One thing I did not expect to change when using Asahi Linux is the sound of the electronics. But when using Linux, my MacBook Air M1 2020 makes a slight humming noise when a finger sits on the trackpad. When using MacOS on the same device, this is not the case. It’s not so bad, but I’d love to know why this is the case and if there’s anything that can be done about it.
That sounds like a grounding issue, or a driver on Linux not supporting a power state/etc. I’d be concerned with it coming with touchpad use (external static/ESD might not mitigate the same, or go through the same thing humming).
I’m not familiar with Apple silicon or Asahi though and could be wrong.
Do you happen do use headphones when this happens, by chance or is it with the normal audio output from the speakers?
I did have similar issues when I used 3.5mm jack headphones but ignored it as being something to do with the cable. Issues disappeared on bluetooth or via USB-C, so you could try reproducing without headphones if this is the case.
If it does indeed happen without headphones, it’s probably not normal. What volume levels are you usually using?
It is not coming from the speakers, but it is some sort of coil whine. When the laptop is running on Linux, there is constantly a very quiet, atonal buzzing sound. When I touch the trackpad, it becomes louder and higher in pitch. It doesn’t matter if the charger is plugged in or if there are headphones connected. But it does not happen with MacOS.
Just did some more experimenting. And the sound goes away completely when using the performance energy setting! On startup, the sound begins right before the login screen shows. So is this an inevitable side effect of using the lower power energy settings, or can it be fixed somehow?
Apologies for the late reply, work and life got in the way for a while.
I just tried replicating this but to no avail. This only happening in specific energy settings makes me think that it’s some issue with cpufreq or the KDE power settings daemon.
However, I have no idea how to troubleshoot this, unfortunately
Is your laptop connected to the power adapter? Apple’s power adapter is not grounded, so it’s normal to have a small leakage current.