[openbeos] Re: MIPS32 port for GSoC

"Donovan Schulteis" <deej575@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
 ... 
> MHO is that a 1.0release on x86 should be the only
> priority at this time.  Once there, other platforms can be 
> examined... but the community needs the one complete
> platform before starting to worry about others, nevermind
> the lack of an army of devs to keep all platforms moving 
> forward.  Stay focused on a single target for now... ;)

Yes, Haiku should stay focused on desktop computers (and desktop use 
cases), but the 32-bit PC/Mac, which is what Haiku expects today, isn't 
the solid rock it used to be. I'm not saying we will all be using cell 
phones or that the PC is dying. What I mean, what I'm hoping, is that 
the PC mono culture may be falling apart, at last.

Hardware changes, which is why we need to be agile and make sure that 
Haiku is ready to move to other hardware without lengthy redesigns. 
We've already, sort of, lost a couple of years. If an individual wants 
to donate his/her time towards making Haiku run on alternative  
(unknown, yet current) hardware, without any ill effects on the machine 
independent parts (or on the x86-dependent parts), what's not to like?

Haiku needs more people who understand the kernel, gcc, executable 
formats, debugging, optimization, the build system, device drivers - 
all the things most people, even developers, don't want to know about.

If I can pursue a MIPS port -within Haiku- I can be useful to the 
project. Some of the most important parts of Haiku will get tested in 
slightly different ways. If I have to do it outside of Haiku I will 
have less time for Haiku.

A MIPS port would not debase Haiku or somehow alter its focus on 
personal (desktop) computing. I don't think it would take away any more 
mentoring resources than would guiding any other developer learning the 
Haiku kernel.

This is what I would like to spend my time on. Haiku's google money 
would be a nice incentive, but I can understand that people don't want 
to see that money spent on something that is not immediately useful to 
most people, like a .pkg installer or a HDA audio driver, but what 
Haiku truly needs the most is more kernel (etc) developers that 
eventually will take on the 15 or so tasks (of 21) on Haiku's list of 
ideas for Google SoC that list kernel skills as desired.

/Jonas Sundström.

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