From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Ricardo Wurmus Subject: What ARM hardware should we buy and where should we host it? Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:37:54 +0200 Message-ID: <87lg8izu99.fsf@elephly.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:48324) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fwnBR-0006sG-2o for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Sep 2018 07:38:21 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fwnBG-00025a-1m for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Sep 2018 07:38:11 -0400 Received: from sender-of-o51.zoho.com ([135.84.80.216]:21005) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fwnBF-00024m-HW for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Sep 2018 07:38:05 -0400 List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: guix-devel@gnu.org Hi Guix, currently, we have a very small number of ARM build machines that provide some substitutes for armhf and aarch64 systems. (See https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/donate/ for details.) We would like to increase this number by purchasing more systems, but we need your help to get this right. The first question is what ARM hardware to buy; the second is where to host that hardware. Here are some considerations: - The new systems should be easy to host in a data centre; this might mean that we need rack-mounted servers, or that we need a co-location data centre that accepts machines with unusual form factors. - The system should be able to build substitutes for both armhf and aarch64. Not all aarch64 CPUs support building for armhf, for example. - We need to be able to restart the machine remotely. If members of the Guix project have no physical access to the hosting site, this can be done via remote-controlled power supply or similar. We are looking for volunteers who could either host a machine at home or in a data centre that they could get emergency access to. One system that looks promising for co-location is the Softiron Overdrive 3000 (a rack-mounted ARM server.) A system suitable for hosting at home is the Softiron Overdrive 1000. If you know of other machines that would be suitable for our purposes, please let us know! (The cost for the machines and for hosting them in a data centre would be covered by the Guix project, but we are also willing to accept machine donations if we can also find a volunteer to provide hosting.) -- Ricardo