Making an ARM-based PC?

[Uji Ninja]

Foreword : I sincerely have no idea where I should post this message. Apologies if it's the wrong subforum.

 

Hi,

 

so, I'm getting bored and lazy and wish to keep myself busy. Just for the sake of it about making an ARM-based PC.

I really have no further plan but to refresh my long semi-forgotten Linux skills and to learn some new things about the ARM platform. That may also finally put to rest some curiosity that lingers in the back of my brain from the Acorn Archimedes / RISC OS days.

 

Apart from this plethora of SBC that flood the market, what could be the best / least bad way to have a functional ARM/Linux PC?

Is there any development kit with some oomph under the hood that you would recommend?

I think that, as long as there are a few USB ports, an HDMI port and some way to get the sound out I should be ready to go.

I there anything based on Snapdragon, Jetson, ARMv9 etc. that I could purchased without having to sell a kidney first?

 

Again, this is more for self-learning purpose. Something more powerful than the PI that I could use to try to build/compile a Linux distro (I used to be able to build from Gentoo... notice the used to ... ) and see if I can compile some software.

 

Thanks

[Jumballi]

The only option at this time are the SBC, no ARM processors are sold to general consumers at this time.

[FakeFBI]

42 minutes ago, Jumballi said:

The only option at this time are the SBC, no ARM processors are sold to general consumers at this time.

and driver support is non exsistent for them right now, just give time then intel wiill be clicking that blue invest button

[Uji Ninja]

1 hour ago, Jumballi said:

The only option at this time are the SBC, no ARM processors are sold to general consumers at this time.

Aren't development kits available to consumers?

 

By the way, what would be the most powerful SBC available right now? Something with driver support (as a FU2 FakeFBI's answer)?

eg: there's a very basic Linux for Jetson

https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/linux-tegra

 

I was wondering if there's maybe something similar for Snapdragon that I could use.

 

Thanks

[Jumballi]

13 minutes ago, Uji Ninja said:

Aren't development kits available to consumers?

 

By the way, what would be the most powerful SBC available right now? Something with driver support (as a FU2 FakeFBI's answer)?

eg: there's a very basic Linux for Jetson

https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/linux-tegra

 

I was wondering if there's maybe something similar for Snapdragon that I could use.

 

Thanks

The Nvidia Jetson is considered the most powerful you can get as a consumer. You'd already have a Qualcomm Dev kit if you're one of the people who could have gotten on.

The best thing to get is the raspberry pi compute module 4, since it has the most documentation and is the easiest to get started with. It's crazy powerful for what it is and it's best not to invest a lot now seeing as the next few years will have a ton of new options coming out.

[igormp]

18 hours ago, Uji Ninja said:

Apart from this plethora of SBC that flood the market, what could be the best / least bad way to have a functional ARM/Linux PC?

Is there any development kit with some oomph under the hood that you would recommend?

I think that, as long as there are a few USB ports, an HDMI port and some way to get the sound out I should be ready to go.

I there anything based on Snapdragon, Jetson, ARMv9 etc. that I could purchased without having to sell a kidney first?

Something powerful? The Nvidia Xaver NX should do the job, and should run you about $400~500.

 

If you want to go for something cheaper, Rock Pi has some nice alternatives that should be more powerful than the Pi 4. You'd still want to cross compile most stuff though.

 

16 hours ago, Jumballi said:

You'd already have a Qualcomm Dev kit if you're one of the people who could have gotten on.

You can buy those easily from arrow or mouser, they aren't that expensive nor that powerful. I have a dragonboard 410c with me.

 

[Uttamattamakin]

18 hours ago, Uji Ninja said:

Foreword : I sincerely have no idea where I should post this message. Apologies if it's the wrong subforum.

 

Hi,

 

so, I'm getting bored and lazy and wish to keep myself busy. Just for the sake of it about making an ARM-based PC.

I really have no further plan but to refresh my long semi-forgotten Linux skills and to learn some new things about the ARM platform. That may also finally put to rest some curiosity that lingers in the back of my brain from the Acorn Archimedes / RISC OS days.

 

Apart from this plethora of SBC that flood the market, what could be the best / least bad way to have a functional ARM/Linux PC?

 

If you just want to work with RISC but don't want to do a Rasberry Pi there is the RISC V Platform. 

 

https://abopen.com/news/a-look-at-the-risc-v-pc-from-sifive/

 

 

RISC V has that X86 feature of being an open source platform that really allows building a true PC. 

 

ARM is not sold as an open platform to consumers.  It is always sold in a locked down form or a from that is so bespoke and / or expensive that they'd make no sense for consumers even if more open. 

In fact this makes me kinda want to buy this just to play with. 

[Drama Lama]

18 hours ago, Uji Ninja said:

Foreword : I sincerely have no idea where I should post this message. Apologies if it's the wrong subforum.

 

Hi,

 

so, I'm getting bored and lazy and wish to keep myself busy. Just for the sake of it about making an ARM-based PC.

I really have no further plan but to refresh my long semi-forgotten Linux skills and to learn some new things about the ARM platform. That may also finally put to rest some curiosity that lingers in the back of my brain from the Acorn Archimedes / RISC OS days.

 

Apart from this plethora of SBC that flood the market, what could be the best / least bad way to have a functional ARM/Linux PC?

Is there any development kit with some oomph under the hood that you would recommend?

I think that, as long as there are a few USB ports, an HDMI port and some way to get the sound out I should be ready to go.

I there anything based on Snapdragon, Jetson, ARMv9 etc. that I could purchased without having to sell a kidney first?

 

Again, this is more for self-learning purpose. Something more powerful than the PI that I could use to try to build/compile a Linux distro (I used to be able to build from Gentoo... notice the used to ... ) and see if I can compile some software.

 

Thanks

Pinebook Pro

https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/

i mean it's not super fast, but it's to my knowledge the best you can get for playing around

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Drama Lama

[Uji Ninja]

On 4/14/2021 at 4:45 AM, Uttamattamakin said:

If you just want to work with RISC but don't want to do a Rasberry Pi there is the RISC V Platform. 

 

https://abopen.com/news/a-look-at-the-risc-v-pc-from-sifive/

 

 

RISC V has that X86 feature of being an open source platform that really allows building a true PC. 

 

ARM is not sold as an open platform to consumers.  It is always sold in a locked down form or a from that is so bespoke and / or expensive that they'd make no sense for consumers even if more open. 

In fact this makes me kinda want to buy this just to play with. 

 

Nice baby, but slightly too expensive right now.

Wouldn't mind buying one someday though.