The Ugly State of ARM Support On Linux

jfruhlinger writes "Power-efficient ARM processors are moving up the food chain, to the extent that even Windows will soon see an ARM port. Linux, which has long been cross-platform, should have a long head start in this niche, right? Well, blogger Brian Proffitt explains just how messy the state of Linux support for ARM is right now, partially as a result of mutually conflicting kernel hacks from ARM manufacturers who just wanted to get their products out the door and weren't necessarily abiding by the GPL obligations to release code. Things are improving now, not least because Linus is taking a personal hand in things, but sorting the mess out will take time."

Comments

Problem is simple

[JamesP]

ARM manufacturers are idiots

Intel gets open source, most ARM manufacturers don't.

Hence, most BSP rely on proprietary drivers, they don't have up-to-date support for devices in the mainline kernel, etc

Also, there's a lack of a 'standart platform', even though ARM is pretty much homogeneous

Things are beginning to change, still. And ARM is still miles ahead from SH, embedded MIPS, etc