[fedora-arm] Cheap ARM devices

[Chris Tyler]

On Thu, 2010-03-04 at 12:04 -0600, Adam Miller wrote:
> RAM is a really good point, I think it will be in the ballpark of 256
> (plus or minus a bit). Also, I'd like to open up the conversation
> about version of ARM we as a SIG want to support as the efforts start
> to ramp up while targeting popular devices. I think ARMv9 might be a
> little too aggressive but are there any devices that are still
> prominent that are ARMv5? Would it be possible (or even feasible) to
> maintain ARMv5, ARMv7, and ARMv9 in parallel and treat them as
> separate architectures?

The ARM "Family" vs. "Architecture" numbering is wonky (and very
frustrating - larger numbers don't reliably mean newer, bigger, faster,
or better). The SheevaPlug uses an "ARM9E" family chip, which uses the
"ARMv5TEJ" architecture. ARMv5 is a needed current target for that
device and others.

However, the popular Cortex chips use ARMv6M and ARMx7* architecture. Is
there enough performance difference to warrant targeting both
independently? And just the kernel, or userspace as well?

-Chris