this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
151 points (93.1% liked)
Linux
48376 readers
1038 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
DeviceTree is a massive improvement compared to no discoverablity AND no DeviceTree. Each device was a custom kernel build, duplicate drivers and other code. It was madness. Linus lost his shit with the ARM kernel devs saying it has to be sorted. DeviceTree was the solution.
In the end, ARM will have discoverablity. Buses like I2C and SPI will have some standard to discover what the hell is on them. But today it's chaos and DeviceTree is the only source or order.
You still need a way to know which memory addresses your I²C or SPI interface has. While DeviceTree is better than nothing, it's way worse than the "It just works" of ACPI
Completely agree that discoverablity is better. But that needs hardware. It's crazy this isn't solved. It means ARM devices are basically made to be e-waste. Make phones and other ARM devices like PCs. Google could mandate that hardware must be discoverable and be able to run a generic stock, to carry the Android brand.