Pidora 18 (Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix) Released!

Andrew,

   Thanks for showing up in this forum to make the announcement!

   Can you tell us if this release fixes the firmware problem that

prevented the previous F18 release from working with Hynix memory?

http://trac.proximity.on.ca/projects/rpfr/ticket/161

https://fedorahosted.org/arm/ticket/65

  Will there be release notes showing what problem reports have been closed?

   Can you tell us if there are any plans to maintain this release,

unlike the F14, F17, and F18 releases?

   Can you tell us if there are any plans to consolidate your two

bug tracking systems into a single system (and remove the spam)?

Coder27,

The current firmware we are using is Version 20130415git1c339b1, this is the firmware that was last committed on May 14th.

More information will be posted on pidora.ca or the pidora wiki when available. We will be maintaining this release.

Bug tracking should be done with, as stated by the pidora wiki: http://trac.proximity.on.ca/projects/rpfr/

The current process for tracking bugs will be updated in the wiki: http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Pidora_18_Bug_Tracking

Andrew,

   Thanks for the reply!

   I'm curious what's your role with the Pidora project?

I don't see you mentioned at:

  http://blog.chris.tylers.info/index.php?/archives/268-The-OSTEP-Team.html

but I see you now at:

  http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/User:Oatley

> We will be maintaining this release.

That's really good to hear.

I hope you close the problem reports that the release fixes.

Will you also be maintaining the soft-float F-18 release, such as

updating its firmware to work with Hynix memory, or is it dead now?

Will there be a link from your pidora web page to your meeting minutes?

Will you be cleaning out the spam from your bug tracking site?

I see 6 open problem reports at:

   http://trac.proximity.on.ca/projects/rpfr/report/1

5 of which contain spam, and the remaining one (#161) shouldn't

be on the Open list.

Coder27,

I'm responsible for the infrastructure for the OSTEP team(not just pidora), though I am quite new, started in January. My responsibilities include making sure the network, servers, builders, and build system are running. Non-pidora related I work with unstable development boards and making sure services for the OSTEP team are working. I added myself to the list: http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/User:Oatley.

Can't say on current plans for soft-float F-18.

We are working on a solution for the spam(it may already be fixed), still need to clean out the existing spam. Not sure if our meetings will ever end up on the pidora page.

Andrew,

>  Not sure if our meetings will ever end up on the pidora page.

I'm not sure what you mean by that.  Where do you intend your minutes

to be linked from?   I hope you're not wanting to keep them secret.

Some OSTEP minutes are already published at:

   http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Category:OSTEP_Meeting

although these are very hard to find, and are somewhat in shambles.

For example, the minutes labeled:

   OSTEP Meeting 2012-04-11 (note 2012)

and

   OSTEP Meeting 2013-03-11 (note -03-)

both appear to actually be minutes of 2013-04-11,

and many meeting dates show no minutes at all.

As far as I know, there's no OSTEP blog or public mailing list,

so the minutes are all we have to go on besides the wiki which

has been very poorly maintained.

What are your plans for transfering your open problem reports from

your bug tracker at https://fedorahosted.org/arm to your other tracker

at http://trac.proximity.on.ca/projects/rpfr ?

Coder27,

I'm definitely not the person to answer all these questions, but I'll give it my best.

We will not be keeping anything a secret. I don't think the OSTEP meetings will be placed on pidora.ca, since not everything is pidora related, though there may be some better ways to publish pidora information. That is mostly likely going to be decided by another member of the OSTEP team, I can't give information on that.

We are currently looking over the two different tracking systems, and all the open tickets. Hopefully more information and progress on all of these things will be out soon.

Thanks for your comments, it is good to know what people may be worried about.

Andrew,
  Sorry to bombard you with a bunch of questions that you aren't

the right person to answer, but you're the only person from Seneca who

has dared to show his face in this forum since the first RPi release.

We have been completely puzzled why F14 was released and then

withdrawn with no replacement until F17, and then why F18 was

released with no maintenance, and why your bug trackers are

in shambles and why your meeting minutes are in shambles,

and why your wiki is in shambles. 

If this is a serious project, we would like to see a single bug tracker

without spam, release notes with releases, plans for F19, plans for

soft-float F18 maintenance, a maintained wiki, minutes of meetings, etc.

Coder27,

Noted. Thanks again for the input, we'll do our best. If you're interested look over the release material and give Pidora 18 a try.

Andrew,

   I looked over the release material, and was distressed not to find any release notes

saying which problem reports were fixed.  If there have been improvements in speed,

I don't see any benchmarks to demonstrate that, either in comparison to the prior

soft-float F18 or to the competing Raspian hard-float.

  I can't even find Pidora mentioned with the other releases at:

http://scotland.proximity.on.ca/raspberrypi/raspberrypi-fedora-remix/

The F18 soft-float did have release notes, at:

http://scotland.proximity.on.ca/raspberrypi/raspberrypi-fedora-remix/18/images/RaspberryPi-Fedora-Remix-18-Release-Notes.txt

but with sloppy mistakes:

  "Model A has been redesigned to have 512Mb RAM"

but this should say 256, not 512, and MB, not Mb.

   "The Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix 17 will be the second version of the Remix released."

but this should say 18, not 17, and third version, not second.

    "firmware version: raspberrypi-firmware-20120727git0d88fba-1"

I don't really think it's quite that old.  I think it's dated Nov 23, 2012,

rather than Jul 27, 2012.

   3 fixed problems are listed, but without problem tracking numbers.

Andrew,

   Are you maintaining two separate wiki's now?

http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_Fedora_Remix

http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Pidora

There is a lot of obsolete information in the first wiki, and even some

in the second, such as:

"The Remix was produced at the Seneca Centre for Development of Open Technology, which hosts the Fedora ARM build system."

I believe the Fedora ARM build system is hosted now in Phoenix, AZ, not Seneca.

"For suggestions on packages to meet particular needs and which run well on the Raspberry Pi, see Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix 14 - Suggested Packages."

I believe this Remix 14 link is no longer specifically applicable, since C is

included now with Pidora.

The FAQ at

http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_Fedora_Remix_FAQ#Why_is_the_Remix_slow.3F

currently says:

"The GUI in particular is slow, because the 2D graphics (the X Window System) are not yet connected to the 3D graphics processing unit on the SOC."

Similarly, the Educational Pilot currently says:

"At this time, regular 2D graphics do not use the 3D accelerator built into the Pi. Therefore, the regular graphical user interface is somewhat slow. The 2D graphics will be hooked up to the 3D accelerator at some point in the future."

http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_Educational_Pilot

Are you still trying to accelerate X Windows using the 3D GPU? 

Or have you given up on that?