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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 06/10/2014 04:12 PM, Peter Robinson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CALeDE9Nf1Gbnh9xVV13wd+G-Mhevb2XjWgdGu1Vc97ewajoxng@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
So at the moment there's around 15,000 source packages in Fedora
mainline and you're getting depressed over exactly 24 of them? I'm not
sure how 24 packages is providing a inconsistent experience. </pre>
</blockquote>
Fedora simply must support ARM because it ensures future viability.
The progress in ARM hardware platforms is amazing---ARM device sales
overtook x86 in 2010 [1] and of course the total number of ARM
processors in the wild exceeds x86 by orders of magnitude. Even if
we limit ourselves to 'computer' devices, ARM is significant and the
numbers can only change further in ARM's favor. Limiting Fedora to
x86 would condemn it to a relative or maybe even absolute gradual
decline.<br>
<br>
ARM/x86 parity in Fedora was an important and correct decision, and
the ARM team did great work fixing the remaining problems. ARM
support came from behind, so of course there are problems remaining.
My primary interest is the embedded domain---Beaglebone [2] and
other tiny ARM platforms, which will arguably form the basis for the
new interconnected infrastructure awkwardly called the Internet of
Things (IoT). Fedora is my favorite environment, so I would like it
to flourish in this space, but I have to say that Debian is a strong
contender---specifically, BBB community seems to have switched to it
when the original Angstrom-based software load ran out of steam.
Fedora is available, but is a little bit of a work in progress [3]<br>
<br>
I think Fedora community should be aware of that and should support
ARM effort even more. It seems to me that ARM platform fragmentation
is a problem, due to the lack of standards in peripherals as well as
boot environment.<br>
Even the Fedora build infrastructure is tricky and, as Kevin pointed
out, it lags in performance---which reminds me that Linaro recently
chose stripped Chromebooks 2 as its compile farm [4].<br>
<br>
I appreciate this discussion because it focuses the need to collect
and address the issues that hold ARM Fedora back. I can think of
these:<br>
<br>
- fixing packages that FTBFS on ARM: <br>
- engaging packagers so that everyone cares about the issue<br>
- giving them tools to test-build with reasonable speed<br>
- keeping track of problems and working solutions<br>
<br>
- boot environment<br>
- work on a truly unified booting scheme that's as easy as x86
'stick the CD/USB in, press the button' <br>
- or at least collect enough platform-specific recipes<br>
<br>
- build environment<br>
- making sure the build environment is comprehensive and
high-performance<br>
- include the most popular platforms (chromebooks, beaglebone,
olimex)<br>
<br>
[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.wired.com/2012/08/ff_intel/all/">http://www.wired.com/2012/08/ff_intel/all/</a><br>
<br>
[2] BeagleBone Black (BBB) is a mint-can sized 1GHz, 512MB RAM, 4GB
flash, USB/Ethernet/HDMI fully functional computer platform for the
grand total of $50. It has excellent I/O interfacing capabilities,
and is used for remote sensing, 3D printing and other CNC systems,
etc: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone+Black">http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone+Black</a><br>
<br>
[3] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://beagleboard.org/fedora">http://beagleboard.org/fedora</a> <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/F20/Installation#For_the_BeagleBone_Black">http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/F20/Installation#For_the_BeagleBone_Black</a><br>
<br>
[4] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.systemcall.org/blog/2014/06/trashing-chromebooks/">http://www.systemcall.org/blog/2014/06/trashing-chromebooks/</a><br>
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