Re: RPI 4/5 u-boot new port, is there any interest?

On Wed, Jun 4, 2025 at 7:31 AM Patrick M. Hausen <pmh@hausen.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> > Am 04.06.2025 um 16:26 schrieb Johan Helsingius <julf@Julf.com>:
> >
> > On 04/06/2025 15:00, Ronald Klop wrote:
> >> I have real interest as FreeBSD user. A RPI5 is currently lying around unused waiting for a FreeBSD install that works.
> >
> > +1
>
> +1 ;-)
>
> Seriously, why is there so little interest/engagement with that platform in FreeBSD?

Because Mike Karels died. He was spearheading those efforts, and all the life
went out of them (or most of it) when he tragically passed returning home from
BSDcan last year.

> I would have thought the Pi to be *the* ARM platform in terms of sales. Wrong?

Sales? Maybe. In terms of a company that's easy to work with, the Pi
Foundation leaves a lot to be desired.

> What apart from Pi and clones and Apple Silicon even exists?

There's a boatload of Ampere servers. And there are no Pi clones.
There's dozens of other
boards in a Pi form factor that have sensible SoCs from companies that
are easy to work with
that FreeBSD has supported for years. Why deal with someone that's not
helpful when you
can work with people that are helpful.

I fully recognize this is a supply / demand imbalance. But it's where we are.

Warner

> I have this CM3+ based TuringPi 1 cluster that runs way better with FreeBSD than
> with Ubuntu. Currently experimenting with "garage" clustered storage.
>
> Best regards and many thanks for your efforts.
> Patrick