A light remix of Project Bluefin LTS for running inside a VM on my Apple Mac. Why? Because I’m a maximalist minimalist with opinions. Also because macOS makes me sigh audibly at least twice a day.
If you're rocking x86_64, this ain't it. Go home.
Because I live in the Apple ecosystem like a well-dressed prisoner. My M4 Mac Mini is a power-sipping marvel that plays nice with my AirPods, iPhone, and the occasional Teams call that doesn’t lag like it’s buffering from 2006. But macOS? It’s like a beautiful house with no furniture. I want my Linux desktop. I want my dotfiles. I want my soul back.
There isn't really that much customisation, the friendly folks at Bluefin have thought of most things already, I just need:
- Chezmoi, because
chezmoi init --apply n3ddu8should be the only onboarding step I ever need. - DevPod CLI, because DevPod GUI doesn’t support ARM and I’m allergic to buttons.
- Pip, because sometimes I just want to
pip install pandasand vibe with a CSV.
This setup has only been tested on UTM using Apple Virtualization. If you try it on VMware or Parallels, may the kernel gods be with you.
- Download the Bluefin LTS for ARM ISO. No, I’m not producing my own ISO. Yet.
- Launch UTM. Create a new VM.
- Choose Apple Virtualization (because Rosetta is for apps, not dreams).
- Browse to the ISO like it’s 2005.
- Give the VM at least 4GB RAM and 64GB disk. I use 12GB RAM and 120GB disk on my base-model M4 Mac Mini and still have room for Teams, ProtonMail, and existential dread.
- Leave CPU cores on default. UTM will pass all performance cores to the VM like a good little hypervisor.
- Set up a shared folder if you want to pretend your VM is part of the family.
- Launch the VM. Full-screen it. Ctrl+Opt releases your soul back to macOS.
- Install Bluefin as normal. No wizardry required.
- Run
sudo bootc switch ghcr.io/n3ddu8/atomac
That’s it. No comlex scripts. No YAML. Just vibes.
Q: Why not just use macOS?
A: Because I like my desktops like I like my shell prompts - extra, opinionated, and slightly unstable.
Q: Why Bluefin?
A: Because it’s gorgeous, fast, and doesn’t make me feel like I’m using a server distro to write emails.
Q: Why UTM?
A: Because it’s native, it’s free, and it doesn’t ask me to install kernel extensions that sound like malware.
Q: Why not just dual boot Asahi Linux?
A: Because I love functioning Wi-Fi, graphics acceleration, and not crying into my kernel logs.
Q: Why is your README so dramatic?
A: Because this is more than a VM - it’s a lifestyle. Also because I’m tired of reading dry documentation that feels like it was written by a toaster.
Still here? You’re either my kind of person or lost. Either way, welcome to Atomac.
🖖 May your VM be fast and your dotfiles be ever declarative. 🖖