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$50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon

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$50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon
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http://www.cnx-software.com/2013/05/25/olimex-a20-olinuxino-prototype-allwinner-a20-som-in-the-work/

A prototype general purpose board has already been
prototyped and can be purchased by early adopters.

Another board is being readied for release soon that has SODIMM
edge connector allowing systems to be built
by slotting in interchangeable SODIMM boards to motherboard.

The boards already run Android because Allwinner release
Android for it already.

But what about other Linux distros?

And here again Chinese SoC makers fall into the trap
set by ARM and by the NDA culture surrouding chip IP
vendors who force companies to sign NDAs so that they
can't release chip related information so that
third parties can go make software.

The Chinese government needs to take action on this.

Here we have an example of a big corporation like Allwinner
that sells more chips than Intel into tablet market, and its
managed to port the simplified Linux that Android runs on
with its own engineers. The chips are already selling,
But they can't make other Linuxes, and sell anywhere near
the stocks that are piling up, because their engineers don't know
how to write the code for other Linuxes, and they can't
release their datasheets for other people to port their
own Linuxes and make more sales for Allwinner.
Its Allwinner and China, and other SoC vendors that looses.
China should press for 100% home grown opened graphics controllers
and such to eliminate this kind of mistake.

To compound it all, the reason why the Chinese engineer can't
quickly recompile their Linux to new distros is because
ARM doesn't provide header files to define all the registers
in a chip. Where they do, like CMSIS libraries for a limited
set of CPUs, the MBAs (read non-techies) have ordered
name changes to registers from one chip to next
deliberately to frustrate programmers. So in Cortex M0,
the RS232 port is called UART while in Cortex M3, its called
USART. Great fscking planning that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On top of that, there is no bit field definitions.

And even worse, for the big SoCs there is nothing.

So every fscking engineer calls RS232 their own names,
and so even if you knew how to port Android, it would
be entirely useless if you were porting Debian.

If you use Microchip PIC, there is minimal confusion
as each pin and port is defined, so changing to a different
CPU changes ONE header file, and everything underneath
is taken care of #defines that control the locations
of registers, and bit field positions no matter what silicon
revisions are doing to the construction of the internal
workings of the chip.

ARM could appoint 3 engineers and release one set of specs
per day each day for all the new SoCs out there and
make tons of money instead the MBA (read non-techies)
that run the crocporation are clueless.

The open source world is in confusion, Torvalds screams
at ARM developers, and these arm developers must too take blame
arguing over device trees instead of copying the 100% working
examples of Microchip PIC code that is out there, and make
it consistent with one header file per chip known to work
solution, filling in the missing details as
and when detail becomes available per new chip.
The open source world could bin CMISIS and get 3 engineers
to code up a header file per day with 3 ARM engineers
and make it all consistent in next to no time
and then everyone can move on.

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$50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon 7 <email_at_www_at_enemygadgets_dot_com@enemygadgets.com> - 2013-05-26 21:04 +0100
  Re: $50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon Snit <usenet@gallopinginsanity.com> - 2013-05-26 13:20 -0700
    Re: $50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon 7 <email_at_www_at_enemygadgets_dot_com@enemygadgets.com> - 2013-05-26 21:23 +0100
      Re: $50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon Snit <usenet@gallopinginsanity.com> - 2013-05-26 13:29 -0700
        Re: $50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon 7 <email_at_www_at_enemygadgets_dot_com@enemygadgets.com> - 2013-05-26 21:52 +0100
          Re: $50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon jeffj@panix.com (Jeff Jonas) - 2013-05-31 22:36 -0400
            Re: $50 Allwinner A20 quad core boards may hit the streets soon 7 <email_at_www_at_enemygadgets_dot_com@enemygadgets.com> - 2013-06-01 12:40 +0100

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