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Why is this such a big issue? Can't you install any ARM Linux distro from a flash drive? Does that not work? I get that device drivers may not be perfect for an

Why is this such a big issue? Can't you install any ARM Linux distro from a flash drive? Does that not work? I get that device drivers may not be perfect for any new laptop, but it should mostly work.

x3sphere 6y ago
There’s a lot of proprietary hardware inside the MacBook M1s. The only reason device drivers exist is thanks to reverse engineering efforts. For this reason, no you can’t just install any vanilla ARM distro and expect things to work.
apichat 6y ago
Linus Torvalds: ARM has a lot to learn from the PC : "I think ARM is a very promising platform," he said. "At the same time, the ARM community has never had the notion of a standard platform. ARM never had the PC." https://www.networkworld.com/article/2220438/linus-torvalds--arm-has-a-lot-to-learn-from-the-pc.html https://www.networkworld.com/article/2220438/linus-torvalds-...
- uncledave 6y ago
  We did actually but Acorn canned it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_(computer)
  - guerrilla 6y ago
    That's not what he means by PC. He means an open standard that anyone can build against with comparability between products.
    - uncledave 6y ago
      That’s exactly what it was. Two other vendors were going to launch as well.
  - guywhocodes 6y ago
    Very interesting, the reason for cancelling seems to largely hold true today.
  - STRML 6y ago
    The Phoebe's launch OS (RISC OS 4) was codenamed "Ursula". Unfortunately, shortly into its development, the Phoebe went on an (indefinite) break.
  - rbanffy 6y ago
    In 1998, it would be an excellent opportunity to use Linux. At the time, I was playing with Apple's MkLinux on PowerMacs.
- chung1905 6y ago
  I'm curious, is there any reason that ARM doesn't have a standard platform? Or they are working on that?
  - my123 6y ago
    It does, and it's called Arm SystemReady. UEFI + ACPI is required on Arm if you want to boot Windows or RHEL/CentOS, which do not even try to boot on non-standardised 64-bit Arm systems.
    - Vogtinator 6y ago
      Same for SLES/openSUSE, except for some platforms (RPi) where they use u-boot to provide EFI.
  - coldtea 6y ago
    They are different vendors, working on different products...
- mhd 6y ago
  Nothing else ever had the PC. And IBM wasn't too happy that it happened to them, either.
  - TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
    It definitely makes Apple's decision to never allow generics seem wise in retrospect.
    - mhd 6y ago
      In a way, they themselves started becoming a manufacturer of "IBM compatibles", they just locked their OS to them. A Jobs-less alternate Apple universe might've been interesting though. He both canned the licensed Apple clones and made OpenStep into the next major MacOS revision. If Copland would've been OS 8 or BeOS as OS X, there could be viable clones, and thus maybe enough critical mass to keep PowerPC alive a bit longer.
    - mbreese 6y ago
      But they did at one point in the late 90’s. I wouldn’t say that was the only reason why they nearly went bankrupt, but it certainly didn’t help.
      - TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
        Yeah, "never" was the wrong word. I forgot about that.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

x3sphere 6y ago

There’s a lot of proprietary hardware inside the MacBook M1s. The only reason device drivers exist is thanks to reverse engineering efforts. For this reason, no you can’t just install any vanilla ARM distro and expect things to work.

apichat 6y ago

Linus Torvalds: ARM has a lot to learn from the PC : "I think ARM is a very promising platform," he said. "At the same time, the ARM community has never had the notion of a standard platform. ARM never had the PC." https://www.networkworld.com/article/2220438/linus-torvalds--arm-has-a-lot-to-learn-from-the-pc.html https://www.networkworld.com/article/2220438/linus-torvalds-...

uncledave 6y ago
We did actually but Acorn canned it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_(computer)
- guerrilla 6y ago
  That's not what he means by PC. He means an open standard that anyone can build against with comparability between products.
  - uncledave 6y ago
    That’s exactly what it was. Two other vendors were going to launch as well.
- guywhocodes 6y ago
  Very interesting, the reason for cancelling seems to largely hold true today.
- STRML 6y ago
  The Phoebe's launch OS (RISC OS 4) was codenamed "Ursula". Unfortunately, shortly into its development, the Phoebe went on an (indefinite) break.
- rbanffy 6y ago
  In 1998, it would be an excellent opportunity to use Linux. At the time, I was playing with Apple's MkLinux on PowerMacs.
chung1905 6y ago
I'm curious, is there any reason that ARM doesn't have a standard platform? Or they are working on that?
- my123 6y ago
  It does, and it's called Arm SystemReady. UEFI + ACPI is required on Arm if you want to boot Windows or RHEL/CentOS, which do not even try to boot on non-standardised 64-bit Arm systems.
  - Vogtinator 6y ago
    Same for SLES/openSUSE, except for some platforms (RPi) where they use u-boot to provide EFI.
- coldtea 6y ago
  They are different vendors, working on different products...
mhd 6y ago
Nothing else ever had the PC. And IBM wasn't too happy that it happened to them, either.
- TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
  It definitely makes Apple's decision to never allow generics seem wise in retrospect.
  - mhd 6y ago
    In a way, they themselves started becoming a manufacturer of "IBM compatibles", they just locked their OS to them. A Jobs-less alternate Apple universe might've been interesting though. He both canned the licensed Apple clones and made OpenStep into the next major MacOS revision. If Copland would've been OS 8 or BeOS as OS X, there could be viable clones, and thus maybe enough critical mass to keep PowerPC alive a bit longer.
  - mbreese 6y ago
    But they did at one point in the late 90’s. I wouldn’t say that was the only reason why they nearly went bankrupt, but it certainly didn’t help.
    - TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
      Yeah, "never" was the wrong word. I forgot about that.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]