Elvis Costello, following naturally on from the Clash.
Now, I am a part-time OS enthusiast and I occasionally work with embedded systems, so I’ve no doubt I’m opinionated on this subject — and also wrong in almost every important respect.
However, this entire article reeks of Fail.
To state my opinions up front, the reason that Linux is a Massive Fail on ARM are as follows (and they’re nothing like the reasons implied by this article and others):
(1) First, and most importantly, Linux is not a real-time system. It can be made to ape one, but that is not good enough. ARM is still, generally, used in real-time systems.
(2) Following on from that observation, the absence of ABI compatibility is part of the Linux Kernel DNA. It’s simply unthinkable to produce a device driver in any form that cannot be inserted into the source tree and compiled for whatever tiny fractious little release is up next.
(3) Linux has no real Hardware Abstraction Layer.
Going back through those: a proper HAL is essential when moving an OS between chipsets. Almost every OS in the last twenty years has recognised this, except for Linux. (And no, that ghastly gcc platform/OS/hardware crap doesn’t count.) Linux lives or dies on Intel, which makes the freetard whinging about Intel even more risible.
The lack of ABI compatibility is fine, in a sense, on the server. Servers don’t tend to require a vast range of heterogeneous hardware support … not at the SME level, anyway, and even at the megacorp level a lot of this fancy network and disk farm stuff is becoming commoditised. It’s even fine on the desktop, in a way. If you can put up with basic VGA support. And Pulse Audio. And the lowest common denominator of Wifi.*
But it isn’t fine for real-time embedded systems, which actually do need a sensible way of talking to a one-off driver for a very specific piece of hardware. That very specific piece of hardware is almost certainly why the real-time system exists in the first place, Goddamnit.
And it isn’t and never will be a real-time operating system. Don’t get me wrong. Real-time developers use Linux a lot. Linux is usually their OS of choice on the desktop (they are sad and demented). But they use it as a host. The actual target is still VxWorks or PIC or whatever.
OK, kick me, I am ignorant. But while you are enjoying yourselves, check out the associated links to this FUD:
What we have here is a failure to SOCKET_BROKEN…
- OK, I was lying about WiFi support. But they’ll probably get that fixed eventually.
Comments
“Linux lives or dies on Intel”. That’s the quote of the year right there.
Linux dies on Intel/AMD. I’ve had enough experience with both to know that for a normal, non-programmer user (me), Linux is a fvALWAYS something that just doesn’t work quite right… if it works at all. As for programs, there is always some program that the normal use that FOSS can’t be bothered with creating, or if they create it, they can’t be bothered to get the bugs out of it. When it comes to problems there is no one to hold responsible and RTFM Noob is all to often the answer, even though the “manual” (cough cough gag choke wheeze vomit) is a piss-poorly worded “web page” that offers absolutely NO information that helps the user.
WEB PAGE? Heresy! RMS refuses to read Web Pages, and for very good reason.
No, my good fellow. You need the man page. Or, if you are sufficiently advanced to stock toe-jam in your cupboard against an atomic emergency, you need info pages.
Easily the most intuitive and well-organised documentation system ever invented.
Says you, ya raving loon. :
P ;)In other words, no help is better than no help at all?
So much about Linux being portable across 495 architectures. A more accurate statement would be that linux is bootable across 495 architectures (but not usable, lol)
So, after reading that heretical arguement I’m supposed to believe that our old friend Robber Poogie-san has been deluding himself and the world at large by claiming that Linux already runs perfectly on ARM and all we are waiting for is the deluge of ARMed devices to hit the market?
Oh my shattered dreams. Will ARMeggedon never arrive? :O
Linux supports more hardware than any other OS.
Where “more” actually stands for “less”.
A small and inconsequential issue, I think.
On my laptop, Debian based versions don’t support my Wi-Fi, Fedora based doesn’t support sound, Arch based may or may not support Wi-Fi, but never sound, Gentoo based doesn’t support sound and sometimes not more than about 800X600 on a 1440X900 monitor.
When it comes to my desktop, Ubuntu/Debian disables my Blu-Ray drive even all the way down to the BIOS level, sound may or may not work, video is always buggy.
Fedora may not even boot at all, and when it does the sound output sources are screwed beyond all belief. Arch does okay but forget anyof the high end part of my video card. Gentoo chokes and wheezes.
Both lap and desktop are running Windows 7 with ever thing working perfectly. The laptop came with Vista and worked with no problems.
Conclusion: in my case, Linux does NOT support more hardware than Windows.
“Debian based versions don’t support my Wi-Fi”
It’s your own fault, obviously!
I mean please, expecting Wi-Fi to work if you don’t do a quick ConfigureMakeMakeInstall™ on compat-wireless (once you tried that, you’ll notice the sweet irony of the 'compat’ part) to use backported linux-next tree super giga instable krach bumm drivers for your Wi-Fi.
If that of course doesn’t work, try this handy guide here -> http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=compat-wireless#kernels_2624_or_higher to patch bugs known for ages in the wireless stack (that channel -1 fix was only provided over a year ago and it’s less than 5 lines). Otherwise, download aircrack-ng and try out the whole paradise (notice: more than 50% of the archive are .patch files for mac80211 or Wi-Fi drivers) of patches.
...oh, if that still doesn’t work, blame it on your Wi-Fi chipset maker for not releasing free firmware!
Pretty easy, huh?
“Where “more” actually stands for “less”.”
On some systems, “more”[1] is an alias for “less”[2].
[1] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/More_(Unix)
[2] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Less_(Unix)
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