[Arm-netbook] Current status

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, David Niklas <doark at mail.com> wrote:

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> On Monday, July 20, 2020, George Sokolsky <sokolgeo at posteo.net> wrote:
> >  How people are moving forward with their computing needs?
>
> I'm not receiving an EOMA68, rather I'm building my own laptop from a
> firefly RK3399 SBC. It's more powerful then the EOMA68,


correction: EOMA68 is a protocol standard.  an SBC cannot be compared to a
standard.

you must mean "an EOMA68-A20 computer card".

if in the future an EOMA68-RK3399 existed, it would compare directly with
and have exactly the same speed, capactity and performance as the RK3399
Firefly.


> but its lack of
> FLOSS SW support is problematic. For example, the firmware flashing
> didn't flash firmware and did mess up my kernel enough to require a
> reboot. Grrr!
> I'm working on and off on the SW and HW.
>
> The RK3399 is a real winner of a processor, being sold on a lot of SBCs
> for as little as $50. It's getting better and better SW support as devs
> reverse engineer its internal mali GPU and associated interconnect and
> power controls.


this is one thing that really concerns me.  the RK3399 came out nearly 3
years ago yet you're saying that *only now* is support for it trickling
through to mainstream? what gives?

AMDs laptop offerings are also very temping and I'm recommending them to
> normal people who want to purchase a laptop. Linux support is in great
> shape for the 4000 series AFAIK[1]. Supposedly, AMD is coming out with an
> APU even more amazing before the end of the year.


they're just doing so much better than intel.  you saw the news about Apple
reporting more QA issues in Skylake during its development than Intel
engineers?



>
> Again, personally, I'll bang my head against this SBC until it does what
> I want! No PSP[2] for me!
>
> >  What's the 'next best thing' to invest here?
>
> Off the top of my head since the inception of the EOMA68...
>
> Correct me mercilessly if I'm wrong, luke.
> @ @
>  V


:)


>
> The RISC-V folks are being unkind to luke and other devs


anyone who will not join the Foundation, basically, is unwelcome.

 (they
> will not let them participate),


oh you can use the Standards: you just can't participate in their
enhancement without joining rge Foundation.

which sounds reasonable until you read the fine print and find that there
are secrecy clauses that are completely incompatible with transparency and
openness requirements of, for example, the Charitable Foundation that is
funding my work on Libre-SOC.


>
> so that's out of the question.
> The Epiphany processor was looking like its silicon form would really be
> a powerful CPU, but then the guys in charge said that there were not
> enough people who wanted one to manufacture them on silicon.


sigh, bless them, they didn't properly "read" their customers' needs.  my
brother understande this extremely well.  it's not the product itself that
sells itself, it's whether the team can explain to the potential customers
that they can be trusted to help them fulfil their needs.



> MIPS was looking promising until you read it's "open source" license.


 i did try contacting them.  the open website was closed for business.  oops

Currently, the folks of the POWER arch are releasing version 9 as
> open-source (still hacking out the terms AFAIK).


that's done.

long story, here.  a group has been working for a LONG time (like 10 years)
to create the OpenPOWER Foundation.  right in rhe middle of that, RISCV
started up :)

the EULA was out in... january i think.  i got "helloworld" running a
couple of weeks ago in simulation, in the Libre-SOC core.

if you want to know more then do join one if rhe virtual coffee calls

https://openpowerfoundation.org/openpower-virtual-coffee-calls/


> So, if you're looking for Linux kernel rate OSHW releases you're
> bound to be disappointed. Otherwise I'd wait for OpenPOWER and invest in
> products from that endeavor -- assuming it doesn't go South too.


it won't.   IBM is not going away.

l.



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crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68