Linux/UNIX-like distro(s)/other OSes you'd like to run on your Gemini

[Varti]

Note: the first poll only lists distros which already support the ARM architecture, so they can be directly installed, or they can be installed with little effort, on the Gemini.
The second poll lists common distros for x86_64 CPUs only, so they'd required to be ported to ARM first, which is a major task that can be only accomplished by a dedicated group of volunteers.

Multiple choices per poll are allowed. Additional choices suggestions are welcome.
ARM and x86_64 Linux distros lists courtesy of DistroWatch.com:
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=arm64
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=x86_64

Varti

[barend]

Hi All.

Why not Kali Linux? The Kali Nethunter made one hell of a pentesting machine on the Motorola Nexus 6.

[barend]

Also. What about KDE Neon?

Would save a lot of space on the device. My current home PC has it installed. Very basic linux where one can add your own packages. Does not even come with Libre Office. Thus you can choose between Libre or WPS. No other unwanted bloatware.

[Varti]

Also. What about KDE Neon?

Would save a lot of space on the device. My current home PC has it installed. Very basic linux where one can add your own packages. Does not even come with Libre Office. Thus you can choose between Libre or WPS. No other unwanted bloatware.

I have added Kali Linux and KDE Neon as requested, plus FreeBSD (as an Unix-like distro) and Alpine Linux (I have heard good things about this lightweigth distro).

Also, worth noting is that Planet has once commented that they have contacted some Linux distro developers, asking for support, no idea what was their response: they mentioned Fedora, Kali, Debian, Mint, Ubuntu and that they contacted other developers too.

Varti

[mithrandir]

i'd like to see maemo on it.

Mith

[Varti]

i'd like to see maemo on it.

Good idea, I have now added a new poll for some other (mobile and desktop) OSes out there, any suggestion for additional choices are welcomed.

Varti

[Varti]

Added LineageOS in the Other OSes poll.

Varti

[Grench]

Added LineageOS in the Other OSes poll.

Varti

Needs, "None of the above" options.

[Varti]

Needs, "None of the above" options.

Well spotted; I didn't realize that, in case of multiple polls, one has to vote on all the polls even if he'd not interested in any of the choices in one or more polls. I have now added a "None of the above" choice on all the three polls, and I have raised the maximum number of items in each poll from 10 to 20.

Varti

[Murple2]

Hi all,

Been registered on the forum a while but this is my first post.

Many of the "x86" distros already have arm builds and therefore don't require porting. All you really need for Linux is a root filesystem and a working kernel.  We know we will have a Kernel so it will be a trivial matter to e.g. flash an appropriate Arch Linux rootfs and boot a working system. Hopefully one day we will have mainline/upstream support in the Linux kernel as they will ensure a very long life for the device. If we don't get mainline support then Linux experiences will become hacky, stale and insecure very quickly.

Also, and I'm sorry for being so fussy, but Sailfish OS, Maemo and even Tizen are Linux distros, just with a heavy focus on mobile UI.

Anyway... Great forum and great discussions people!

[Murple2]

AFAIK manjaro, suse, fedora, arch, centos, ubunto all have Aarch64 builds already. I also think that we should be able to run armv8 32 bit builds as well - which widens the net even further. Have Planet Computers stated whether their Debian is Aarch 64 or Aarch 32?

PS Arch Linux for arm has a different website from the x86 version. I use both to be honest there is very little difference between machines in terms of the software I run and the documentation I refer to

[Varti]

Welcome Murple2!

Also, and I'm sorry for being so fussy, but Sailfish OS, Maemo and even Tizen are Linux distros, just with a heavy focus on mobile UI.

You're right. I have now amended the description of the two polls, one listing "desktop" Linux/Unix-like OSes and the other "mobile" distros and other OSes.

AFAIK manjaro, suse, fedora, arch, centos, ubunto all have Aarch64 builds already.

When I was creating the poll, to find what distros have an Aarch64 release I have checked on DistroWatch:
https://distrowatch.com/search.php?architecture=arm64

Manjaro, Fedora, Arch and Ubuntu are not present in that list. I have checked each distro and it seems that the list is correct, except for Arch and maybe Fedora:

- Manjaro-ARM: the project has been shut down last year:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/manjaro-arm-f...-shutting-down/

- Ubuntu: only older releases have an ARM version (v12/14, Ubuntu is currently v17), and they were built for specific devices.
https://www.ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads

- Arch: there's a generic Aarch64 release, but it is intended for developers only, since it requires some boot functionality to be set up manually:
https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/generic

- Fedora: the Aarch64 release can be only run on "Server Base System Architecture” (SBSA) compliant systems or Single Board Computers". I guess it might be installed on a Gemini in a similar way as Arch:
https://alt.fedoraproject.org/alt/

I also think that we should be able to run armv8 32 bit builds as well - which widens the net even further.

Regarding the use of an Aarch32 distro, it would probably work, though I wonder if in that case the whole 4GB of RAM would be addressable. On x86 CPUs this is possible via PAE support, from what I have read on ARM there's LPAE which should do the same to access 1TB of memory. I wonder also if there would be any speed penalty of using a 32bit OS on an ARMv8 CPU.

Have Planet Computers stated whether their Debian is Aarch 64 or Aarch 32?

AFAIK no, so far they have shared little information about their Linux implementation.

Varti

[Murple2]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. It seems the state of arm supporting distros has really gone down hill  its been a long time since trying out many of them as I am now an almost exclusive Arch user, but there was definitely more choice in days gone by. Doesn't really make sense seeing as arm silicon is so widespread and the kernel support is really so much better than it used to be.

In regards to the addressable ram issue - I have a couple of armv7 devices with 4gb ram so I don't think that will be an issue.

As for the armv8 build on arch - I use it on a pi3 and a Marvell espressobin and I'm very happy with it, especially on the latter.  There are several systems directly supported by arch already, including a Chromebook based on a mediatek soc. All of the rootfs' will only differ slightly with things like e.g. bundled firmware for wifi/BT, different kernels where mainline isn't available (the horror!). When it says the generic one requires boot functionality to be configured manually this just means there aren't device specific instructions. But this won't be an issue as planet computers will explain how to boot linux on our devices so we will have all the instructions we need. It'll be interesting to see what bootloader is being used - If it's running uboot on top of whatever proprietary thing mediatek use then I'll be a very happy Gemini user indeed.

[Varti]

Probably there are still not enough users that use desktop OSes on ARM devices, there might be a lack of developers and testers as well. I have Arch running on my Zaurus, it's a custom build called Alarmz made by our own OESF's moderator greguu, and I must say it runs well, even if the hardware is crippled by today's standards (only 64MB of RAM). Arch is one of the few remaining distros that still support the old ARMv5 CPUs.

Regarding the bootloader, I have read that they're thinking to use LittleKernel, though it's unconfirmed. I think that anyway it will not be a problem to install a different bootloader.

Varti

[Murple2]

Probably there are still not enough users that use desktop OSes on ARM devices, there might be a lack of developers and testers as well. I have Arch running on my Zaurus, it's a custom build called Alarmz made by our own OESF's moderator greguu, and I must say it runs well, even if the hardware is crippled by today's standards (only 64MB of RAM). Arch is one of the few remaining distros that still support the old ARMv5 CPUs.

That's awesome. Arch Linux for the win