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With few exceptions, ARM-based SBCs of this kind run vendor-specific patched Linux kernels (usually older ones). As one would expect, the quality of these patch

With few exceptions, ARM-based SBCs of this kind run vendor-specific patched Linux kernels (usually older ones). As one would expect, the quality of these patches varies from bad to absolutely terrible. Additionally, these patches typically never make it to mainline. If you visit the hardkernel forums [odroid vendor], you'll see people casually swapping patches to get functionality like USB to "work". When the devices are EOLed, they become paperweights since one is stuck with the soon-to-be-completely-obsolete frozen vendor-specific kernels. These are all good reasons for people to stay away.

chithanh 5y ago
I disagree, the exceptions are not "few" and by making smart purchase decisions you can pretty much expect mainline support. You have to look at the trajectory of things and ongoing efforts. For example my $15 Orange Pi PC (Allwinner H5 SoC) that I bought many years ago from AliExpress went from no mainline at all to excellent with only minor parts like the Crypto engine still requiring kernel patches. This is thanks to the linux-sunxi, lima, and other efforts. For AMLogic there is linux-meson. For RockChip this is more spotty, but you can look at what Pine64 did in the past and their track record is actually pretty good.
- mrslave 5y ago
  Is there an enthusiast website/community database of boards with clear documentation of Linux support, 3rd-party dependencies (patches needed, binary blobs), etc.?
  - chithanh 5y ago
    Support for boards (once the SoC is supported) is normally a low-hanging fruit, this only depends on getting the proper device trees merged. Various projects keep status pages of their mainlining efforts. Example for Allwinner hardware from the linux-sunxi project: https://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort https://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort Generally, SoCs that have lots of things marked "WIP" have community attention and are probably going to work at some point without kernel patches.

chithanh 5y ago

I disagree, the exceptions are not "few" and by making smart purchase decisions you can pretty much expect mainline support. You have to look at the trajectory of things and ongoing efforts. For example my $15 Orange Pi PC (Allwinner H5 SoC) that I bought many years ago from AliExpress went from no mainline at all to excellent with only minor parts like the Crypto engine still requiring kernel patches. This is thanks to the linux-sunxi, lima, and other efforts. For AMLogic there is linux-meson. For RockChip this is more spotty, but you can look at what Pine64 did in the past and their track record is actually pretty good.

mrslave 5y ago
Is there an enthusiast website/community database of boards with clear documentation of Linux support, 3rd-party dependencies (patches needed, binary blobs), etc.?
- chithanh 5y ago
  Support for boards (once the SoC is supported) is normally a low-hanging fruit, this only depends on getting the proper device trees merged. Various projects keep status pages of their mainlining efforts. Example for Allwinner hardware from the linux-sunxi project: https://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort https://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort Generally, SoCs that have lots of things marked "WIP" have community attention and are probably going to work at some point without kernel patches.