Re: ARM 64?

[Mathew McBride <matt@traverse.com.au>]

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Hi Michael,
>From the software side, the support in the kernel is fairly good, mainline 4.15 and later works. We (Traverse) only maintain a patchset for some small drivers (such as hwmon sensors not yet in the kernel - not required to boot) and other minor fixes not yet applied upstream.
If you build an image that uses UEFI boot it will work on both our hardware (bare metal), as a VM and on the ARM64 server platforms (Ampere/XGene, Centriq, ThunderX), or even our competitors (MacchiatoBin etc.)
The big difference is that we use u-boot and it's EFI implementation - and that is improving at a rate that we don't feel it necessary to port TianoCore to our board. 

The board Guy linked (LS1043-S) is our OEM/volume product, and he can brief you on the pricing off-list. 
We also have a 'hacker' oriented product in the pipeline (Five64 - https://traverse.com.au/products/five64-arm64-platform/ ) - which is currently in the PCB layout phase. This one has a wider feature set (NVMe SSD, ATX PSU on/off, ability to 'debrick' the flash and control via a separate BMC board). 
This is one we intend to be available to everyone (through CrowdSupply - via the campaign and beyond), which addresses the channel 'accessibility' issue (in terms of individuals and small operators being able to buy them). It's pricing will be similar to the other boards (Omnia, Novena, Atom C2000/C3000).

Regards,
Matt

-------- Forwarded Message -------- 
Subject: 
Re: ARM 64?
Date: 
Wed, 23 May 2018 10:58:00 +0100
From: 
Michael Tremer mailto:michael.tremer(a)ipfire.org
To: 
mailto:guy(a)traverse.com.au, mailto:development(a)lists.ipfire.org

Hello Guy,

thank you very much for getting in touch.

Yes, we are working on an ARM 64 port, but so far we have not seen any hardware
that was worth doing the port for. All those small and cheap single-board
computers lack power, the bigger systems are basically unavailable and way too
expensive.

This board is way different though. CPU, Memory and especially the NICs are
something that are way better sized and make a nice small appliance for bigger
SOHOs or small to medium-sized offices.

Not entirely sure why there is only one 10G port. Usually where 10G goes in, it
has to go out somewhere else again...

The big question is what software support is like in the Linux kernel for this.
I have seen the patches linked on the product page and can only defer to Arne to
have a look at it.

My question would now be: What is the desired RRP for this or wholesale? I am
just curious to find out if it is competitive or if people would find it too
expensive and buy Intel again. Then we shouldn't really bother with putting the
time into a port. If you are not comfortable sharing prices on the list, please
feel free to email me in private about this.

About the sponsorship. Thank you very much for considering us. I would be happy
to have a closer look. Would you be able to ship this into the UK or Germany?

Best,
-Michael

On Wed, 2018-05-23 at 12:46 +1000, Guy Ellis wrote:
> Dear list,
> 
> Just wondering if there is any interest in supporting ARM 64 hardware 
> moving forward?
> 
> We can assist with donated hardware and support if there is interest.
> https://traverse.com.au/products/ls1043s-router-board/
> 
> Regards,
>   - Guy.
> 
>