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This is "just" the CPU. Not the SoC/motherboard. Whoever designs the SoC/motherboard incorporating this CPU shall determine the answers to the above 3 question

by cvs268 6y ago

This is "just" the CPU. Not the SoC/motherboard. Whoever designs the SoC/motherboard incorporating this CPU shall determine the answers to the above 3 questions... Common reasons for proprietary kernel / vendor blobs are BT/WiFi, GPU, PMU. So, whether the end-users will have access to the source or ability to choose/customise, will depend on whether open or closed variants are chosen for each of these controllers in the final product. BTW, have you checked-out the Pinebook? https://pine64.com/product/14%e2%80%b3-pinebook-pro-linux-laptop-ansi-us-keyboard/?v=0446c16e2e66 https://pine64.com/product/14%e2%80%b3-pinebook-pro-linux-la...

amelius 6y ago
> This is "just" the CPU. Not the SoC/motherboard. With Nvidia soon owning ARM, what do you think will happen? Will ARM be a good investment for people looking for a general purpose CPU?
legulere 6y ago
The problem is more that ARM is way less standardized about things like the boot process or how to find and initialize every hardware.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
kop316 6y ago
So I am reminded of something that I heard when in a masterclass from Andy Martin (he is a world class trombonist). He said when he is performing, no one cares how much time it took him to prepare a piece, what his mood is that day, how much he played that day, etc. Those are all things that can positively and negatively affect his performance. They only care about the end product, the performance. I relay that story because it is much the same with an ARM chip. I know it is "just" the CPU, and the SoC is what integrates it. I don't really care. The end effect is still all of the problems I listed above, which makes me steer clear of using ARM in a laptop. If ARM really wants to break into this space, these are problems that need to be fixed, and it is in ARMs interest to fix them. I have not tried the Pinebook (though it uses the same RK3399 has the rockpro64, and the annoying install experience I spoke of was about the rockpro64), and frankly, after my experience with the Rockpro64, I am hesitant to really buy more products from them again, which is sad because I have two pinephones and I really believe in what the Pinephone stands for. The RockPro64 had bad memory, and there are a few reports of other people with the same issue. I bought it in early September, it took me three weeks to get an RMA (and that was only after I filed a dispute with Paypal), and it is in week two of me waiting for me to have them ship it back.
Bancakes 6y ago
The pinebook pro has a pretty dim, mediocre screen, only 4GB of RAM, and opengl ES.

by cvs268 6y ago

amelius 6y ago

> This is "just" the CPU. Not the SoC/motherboard. With Nvidia soon owning ARM, what do you think will happen? Will ARM be a good investment for people looking for a general purpose CPU?

legulere 6y ago

The problem is more that ARM is way less standardized about things like the boot process or how to find and initialize every hardware.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

kop316 6y ago

So I am reminded of something that I heard when in a masterclass from Andy Martin (he is a world class trombonist). He said when he is performing, no one cares how much time it took him to prepare a piece, what his mood is that day, how much he played that day, etc. Those are all things that can positively and negatively affect his performance. They only care about the end product, the performance. I relay that story because it is much the same with an ARM chip. I know it is "just" the CPU, and the SoC is what integrates it. I don't really care. The end effect is still all of the problems I listed above, which makes me steer clear of using ARM in a laptop. If ARM really wants to break into this space, these are problems that need to be fixed, and it is in ARMs interest to fix them. I have not tried the Pinebook (though it uses the same RK3399 has the rockpro64, and the annoying install experience I spoke of was about the rockpro64), and frankly, after my experience with the Rockpro64, I am hesitant to really buy more products from them again, which is sad because I have two pinephones and I really believe in what the Pinephone stands for. The RockPro64 had bad memory, and there are a few reports of other people with the same issue. I bought it in early September, it took me three weeks to get an RMA (and that was only after I filed a dispute with Paypal), and it is in week two of me waiting for me to have them ship it back.

Bancakes 6y ago

The pinebook pro has a pretty dim, mediocre screen, only 4GB of RAM, and opengl ES.