ARM Linux and Netbooks

[TheIdiotThatIsMe]

Hi guys!

I have been patiently waiting for good ARM based netbooks from Freescale and Pegatron, to run a good, simple, cheap netbook to do some on the go writing and a few other things. But I often also do some light gaming on the go, especially using emulators. However, I know there is not nearly the amount of software for ARM as there is for x86 (ex: Flash).

So I thought I'd ask the community a few questions and their ideas on the subject. First questions first, are there any emulators available for ARM Linux? Right now I use Gens GS and ZSNES for old school gaming (the only actual gaming I really do); nothing like taking Shining Force 2 on the road for several hours.

Also, the main thing causing me to wait is battery life. I'm not sure how expensive a higher cell battery would be for an atom based netbook, and the ARM based ones are supposed to have longer battery life, which would be great for me, as that's the MAIN reason for buying a netbook for me. Will the ARM based netbooks really outshine the atom based ones in battery life by a large margin?

Last question: Is there actually a place where I can keep up on news specifically regarding to ARM based netbooks?

Real Last Question: What are your ideas on the "upcoming' ARM based netbooks?

[supersonicdarky]

The best Intel Atom device takes 3-4W. The best Cortex based devices take about 2W under similar usage scenarios. Simple. The problem is, it could take twice as long to do something on a Cortex device.

The arch is meant to not be power hungry as it's used on cellphones often.

[Rokurosv]

So far I've read they're having problems with flash and videos. It's not that vital for me, but if they're looking to compete in the market they need to get that sorted out. I'm looking forward for the ARM netbooks, if they can provide what they promise I'll definitely get one.

[gnomeuser]

So far I've read they're having problems with flash and videos. It's not that vital for me, but if they're looking to compete in the market they need to get that sorted out. I'm looking forward for the ARM netbooks, if they can provide what they promise I'll definitely get one.

Flash is notoriously hard on platforms that arn't x86/amd64 compatible. Adobe says they will have a flash version for ARM ready this year but considering how poorly their existing players work under Linux I doubt we will be impressed. There are options like swfdec and gnash but they are not fully compatible with the flash standards that are actually in use today.

Flash simply should not be used but tell that to the millions of addicts out there. It is a problem but by the time these machines are slated to be in our hands Adobe claims to have a version ready. Still not a product we would be able to fix if (but infinitely more likely when) it breaks, additionally Adobe takes ages to fix problems for Linux users as well as codes insecurely.

On the plus side, Moonlight should run on ARM (I believe our own directhex did the port and testing). So if we could convince the world to switch to Silverlight then we would be able to promise people a 100% compatible solution that we can fix.

As for videos, major codecs should work on these platforms, the open source versions are very portable at least. However since this is a commercial product we should probably expect them to recommend something like Fluendo' codec pack. These have lots and lots of highly optimized ASM in them and currently are not ported to ARM. However it is my belief that ARM are not stupid, I believe they have already entered into an agreement with Fluendo to do the port for revealing to the public later.

Remembering that these laptops have been demoed playing 720p HD content decoded in real time, I would suspect that ARM is fully aware of the issue and has a plan.

[Saint Angeles]

my arms use linux... however, i only have a desktop so my opinion doesn't really count.

i'm sorry.

[mali2297]

You should be able to find emulators of old video game consoles that run on ARM, but perhaps you will need to compile from source. I have used snes9x and others on Sharp Zaurus 5500G.