Is Calibre compatible with Apple Silicon M1 Macs (using rosetta 2)?
 

For those early adopters getting their new ARM based Macs today, I'm really curious if Calibre runs out of the box using Rosetta 2? And also how hard would it be to recompile an ARM native version for the new Macs?

Cant answer your first question, as to the second, pretty hard, all of calibre's deps would need to be dual compiled. In the past calibre has had dual ppc/x86 builds for os x, so its not impossible, just dont expect it to be anytime soon.

Thanks, if anyone buys an M1 Mac and tries it, please do report on whether it works!

And also if Calibre works :D

I'd think in theory it *should* work, though performance might not be great

@Quoth: indeed! The reviews are quite positive so far......

@Binaryhermit: quite the opposite, the initial benchmarks indicate that Intel code running on Mac's ARM actually is faster than many Intel native computers (google it). However, even Apple does not guarantee 100% of Intel code will work, and the exceptions are rather technical. I suspect Calibre will work fine based on what I have read.

Here's a link from Apple that describes what is compatible: https://developer.apple.com/document...on_environment

Note specifically this (does Calibre use Kernel extensions?):

What Can't Be Translated?
Rosetta can translate most Intel-based apps, including apps that contain just-in-time (JIT) compilers. However, Rosetta doesn’t translate the following executables:

Kernel extensions

Virtual Machine apps that virtualize x86_64 computer platforms

Rosetta translates all x86_64 instructions, but it doesn’t support the execution of some newer instruction sets and processor features, such as AVX, AVX2, and AVX512 vector instructions. If you include these newer instructions in your code, execute them only after verifying that they are available. For example, to determine if AVX512 vector instructions are available, use the sysctlbyname function to check the hw.optional.avx512f attribute.

Here's Lightroom Classic running under Rosetta. I suspect Calibre performance will not be an issue!

https://youtu.be/S-dOB326mlY?t=771

No calibre does not use kernel extensions/virtual machines. As far as I know it *should* work fine, however, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Thanks! I'm inspired enough to pick up my M1 Macbook Air tomorrow and try. 14 days to test it, at least!

Yes, Apple have done this before, 68K, Power PC, x86-32 and x86-64 with no 32 bit.
I'm sure it's well tested and while the Rossetta 2 might be slower than some non-Apple x86 computers, for a single core, it's faster than most or even all x86 Apple laptops and minis.

However I'd only buy one if I absolutely had to run Mac OS. I remember the 68K with ROM OS, the translucent CRT iMac original and the Mac in half a ball with OS9.

I have installed Calibre 4.23 on a new Mac mini with M1 chip. It works fine.
However... if you are using Alf's tool (v6.8) and Kindle for Mac 1.26, Alf's tool is not working properly.
I have posted on the Github (#1369) and in a couple of other threads here, but am having no luck with a solution.

Thanks for the update. Had a feeling Alf might be an issue.

FYI - If you have an eInk Kindle device and use the "download & transfer via USB" method, since you're bypassing the Kindle for Mac app in this situation, Alf's tool & Calibre work fine.

Best anyway. KFX is evil and adds DRM even when Publisher selects DRM free.

That's a major pain to use when downloading a big batch after a spending spree. It also uses low quality images in comics. The Kindle for desktop apps download the highest quality images available (albeit a bit of pain to combine with separate azw3+azw6 files).

Got my M1 Mac mini (16GB Ram, 1TB SSD) Nov 25 and Calibre works fine. I haven't found anything that doesn't work properly. Performance is fine--maybe just slightly better than my 2018 Mac mini with core-i7, 512GB SSD and 64GB ram.

For benchmarking, I converted Follett's Fall of Giants to kfx and compared the performance to that of the 2018 Mac mini:

kfx conversion 2018 Mac mini: 107 seconds
kfx conversion 2020 M1 Mac mini: 100 seconds

I use a number of plugins, not problems. I also have my own Python programs that access the calibre database remotely to grab information using calibredb and it all works perfectly.

Given the massive change to the hardware on the M1 devices, Apple has been very successful making almost everything compatible without compromising performance.

The main thing I would suspect of having issues is the Viewer or the preview panel in the editor, as they use a web browser under the hood, which in turn uses a Just in Time compiler for javascript, these tend to be the hardest things to run via emulation.

I got my M1 Mac today. No problems with viewer, no problems with preview panel. It works extremely fast and perfectly. I am very pleased. Every Intel app I have tried has performed flawlessly so far. I haven't tried Alf's tool (I am assuming it won't work) but assuming one has a backup computer for that, everything is peachy!

That's good to know, thanks :)

A solution could be Crossover 20.

Installation of Calibre 3.48 (32-bit) is working on my Intel MacBook. I guess this will also work on M1 Mac. Then install DeDRM_tools_6.8.1 in plugins and try if it's working.

I have ordered a MacBook Air M1...but will arrive in January 2021. So, I cannot test yet.

I've got a shiny new M1 Macbook Air (8GB, 512GB) and Calibre 4.23 works great. But I'm not able to convert. Books downloaded with the latest Kindle for Mac app don't really even load into Calibre...they just come in as "ebok" files (so maybe I'm doing something wrong there?). Books downloaded for "download and USB" transfer load into Calibre just fine, but don't convert...once again, I think I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not sure what. Something to do with my Kindle key, I'm sure.

I'm coming from Windows, where this all worked pretty well. Still got my Windows machine, but not for much longer (I hope).

Welcome to macOS! :D

Some tips: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=508

Have you configured K4Mac not to download KFX format? Did you enter your eInk Kindle serial number into the right spot in the DeDRM plugin configuration? You might want to check the Dealing with Kindle for PC/Mac 1.19 and KFX in calibre thread in the stickies.

Good luck!

Meanwhile I have my MacBook Air with M1-processor. Everything is working fine. Also Alf's DRM plugin is working. I didn't find anything not working.

Which version of Calibre?
Regards,
Joe

Latest version.

All, I am now successfully using the latest version of Calibre on my M1 MacBook Pro (16M Ram). I initially had issues getting Alf’s plug-in to work. The problem is that Safari unzips the download automatically. I had to download the plug-in file on my Windows PC, then copy on to a flash drive. You have to add the unzipped version of the file for it to load properly.
Sweet!
Joe

Using a proper browser like Firefox or Chrome might also have worked ;)

Yeah I use Chrome on my work PC. That would have been my next option. As far as being a “proper” browser, using both, in the Mac OS environment, my preference is Safari.