Re: [tlug] Linux for ARM [was Re: linuxdevices for display on a tv]

[Christian Horn <chorn@example.com>]

On Mon, Oct 07, 2013 at 07:25:27AM +0900, Mattia Dongili wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 06, 2013 at 08:55:40AM +0200, Christian Horn wrote:
> > 
> > I think this improved.  We will also get ARM as primary architecture
> > in Fedora20, this shows that it gets much attention.  The 64bit 
> > aarch64 also makes progress.
> 
> ARM has been an option for years for other distributions, that doesn't
> mean that GPUs are any more supported by open source drivers. And with
> binary blobs your are stuck to whatever combination of X
> libraries/server the vendor supports.
> I just found an article on phoronix[1] that mentions some progress but
> it all seems to be reverse engineered efforts, reminds me of the early
> (or maybe not so early) Nvidia days.
> As a server side platform I have no doubts that ARM is a viable
> solution. I'm waiting for a mass production of cubietruck[2] to get one.
> 
> [1]: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ3MTM
> [2]: http://cubieboard.org/tag/cubietruck/

Also on x86 we are still not there with open drivers for graphic
cards, it would be surprising if that would go faster for ARM 
devices.

I have no good explanation why graphic drivers are so locked down
though.
I.e. for network drivers it is good style to have usable versions
in upstream.  Only one exception coming to mind, solarflare.  Reason
for not beeing upstream is that they duplicate much code which is
already solved in upstream (doing things more efficient for their
usecase).

Christian