BBB ships more than 100K units -- and soon with Debian!

shabaz wrote:

 

Hi John,

 

What good news (all of it!). I think the "simplified programming" may refer to a C compiler that was completed a while back (I have not tried it), but I hope it also includes a framework for communication between the PRU code and the user program(s) on top of Linux. The JavaScript tutorials thing is great, since Node.js makes prototyping so fast (I've not used Python so I can't compare - but at least with JavaScript people can reuse the learnt knowledge in html files too).

That's pretty much right. The C compiler should be public by then. Here is an example of an improved framework for talking to apps in Linux from the PRU and includes an app written on the PRU in C using the beta of the compiler:

https://github.com/mranostay/ws28xx-lighting-pru

Wow, 3 X Jason in a row, awesome!!!   A Very Happy 2014 to you and yours.

As you probably know, we're big fans of BBB here, and very much look forward to what's coming in the future.  And you've answered the questions about "presence" perfectly i think.

Jason Kridner wrote:

 

It has always been my objective for the community to survive on its own, but this is my life and my passion, so you I'm not running from the flak. If there is something you see I'm not answering, it is fine to call me out specifically. If anything isn't running right, I'm most certainly at least partially to blame.

Awesome to hear that, and I expect it'll have assuaged any questions people might have had.  About the mess that is Google Groups, I think you're right to point out community-organized efforts like beaglefu.com (and elinux.org) as the way forwards.  Companies have agendas of their own, and all too frequently those agendas don't mesh with the needs of the community.

Great to hear about the C facility for the PRUs --- looking forward to that!

Have a great 2014 Jason, we're all on your side here.

Morgaine.

Jason Kridner wrote:

Gerald is a monster at replying to the mailing list. If he answers the question, then why do I need to chime in?

He certainly is

The rumors and speculation around angstrom and it's replacement have been going on for quite a while. You could have defused a lot of it with a quick post saying where things were heading.

Jason Kridner wrote:

I find that very few of the problems people have with BeagleBoards are specific to Beagle at all---they are more to do with Linux,

totally agreed, and I think you'd benefit from some seperation, general questions on one list, with kernel/driver/cape development on another to try to avoid the generic linux stuff drowning out the real development work.

Like the RPi, the BBB is a victim of it's own success, bringing in more people with little experience of linux was always going to alter the signal to noise ratio and it's a good indicator of success that you have the problem!

Jason Kridner wrote:

 

Some of these things I feel must organize themselves.

I have a suggestion, a way forward that could address many of the issues that you and many others have mentioned.  It fits the general category of the community "organizing themselves" but with just a hint of assistance through providing resources to help them,  Specifically:  run an issue tracker on Beagleboard.org.

I'm not suggesting that either Beagleboard.org nor TI track issues and resolve them, but only that you provide the hardware/software resource for it.  The community can do the work itself, and of course that's the costly part, the human resources.  But the community will I'm sure be happy to dedicate its own manpower and time so that the burden of administration won't fall on you.

This could go a long way towards adding some organization to the incoherent mess that is Google Groups.  Users who aren't scared by the prospect of registering with the tracker could search for related problem reports or questions, and add their own.  Knowledgeable users could collapse repeated questions into single-issue threads, add "See issue XXX" links as quick answers, manage the resolution state of issues (resolved within the community in most cases), and so on.

Would it be a mess?  Yes, total chaos, at least initially.  But communities have a habit of working themselves out, and as long as there is a revert system for undoing incorrect changes or abuse, it'll clean itself up.  After all, wikis manage just fine.  And if it doesn't work out, not a lot will be lost.  Personally, I expect that anything would be an improvement on the unstructured cauldron of the mailing list --- an issue tracker would add some organization to the current chatter, and that's important.

Morgaine.

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

  Specifically:  run an issue tracker on Beagleboard.org.

There's https://github.com/beagleboard/kernel/issues already, but nobody's going to find that unless they already know it's going to be there.

It's a bit like the beaglefu.com link Jason posted, even though it's there, not having obvious links from beagleboard.org means it won't be used to full advantage. I'd never heard of beaglefu before today...

Which is why I suggested the tracker be run on beagleboard.org --- how about tracker.beagleboard.org ?  As you can see, I'm highly creative.

selsinork wrote:

 

There's https://github.com/beagleboard/kernel/issues already, but nobody's going to find that unless they already know it's going to be there.

That actually looks perfectly adequate.  So, the only thing beagleboard.org needs is a CNAME to it!

Plus, a lot of name dropping.

Morgaine.

selsinork wrote:

 

Jason Kridner wrote:

Gerald is a monster at replying to the mailing list. If he answers the question, then why do I need to chime in?

He certainly is

 

The rumors and speculation around angstrom and it's replacement have been going on for quite a while. You could have defused a lot of it with a quick post saying where things were heading.

Indeed. It was a fairly moronic move on my part to sugar up the 100k news post being made by LinuxGizmos with news of the fairly-openly-discussed rumor that really isn't just a rumor and then taking off on vacation where I barely have any Internet access. I haven't spoken to Gerald, Dave, Robert or others, but I'm pretty sure there is some irritation at me doing this. I'll try to learn from it!

Thanks for all the support.

Beta Debian images now available : https://groups.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/beagleboard/9EG0SbhwTx0

Do you know if it is going to be support to the bb view displays in the Debian distribution?