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ARM Support Comes To SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Posted by samzenpus on from the check-it-out dept.

jrepin writes: SUSE announced partner program expansion to include support for 64-bit ARM server processors. This expansion makes available to partners a version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 that allows them to develop, test and deliver products to the market using 64-bit ARM chips. To simplify partner access, SUSE has also implemented support for ARM and AArch64 into its openSUSE Build Service. This allows the community to build packages against real 64-bit ARM hardware and the SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 binaries.

23 comments

  1. Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by LWATCDR · · Score: 2

    The AS400 and System 38 before it used an "ideal" ISA that the computer then translates when you load the program on to the system. Think of it as an install time compiler.
    It would be great if Linux had the same concept built in. You could do it the first time you run the program if need by.
    Maybe pick the IBM zseries as the ISA so that you do not tick off Intel, AMD, or ARM.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by mtippett · · Score: 2

      That is how Android is dealing with ART. https://source.android.com/dev...

      JAVA (Dalvik) the ideal ISA, dex2oat converts the java bytecode to native ISA (intel or ARM).

      Similar to pNaCL in Chrome, where at least historically the LLVM IR (effectively the ISA) would be pushed to the chrome devices which would then complete the conversion to native code.

    2. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So Gentoo Linux then. I think that already exists.

    3. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Oberon employed "slim binaries" to the same effect, if I'm not mistaken.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Java bytecode is extremely far from being "the ideal ISA". It's too language-specific.

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      Ezekiel 23:20
    5. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Not quite the same thing. Instead of downloading fat source code in thousands of files and spending a day compiling it, you would receive already compiled bytecode and translate it, which would take less than a day even on a weird and slow computer or PC (say generate i486, i586, i686 or armv6, armv7 machine code).

      And probably you wouldn't call that Gentoo anymore :)
      I'm thinking more of a bytecode version of Arch there. (as a thought experiment, because I suppose some stuff only works or is tested with GCC on the compiler, and so on)

    6. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by mtippett · · Score: 1

      Ideal was a reference to the "ideal" in the original post. There was no comment on it being ideal. I doubt there is an ideal.

    7. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by joelsherrill · · Score: 2

      OSF ANDF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    8. Re:Linux should borrow an idea from the AS400 by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      I knew that Wirth did some work in that direction but I never could find it again. One idea he had was compile right to the point of code generation and then stop. When you got the file the browser/installer would then complete the code generation. All the parsing and optimization was already done.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  2. Re:Isn't SuSE a RedHat downstream distro? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SuSE is not a RedHat downstream distro.

  3. Re:Isn't SuSE a RedHat downstream distro? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Other than YaST, unless something has changed, SuSE is a downstream RedHat distribution, and about a month ago, RedHat started producing their ARM-64 port.

    No, potentially a common mistake. Although SUSE uses RPM's for packaging it is not a Red Hat derivative, it has its origins in the same place as Slackware, namely the Softlanding Linux System

    I wonder what Novell will be adding to the mix.

    Novell doesn't own SUSE anymore, it's owned by Microfocus, who acquired Attachmate

    Just by adding SuSE and having the OS tested for Common Criteria, FIPS, and other compliance items will help get it in the door, although ARM servers are still an odd man out in the enterprise, for the most part.

    Unless you exist in the System z world. SUSE is the king on integrating with z/VM and runs some of the world's most critical middleware applications and databases (Visa, AMEX etc.) So while you may not be aware of its place in the Enterprise that doesn't mean it doesn't have one.

  4. awesome!... wait... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    so... are there any ARMv8 servers on the market? o_O?

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:awesome!... wait... by shadowknot · · Score: 1

      I think this is the real question. SLES is a product for servers/high uptime systems. Perhaps I'm ignorant but I don't know of many server lines that use ARM CPUs. It makes sense for them to be on x86/64, Power and z (s390x) but not much else for SLES. OpenSUSE support for as many architectures as possible is probably sensible but I'm not sure that there's need for the enterprise-class ditro to do the same.

    2. Re:awesome!... wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm guessing there is a real business driven reason for doing this. It's not something you do for shits and giggles. SuSe is a commercial distro and there are server oriented arm procs out there (AMD A1100)

    3. Re:awesome!... wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ARM could make sense for POS machines, though. Those could presumably run with a decent ARM board just fine.

    4. Re:awesome!... wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not to mention set top boxes, numerous appliances and, and other embedded. enterprise class business driven distro doesn't just make a decision without a business driver behind it. red hat where is your arm support? oh wait its already there.

    5. Re:awesome!... wait... by goarilla · · Score: 1

      AMD has benched their "upcoming" ARM products. (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/amd-abandons-the-microserver-market-takes-75-million-hit/)

    6. Re:awesome!... wait... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      guess what cpu the handheld pos terminals have..

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      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  5. umm... who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Suse Enterprise linux is by far the WORST linux distro I've ever used and I've used about a dozen. They lag behind in their package updates, they lag behind in this area too... who cares? Use something else that doesn't suck

  6. Re:Isn't SuSE a RedHat downstream distro? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

    Ford Motor uses SLES in the data center. There's some Red Hat in the engineering areas (HPC) that have more leeway in using whatever they want. This was the case at least up until 2013, which is when I last worked there.

  7. Novell by bangular · · Score: 1

    I just checked wikipedia, and it looks like Microfocus owns Novell now as well. In retrospect, I think Novell's acquisition did more to hurt suse than it did help. It just helped slow the death of Novell.

  8. Finally! by dave420 · · Score: 1

    Now I can run SUSE's broken, outdated software on another platform! Yaay!

    SUSE is technically nice an' all, but god damn its packages are always so outdated, and its userbase is too small to be regularly catered for in documentation.