteers to compile packages for that architecture. Maybe next week...maybe never. It's Apple's decision, not ours.

Some intrepid folks have indeed managed to haywire several Linux distros, including Ubuntu, to run...sort of...on M1 hardware. Clever pioneers always find a way. However, the Ubuntu installers DO NOT work on M1, Ubuntu developers will reject M1-related bug reports, and the Apple Genius Bar may (or may not) complain that you voided your warranty when you tried to install Ubuntu and bricked your MacBook.

Ubuntu will happily run on your M1...in a Virtual Machine.