Libre on other than x86/64?
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I don't really like Intel. I currently have a netbook with x86, but at any chance, I would like an ARM notebook like the Genesi Smartbook. I already have the Ben Nanonote palmtop, which is copyleft hardware, and MIPS architecture.
So how Libre can I be on the ARM side of GNU/Linux? Can it happen? I want to ditch my overheating power hungry hp 2133 for a sleek noiseless no-fan system.
It has been hinted in the IRC channel that ARM support will eventually come to Trisquel. No official word. Unfortunately I don't have any more info then that.
It makes sense, if *buntu already works on ARM, and Debian as well. Supposedly Debian now uses a Libre kernel, I dunno for sure.
Debian does use a libre kernel (http://www.fsf.org/news/debian-squeeze-makes-key-progress-toward-being-a-fully-free-distribution) in their latest release.
Perhaps if I ran Debian in a Libre way, I'd be good to go
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You can also run gNewSense, that's what rms is doing. Don't have to be concerned about installing non-free software per accident and afaik they are going to be based off Debian some time in the future.
gNewSense 3 beta used on MIPS is Debian-based. It's difficult to install
now, but otherwise works well on YeeLoong. Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
also supports this hardware and has newer packages (for
non-Loongson 2F-compatible MIPS hardware only gNewSense would work
without rebuilding all packages).
A problem with ARM machines is that these which are widely available
usually need nonfree firmware or don't have free BIOS.
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Lemote Yeelong does have free BIOS and works perfectly with free software. I think there are some issues with the battery life, but not entirely sure if it has been ironed out by now.
I wonder how well one can use the Lemote for programming. Aren't there some difficulties with compiling code for x86 CPUs?
> Lemote Yeelong does have free BIOS and works perfectly with free
> software. I think there are some issues with the battery life, but not
> entirely sure if it has been ironed out by now.
"Perfectly" assumes using a patched graphics driver not included in gNS
nor Parabola. Battery works for 2 hours.
> I wonder how well one can use the Lemote for programming. Aren't there
> some difficulties with compiling code for x86 CPUs?
I used it to improve an useful Python program and to write small
homework programs in C, Haskell and Java. Except for bad Java
performance and no GHC interactive interpreter, it worked well.
For building and fixing distro packages, compiling WebKit GTK in
Parabola with debug symbols needed special linker options to fit in
2 GiB of virtual memory. (Whole build, separate for GTK 2 and GTK 3,
took 26 hours.)
I never tried crosscompiling code for x86 CPUs, since I never need it
when not having access to a fast machine to run it on.
(Mono doesn't work on MIPS, but it's probably not an important problem
here.)
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Wow, 2 hours battery is quite shitty for such a tiny netbook as Lemote. I thought it would at least have over 3 hours. I guess my statement about "perfectly working" is plain wrong.
В 13:17 +0200 на 19.08.2011 (пт), Michał Masłowski написа:
> A problem with ARM machines is that these which are widely available
> usually need nonfree firmware or don't have free BIOS.
ARM machines do not have BIOS, at least not in the x86 meaning. They
have a bootloader that prepares the hardware and boots the kernel. AFAIK
most devices use U-boot which is free software. There are other
bootloaders that work with ARM, like Qi, RedBoot, APEX and probably
more, that might or might not work with some hardware. A problem might
be replacing the installed version (of U-boot for example) with newer
one, if it had been patched and the machine vendor did not release the
code, as required by the GPL. Another problem might be that there is no
information at all how to replace the bootloader/firmware.
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