I wonder why they are using the Allwinner A64 if they are concerned with FOSS though? It's one of the more serial offenders when it comes to GPL violations[1], and it has a backdoor in its custom kernel config that could be used to take over the system[2]. I'm not trying to crap on your efforts, it's just smart to vet any system even if they claim to be FOSS or open hardware friendly.

[1] http://linux-sunxi.org/GPL_Violations

[2] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/chine...

Active mainlining of Allwinner chips is under way.[0]

I only use the devices with kernels from trustable sources, like Debian. The A20-Olinuxino-Micro works already quite good with Debian out of the box. It is even recommended by FreedomBox.[1]

Because mainling for the A64 isn't at a usable state right now, I'm holding back on buying a Teres-1.

[0] http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort

[1] https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Hardware

I‘m sorry, but 99% of the population will prefer a random shiny device that plays their cat video to one that lets them be „in control“ but have them recompile their kernel with the correct wifi driver before it works for them.

With the current ecosystem, it‘s just much cheaper to mix and match commercial off the shelf solutions that are way too powerful for the job than custom building an optimized solution, because it „just works“.

Heck, I‘ll take a Raspberry Pi over an Arduino any day to automate a simple relay, just because with real Go and Linux I can use the same tooling I‘m using every day at work.

> I‘m sorry, but 99% of the population will prefer a random shiny device

That part gives me the impression of a fatalist stance, and I see that waaay too often. When everybody does x, but doing y gives some profit, people are all interested. But if it's doing y for some other reason, then it's always the "that battle is lost", or "the majority will never change". Argh! It is quite irrelevant if the majority buys random shiny devices or not. What matters only is if there are enough customers of good devices.

> I‘m sorry, but 99% of the population will prefer a random shiny device that plays their cat video

I'm sorry, but fuck 99% of the population. They're not the makers or creators, they are already well served by what's out there. I am truly grateful to have open options and other people who realize the power and freedom of truly open hardware. I'll gladly pay the costs to not cede that independence.

> Heck, I‘ll take a Raspberry Pi over an Arduino any day to automate a simple relay, just because with real Go and Linux I can use the same tooling I‘m using every day at work.

I don't think this is a good example as for many people there are far more good reasons to pick up Arduino over RPi in this scenario. With LinuxBoot the question is far more complicated. If there is a vendor using it, and if it's done properly, you won't even notice a difference.

But I don't think the open source hardware is very up-to-date and what is the best choice to use. btw I usually use many virtual machines and I need to do some work about 3D project. I think cpu of Intel is good to hacking on Linux.