For the time beeing I am not focus on ARM achitecture, sorry.
YOU do not have to concern yourself with ARM, nor does probably half of the planet. This is my undertaking... my challenge (aka: my problem!
) so on the first day I chose to pull out the first blank page of virtual paper to start on this novel, I had to consider all of the different materials that would be used in the making of this work of art - and in the end, with the numerous hands that will go into this project, it will in fact end up being a true work of art! Granted, in the end very few people will be able to take a few steps back and gaze through said pink glasses (or rose, or what ever color one chooses!) Optimism is part of a universal language I prefer to speak.
This project is
not intended solely for Tiny Core Linux, but is more so intended for all 'nix brethren under processors and drivers we can support thus far.
This project is
not intended as much for end-users as it is for distro staff (who in turn "feed" their end users...) and software authors, including brand new ones.
OH... It's 'nix based
only. Sorry, everyone, I'm too old to clean up after and build new windows!
Every window I know of that has ever been constructed, eventually,
leaks!™
Bloated: That's not me... that's more distro level. We're the blacksmiths... we just make the tools.
"
...sorry if they do not match your preferences..."
NO... First, there's nothing to be sorry about. (Asking someone to chuck $20k or so for a couple dozen "just released" processors/computers will flip my sarcasm switch regardless - especially when it's my bank that's financing it!) You did say a "farm" of machines - which to me, starts around 20 or so and works its way up. People do tend to be avid shoppers when they're spending someone else's money!
What triggered my interest in building a project like this was, for example,
@Paul_123 a number of months ago had made a comment to someone where he spoke about his already overwhelming workload and he was being tasked with even more responsibility. (You'll notice the "Retired" below "CentralWare" -- has something to do with it, but far from being the only piece.) Paul is one of the many, many people who spend quite a few hours, hundreds even, tending to some of the mundane things that everyone else generally takes for granted as most of the time they're oblivious it even exists.
If I showed up with a few thousand
already compiled binary ZIP files (and the build scripts for each were public domain, and the binaries had a paper trail of anything involved to help in their creation)
@Paul_123 and the rest of the TCL staff and maintainers could spend a short while perfecting the ARC2TCZ script to their liking that would convert these ZIP files into something Tiny Core Linux can then use for their repository and automate the entire thing, reducing those wasted hours. Ubuntu, Slack, Debian, etc. crews can come in later and do the same thing if they wished, and so on. I don't care WHO uses it... I just hope they help keep it alive after its infancy as I won't live on forever and I've seen first hand here at TCL what happens when an admin/moderator/host/maintainer vanishes, quits, dies... potential chaos that can go on for years.
"Hey, what about five to ten years from now when a new type of processor is released?"
I've paved the way attempting to put some method of standardization together... to bring a
little bit of calm to the chaos of attempting to read the minds of thousands of software authors and incorporate "change" as though it were a friend - or at least a necessary evil. There are patches which pertain to only a given distribution... and there are patches that fix quirks with a given software application - we'll eventually grow to where we'll be able to support both. When there's a new processor to add, though, "
Here you go, peeps! You have the building blocks! Make it so!" LOL - I can't be expected to do everything! :p
Kernels and Cores (initrd) are a part of my personal quest for Tiny, but they're more of a side gig and testing grounds for this project (what I've lovingly named SimpleNIX;
Keep It Simple S___ sounded too creepy when you abbreviate it to KissNix
) and each distro has their own recipe for both which are so painfully different I couldn't begin to see how I could accommodate an automation system (other than toolchain apps, possibly) to please that kind of an audience.
Notice: This project will not be able to comply to
every distro's way of doing things but should be able to provide binary content packages where the distro's methods can be met with some basic scripting.
@nick65go: I wouldn't curse you with my home "computer" as it was built right before the COVID lock-down here in the States with the assumption a "lock-down" was going to take place and we needed a way to work from home as initially, the US Government didn't see us as being "First Responders" so we were forcefully closed like most everyone else. Until sh*t started breaking of
theirs. If it wasn't for this rig and three others like it, we probably wouldn't have survived the lock-down. If it weren't for these rigs, I wouldn't have been diagnosed with having COVID five separate times and am now dealing with long term effects of being a First Responder. Having a smaller abode with a laptop, a tablet or what ever makes it worthwhile for you is actually envied... I'm here with a family of five where four of the five are truly clinically addicted to
digital... whereas personally... I'd rather walk away from it.
All this... to avoid the COVID shut-down. I'm not really certain it was worth it.
BUT... take all of this and think of this project's goal... to help people stop
wasting precious,
irreplaceable time...
THAT is what makes it... worth it.
Okay, I'm taking a TCL break for a bit to get some real work done on this instead of rambling on a forum. If you guys need anything, shoot me an email. If you want to lend a hand, shoot me an email. If you want to buy the next pot o'coffee, shoot me an email. Okay... too much shooting going on... take care!