arm64 as Tier 1 for FreeBSD 13

[Ihor Antonov]

On 2020-01-30 11:29, Justin Hibbits wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Jan 2020 13:07:37 +0000
> Bob Bishop <rb at gid.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > > On 29 Jan 2020, at 21:36, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk at phk.freebsd.dk>
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > --------
> > > In message
> > > <20200129222907.3ccaf4c23fe8509e3f9cdfe4 at bidouilliste.net>,
> > > Emmanuel Vadot writes: 
> > >>> RPi's are a LOT easier to get hold of for hackers and in
> > >>> particular for educators.  
> > >> 
> > >> In what way ?
> > >> Real answer only.  
> > > 
> > > 1. Schools can get them through their usual suppliers of educational
> > >   material, with a pretty decent discount, and with educational
> > >   courses and materials, pretty much ready to go.
> > > 
> > > 2. Most "maker-space" atuned electronics pushers carry them.
> > > 
> > > 3. Big electronics pushers carry them.
> > > 
> > > In re 1-3: No customs processing of shipment involved.
> > > 
> > > 4. Cost, including shipping is below "trivial" threshold in most
> > >   organizations.  
> > 
> > RPi zero in particular is cheap enough to treat as a component.
> 
> This is probably the most compelling argument on this thread for
> finding someone with somewhat deep pockets to get involved.  Broadcom
> won't listen to educators, hackers, or hobbyists, they'll only listen to
> large piles of money.  Someone (company) needs to be in a position to
> tell Broadcom "Hey, we want to use the RPi Zero (or the SoC in it) in
> our product, running FreeBSD.  Help us out."  Otherwise, they ignore us
> at no peril to them.
> 
> Saying "We ignore it at our peril" makes great rhetoric, but it's not
> at all actionable.  Without usable documentation, there's no way anyone
> would do the work needed.


A good alternative to RPi are Pine64 devices. Same price level, open
hardware, specs (apart from broadcom wifi), and the company is very
interested in growing BSD support

https://www.pine64.org/

----
Ihor Antonov