PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

Crucially,unlikemostexistingVR
meetingtools,Workroomshas
actuallybeenbuiltwiththeboring
businessofofficeworkinmind.You
canbringyourcomputerwithyou
intothevirtualspace–atapwill
displayyourscreeninfrontofa
virtualkeyboard,andyoucanalso
shareitontothevirtualwallsothat
everyonecansee.
Sothatyoucaninteractwithout
removingyourheadset,theappuses
theQuest2’scamerastotrackyour
keyboardandyourfingers,sothat
youcantypeonthevirtualkeyboard
anditwillexactlymatchthephysical
deviceintherealworld.
Workroomshasalsobeenbuiltso
thatcolleaguescanparticipate
withouttheneedforaheadset.
Instead,theirwebcamwillappear
asafloatingboxintheroom,and
imagesofthevirtualroomwill
appearontheirdevicelikeavideo
callfrominsideTheMatrix.

Changingrooms
Couldthisreallychangethewaywe
work?Orwillwelookbackon
Workroomsasa techcurio?
“Ithinkit’scompletelyinline
withwhatFacebookistryingto
achieve,” saidGaelSeydoux,who
hasstudied VR anduserinteraction
formanyyearsasdirectorof
researchand innovationattech
researchfirmInterDigital.
“Infrontofthem,
youhave Zoom,you
haveTeams,you
haveallthose
competitors.So
thebattleisgoing
tobefierceand
technology is
goingtoreally
makethedifference.”
Despitebeinga VR enthusiast,
Seydouxdoesn’tthinkthat
Horizon Workroomswillreplace
face-to-faceinteraction, althoughit
couldfurthertip thescalestowards
digitalmeetings.Butthereisone
majorhurdlethatremains:the fact
thatto participatefully,youneedto
strapa lumpofplastictoyourface.
“It’sinvasive,it’sheavy,”said
Seydoux.“Whenyou’re wearing
thatforanhour, you’reverytired.
So,evolutiononthedesignandthe
formfactorneeds to happen.”
Zuckerbergconcedesasmuch.
InaninterviewwithTheVerge
earlierthisyear,hesaidthatthe
“hardesttechnology challengeofour
timemaybefittinga supercomputer
intotheframeofnormal-looking
glasses”.Thecompany’snewly
announcedRay-Bansmartglasses are
perhapsmoreindicativeofthe
long-termdirectionoftravel.

Apple’sM1siliconmayhavesmashed

performancebenchmarks,butuntilnow

asignificantcomputingconstituencyhas

missedoutonthegains:Linuxusers.

EnterdeveloperHectorMartin,who

sincelastNovemberhasbeenworking

hardtoreverse-engineerApple’scustom

silicon.Overthepastfewmonths,we’ve

startedtoseethefruitsofhislabour,with

acolleaguetweetingscreenshotsofa

customdistribution,dubbedAsahi,

runningaGnomedesktop.

Sohowdidtheteammanageto

breakopenApple’shardware?Thefirst

stepwastofindawaytotalktotheM

Macmini.

“Itturnsoutthesemachinesdohavea

serialport,it’shiddeninthe[USB]Type

C-ports,”explainedMartin.“Youneedto

sendsomemagicvoodoocommands

throughaspecialvendor-defined

message...andsuddenlytheType-Cport

turnsintoaserialport.”

Thisenabledhimtosendsomevery

basicinstructionstothechipusingan

Arduino,tofigureoutthebasicsofhowit

worked.Fromthis,hewasabletoinsert

hisownbootloader–thelow-level

softwarethatisrunfirstwhenthe

computerisswitchedon.Dubbed“Mini”,

thecustombootloaderjustlistenstothe

serialport,andenabledhimtotake

controloftheM1hardwareandsend

commandsfromanothercomputer.

Thenextstepwastobuilddrivers

fortheM1Mac’sdifferentcomponents.

Hesaysthatonewaytodoitwouldhave

beentodisassembleApple’sowndrivers

andlookatthecodeApplehadwritten

forcontrollingthehardware,butthis

approachcouldhavelandedhisproject

inlegalbother.

Instead,MartinranmacOSinwhat

hecalls“theworld’sdumbestvirtual

machine”.Allitdidwassitbetween

macOSandtheM1hardware,butit

enabledMartintospyonwhatwasgoing

onunderthehood.

“Wecanwatch,andwecanintercept

things,”saidMartin.“IfIcanjustsee

whatmacOSisdoingwiththehardware,

thenIcanfigurethingsoutbytrialand

errorandguesswork.”

Martinismakingprogress,but

masteringtheM1isnotwithoutits

challenges.Forexample,thoughhisteam

hasbasicgraphicsworking,unlocking

thechip’sfullcapabilitiesisproving

difficultbecauseofthedisplaydriver.

ThoughmacOScanupdatethedrivers

easilyeverytimetheoperatingsystem

updates,arequirementofLinuxisthat

thekernelandgraphicsdriverscanbe

updatedseparately.ButwiththeM1,

thetwoneedtoworkhandinhandfor

displaystowork.Thismeansthat

installationofAsahiLinuxcannot

currentlybeasslickandpainlessas

installingmacOS.

However,Martinisundeterred,and

believeshisteamwilleventuallyfully

crackopentheM1.

“Howdoyouknowyou’renotgonna

hitabrickwall?Andtheansweris,well,

becausethethingrunsmacOSjustfine,”

helaughed.

MusclingLinuxontoApplesilicon

DevelopersworktheirwaypastApple’swalledgardentoinstall

LinuxonanM 1 Macmini

BriefingNews

Thebattleisgoing

tobefierceand

technologyisgoing

toreallymakethe

difference

HectorMartinhas

reverse-engineered

Apple’ssilicontogetLinux

runningonanM1Macmini