11-29-2021, 07:51 PM
(11-24-2021, 06:35 AM)GreyLinux Wrote:(11-08-2021, 07:14 PM)TRS-80 Wrote:(11-08-2021, 02:51 PM)Dendrocalamus64 Wrote: It never stuck out to me in the long list of supported distributions on Rockpro64.
A few of those are actually based on Armbian. lol So you can expect them to go away if Armbian does.
Anyway, to your broader point, Armbian guys strike me as a small handful of very technically inclined types, so maybe marketing is not their strong suit. Which is part of why I am trying to help get the word out.
But they do make a very stable and reliable distro. And give a consistent experience across a (very!) wide range of hardware. All due respect to other projects, but I personally do not really think all the distros on that supported list are created equal.
I just read that Armbian will probably only support ubuntu based images from now on and are dropping Debian based images unless the board maintainer wishes to make it an option , but it technically wont be supported.
link to discussion
This news doesn't surprise me at all. Promises of newly released boards with LTS 2023 and beyond only to find those promises are empty will not encourage anyone to buy products from this manufacturer. From the Rock64 to the RockPro64 only for the guys at Armbian I'd have dumped these boards at this stage.
There's more to successful SBC's than shiny new processors with all the bells and whistles. Looking at an SBC switched on with a few flashing LEDs is hardly inspiring. The software under the bonnet matters too. Community input while very welcome cannot be always relied upon. The manufacturers need to work in parallel with the likes of the team at Armbian to guarantee the longevity of their products.
While I do understand these boards are aimed at the tinkerer community surely you don't expect every owner to be a kernel designer. If that's the case you can revise your projected sales figures downward dramatically.
I really do suggest you resolve this issue otherwise you can expect a very negative response from your user base. There are too many alternatives on the market these days for users to have to jump through hoops just to get these boards to boot.