Reference OS.

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1

As a new comer to the BeagleBone one of my biggest challenges has been
related to the numerous choice of operating systems for the board.
Based on the various threads on this and other lists, it does not seem
that I am alone.

Would be possible to achieve consensus around a single OS as the ref
Operating System for the BBB? While I support individuals freely
choosing which distribution best meets their needs, the overall
project would be best served by focusing on the foundation.

Shipping the BBB rev C with Debian starts to set Debian as the defacto standard.

1. Would it be possible/reasonable to suggest that other BeagleBone
users migrate from Angstrom to Debian?
2. Would it be possible/reasonable to articulate that the BeagleBone
community will focus their development and support efforts on Debian?
3. Would it be possible/reasonable to suggest that support on this
mailing list will focus on Debian?

My concern is that with out clear community consensus, the BBB faces
unnecessary fragmentation which would reduce that value of the project

David

2

We ship Debian on every BBB we ship. However, trying to dictate to the community what every person uses, that seems to me to be “not open source”. We have no plans to dictate to people what they do and what OS they prefer.

Open source means just that . Fragmentation. I do not plan for us to become Microsoft. Causing people to leave the project because you did not choose Android, that would in my opinion reduce the value of the project.

Gerald

3

I'd say that your first sentence above pretty much covers all your listed points. Robert has done an excellent job of creating an easy way for users to use Debian. Now that rev. C ships with a Debian install seems to me the path is clear.

I've looked into Angstrom in the past, seems to be a dying project IMNSHO. The website has only recently been brought back online and much of it is dead links.

Robert probably said it best recently, Linux is Linux. If I had a dime for every time I've said that to people I've mentored I'd be a much wealthier man. Nearly all have come back to where I started them, namely Debian. They wander and stumble around because distro x supports this piece of hardware, or I can't do this on distro y. Once they pass a point on the learning curve they start to see the light.

Your last sentence pretty much describes the Linux community in general. Many debate for the one core distro/desktop/browser/whatever. Human nature such as it is will never allow a consensus. In the end it's about a users choice....

My 2cents or so.

Mike

4

Besides that only the kernel matters. If you have a working kernel, you can use almost every Linux distribution (or other OS which do use the Linux kernel like Android).

Unfortunatley that doesn't make things easier as a working kernel is stuff for dreams itself (meant in general, not in regard to the Beagle boards).

Regards,

Alexander Holler

5

Jjust pick a distro ( all are Linux, e.g. OS ), and stick with it. I will however let you know, that the best supported distro right now is Debian. Robert does a bang up job, and is very active on these groups. Not to mention that Debian is well documented on the internet, where 90% + of any ones answers can be answered by using google.

This post of yours seems circular in relation to the last post or two you’ve made on these groups. Dancing around the same subjects. SO my advice to you is just pick SOMETHING (I would recommend Debian ), start learning one thing at a time, and do not stress out on the whole big picture ( all at once )

I would also recommend that you setup a virtual machine with Debian on it to toy around with until you feel comfortable with various aspects as you learn them. The only way you’re going to learn is by doing.

6

As a new comer to the BeagleBone one of my biggest challenges has been
related to the numerous choice of operating systems for the board.
Based on the various threads on this and other lists, it does not seem
that I am alone.

I agree with Gerald, but I'll try to address some of your concerns

The variety and changing nature of software does create some support
challenges. Part of our strategy has been to make BeagleBoard.org
hardware a first-class citizen of various community software projects.
In that light, you can get lots of support for those projects in their
normal support channels and come here to figure out the
BeagleBoard/BeagleBone-specific details.

Would be possible to achieve consensus around a single OS as the ref
Operating System for the BBB? While I support individuals freely
choosing which distribution best meets their needs, the overall
project would be best served by focusing on the foundation.

Shipping the BBB rev C with Debian starts to set Debian as the defacto standard.

A reference, certainly. Not sure what the implication is of a "defacto
standard". All operating systems are welcome here.

1. Would it be possible/reasonable to suggest that other BeagleBone
users migrate from Angstrom to Debian?

Possible, yes. Reasonable, depends. If Angstrom does what you need,
then why not stay with it?

2. Would it be possible/reasonable to articulate that the BeagleBone
community will focus their development and support efforts on Debian?

The community is diverse and supports many software systems. There's
some focus on Debian, but we should be working with Fedora, Arch,
FreeBSD and lots of others too. There is a bit of a BeagleBone
out-of-box-experience, but it is meant as just a gateway on to deeper
learning and development.

3. Would it be possible/reasonable to suggest that support on this
mailing list will focus on Debian?

No. We try to avoid forking lists when when can. Impressions of that
have been mixed, but I think if there is enough interest in creating a
Debian support list focused on BeagleBone Black, then someone will
make it and attract community members there. Personally, I like having
this one list with all the topics and relying on people to create
reasonable subject lines. Folks can tag messages as well to put them
in various categories.

My concern is that with out clear community consensus, the BBB faces
unnecessary fragmentation which would reduce that value of the project

Is there a specific contribution you are looking at making?