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Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

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Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#22

For embedded / iot usage, one major issue is device support https://ubuntu.com/certified/devices It does contain raspberry pi's but the list isn't all that great. I had trouble finding 32 bit ARM precompiled binary distributions from ubuntu (that is not a rpi), and had to compile my own kernel + inline it with debian to get 32 bit arm support.

Smallest thing I've found is a FreeScale SOC running a Cortex-A7.

Can you run Linux on a Cortex-M, which is basically a microcontroller, instead of a Cortex-A that has a MMU? I don't think it's possible.

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#23

I highly discourage anyone to use Ubuntu Core as part of their solution. It is a secure environment, yes, but it is a nightmare to configure (snaps) and for everything, expect for the most basic stuff, you will need what is called a "brand store", which costs about $20k/year, regardless if you have 1 or 100 devices. (We could not even make one snap talk to another snap, checking another snap status etc). We had comme…

Been a huge fanboy since Warthog, but as of 20.04 I've sought refuge elsewhere. Turns out, Ubuntu isn't nearly as user friendly as it was back then, in fact, it's one of the least user friendly distros these days! Everybody progressed and you deserve t check it out yourself!

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#24

Look for balenaOS ( http://balena.io ) if you want an alternative IoT solution. We looked into ubuntu core, which seems like an overkill in complexity. With balena you can get started immetiately with all the tools you already know, like docker etc and have a solution that works...

Another solution would be Apertis (www.apertis.org). Unlike Ubuntu Core, it uses standard technologies like OSTree, Flatpak etc to provide similar features.

Disclaimer: I work on Apertis.

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#25
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have no clue what the market wants. Nobody is going to shell out $15k-20k to build a solution. We lost about 4 months betting on it and eventually moved away. We are glad we did.

>Nobody is going to shell out $15k-20k to build a solution. Well that's not true, if the solution is a success 20k is not much....problem is it rarely is with canonical.

In our case we were building a solution from scratch. It is very hard to justify upfront costs like that, involving open-source and early in the project. IoT solution costs should move up according to scale. That's why AWS, Azure, and others have grown their IoT offerings. Nobody starts paying $20k upfront to use AWS IoT.

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#26
I really never understood this thing about Ubuntu as a minimalist OS for servers and embedded. Almost no matter what, it's going to be more bloated and complicated than just about any other flavor of Linux you can think of. Sure, it works, and there's the factor of familiarity, but just... why? Make Ubuntu the best desktop or mobile OS it can be. Without the original selling point that it fixed problems downstream from Debian and made install easier, what exactly is the point? Ubuntu does some things well, but they've never been good at keeping anything minimal.

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#27
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smallest thing I've found is a FreeScale SOC running a Cortex-A7.

Cortex M* lack MMU, which is necessary for any normal linux distro. Cortex M0 and M4 are just beefy microcontrollers.

You're correct. I'll revise.

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#28
post #23

I highly discourage anyone to use Ubuntu Core as part of their solution. It is a secure environment, yes, but it is a nightmare to configure (snaps) and for everything, expect for the most basic stuff, you will need what is called a "brand store", which costs about $20k/year, regardless if you have 1 or 100 devices. (We could not even make one snap talk to another snap, checking another snap status etc). We had comme…

Been a huge fanboy since Warthog, but as of 20.04 I've sought refuge elsewhere. Turns out, Ubuntu isn't nearly as user friendly as it was back then, in fact, it's one of the least user friendly distros these days! Everybody progressed and you deserve t check it out yourself!

What’s your new distro of choice?

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#29

I highly discourage anyone to use Ubuntu Core as part of their solution. It is a secure environment, yes, but it is a nightmare to configure (snaps) and for everything, expect for the most basic stuff, you will need what is called a "brand store", which costs about $20k/year, regardless if you have 1 or 100 devices. (We could not even make one snap talk to another snap, checking another snap status etc). We had comme…

That is really ridiculous. I'm sure some companies out there will pay it without blinking, but how are the little people supposed to evaluate things, heck a former boss at a Fortune 500 I know for a fact will say no thank you, and move on. I would just use DEB packages and setup a package repository myself, what does snap bring that regular debian packaging does not?

Re: Ubuntu Core 22 is now available – optimised for IoT and embedded devices

#30

I really never understood this thing about Ubuntu as a minimalist OS for servers and embedded. Almost no matter what, it's going to be more bloated and complicated than just about any other flavor of Linux you can think of. Sure, it works, and there's the factor of familiarity, but just... why? Make Ubuntu the best desktop or mobile OS it can be. Without the original selling point that it fixed problems downstream fr…

I doubt they'll want to compete in the consumer OS space after the ubuntu phone mess.
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