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My main concern with this DIY laptop is if they are mainlining everything for Linux and U-boot. It looks to be entirely open source (due to the use of the NXP/F

by kop316 6y ago

My main concern with this DIY laptop is if they are mainlining everything for Linux and U-boot. It looks to be entirely open source (due to the use of the NXP/Freescale i.MX8MQ and the work going into that). This unfortunately happened with the Novena. It was entirely open source, but there were a lot of out of tree patches that had to be applied to get a kernel fully functional. This meant that it was effectively frozen at 4.4 without someone to dedicate a lot of time to port the changes to a newer kernel (I say that as someone who tried, and gave up, to try to port the changes to 4.9).

malexw 6y ago
So this is a bit off-topic, but I pulled out my Novena this past weekend to work on an SDR project and after updating the installed packages I started wondering about the process of keeping these devices running up-to-date software and the community around it. Are you able to offer any insight about how I, a developer with only a little embedded experience, could learn enough about the process to meaningfully contribute to keeping the Novena up-to-date? Is there still a community around the Novena?
- kop316 6y ago
  Sure! Look at my github: https://github.com/chris4795 https://github.com/chris4795 I tried to document what I did as much as possible for others to look at it. I recall I was able to update it to Stretch (with linux 4.4, not linux 4.9) and I was able to make the whole boot process/update process more debian friendly. u-boot-novena is where I put all of the scripts needed in order to get the whole process to work with Debian Mainline. The forums: https://kosagi.com/forums/ https://kosagi.com/forums/ Also have most of the good bits of nuggets to figure it out too (that's how I figured out most of what I did). I don't know how much of a community around it there is anymore though (I really haven't looked in years). EDIT: It looks like jookia actually did a lot of work and upgraded the Novena to Buster: https://www.kosagi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=542 https://www.kosagi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=542 I may try it sometime.
  - malexw 6y ago
    Thanks! I'm not sure how I overlooked the forums. It looks like there is someone there who has ported everything to Buster, so it looks like there is at least enough of a community to see some new software releases and hopefully offer some more pointers in how to contribute.
yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
This is one reason that I tend to like things like the CutiePi (Pi-based tablet) that reuses an already-supported SoC/"motherboard"; I already expect the Pi to either be mainline or have enough support that any out-of-tree patches will be maintained.
metafex 6y ago
It's already running an almost mainline kernel: https://twitter.com/mntmn/status/1259611758827835394 https://twitter.com/mntmn/status/1259611758827835394 and what is left looks like it would be easy to get upstreamed. I don't know about the u-boot situation, but one can always ask Lukas on twitter ^^ I have a Novena around collecting dust too and used it a lot while it was still getting patches. I'm actually more excited about the reform2, and already held a prototype unit at 36C3. It's very much what got me excited about open hardware laptops in the first place, but packaged in a more user-centric way. the Novena was always a pita to use on the go.
- kop316 6y ago
  I'm glad to hear it! If those are mainlined I would be a lot more excited about this. I imagine it uses u-boot already, that doesn't seem as hard to port to a system and upstream (I got vanilla u-boot working on a Novena, but it did not have some of the patches that bunnie and xobs put to it).
pantalaimon 6y ago
What's the trouble of getting it upstreamed? Too many quick hacks that warrant a proper solution?

by kop316 6y ago

malexw 6y ago

So this is a bit off-topic, but I pulled out my Novena this past weekend to work on an SDR project and after updating the installed packages I started wondering about the process of keeping these devices running up-to-date software and the community around it. Are you able to offer any insight about how I, a developer with only a little embedded experience, could learn enough about the process to meaningfully contribute to keeping the Novena up-to-date? Is there still a community around the Novena?

kop316 6y ago
Sure! Look at my github: https://github.com/chris4795 https://github.com/chris4795 I tried to document what I did as much as possible for others to look at it. I recall I was able to update it to Stretch (with linux 4.4, not linux 4.9) and I was able to make the whole boot process/update process more debian friendly. u-boot-novena is where I put all of the scripts needed in order to get the whole process to work with Debian Mainline. The forums: https://kosagi.com/forums/ https://kosagi.com/forums/ Also have most of the good bits of nuggets to figure it out too (that's how I figured out most of what I did). I don't know how much of a community around it there is anymore though (I really haven't looked in years). EDIT: It looks like jookia actually did a lot of work and upgraded the Novena to Buster: https://www.kosagi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=542 https://www.kosagi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=542 I may try it sometime.
- malexw 6y ago
  Thanks! I'm not sure how I overlooked the forums. It looks like there is someone there who has ported everything to Buster, so it looks like there is at least enough of a community to see some new software releases and hopefully offer some more pointers in how to contribute.

yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago

This is one reason that I tend to like things like the CutiePi (Pi-based tablet) that reuses an already-supported SoC/"motherboard"; I already expect the Pi to either be mainline or have enough support that any out-of-tree patches will be maintained.

metafex 6y ago

It's already running an almost mainline kernel: https://twitter.com/mntmn/status/1259611758827835394 https://twitter.com/mntmn/status/1259611758827835394 and what is left looks like it would be easy to get upstreamed. I don't know about the u-boot situation, but one can always ask Lukas on twitter ^^ I have a Novena around collecting dust too and used it a lot while it was still getting patches. I'm actually more excited about the reform2, and already held a prototype unit at 36C3. It's very much what got me excited about open hardware laptops in the first place, but packaged in a more user-centric way. the Novena was always a pita to use on the go.

kop316 6y ago
I'm glad to hear it! If those are mainlined I would be a lot more excited about this. I imagine it uses u-boot already, that doesn't seem as hard to port to a system and upstream (I got vanilla u-boot working on a Novena, but it did not have some of the patches that bunnie and xobs put to it).

pantalaimon 6y ago

What's the trouble of getting it upstreamed? Too many quick hacks that warrant a proper solution?