Week ago Fedora 23 got released. Also for ARM and AArch64 architectures. But it does not mean that it supports all possible hardware.
AArch64
There is the installation guide which lists two supported hardware platforms (besides QEMU):
- Applied Micro Mustang
- AMD Seattle
And then we got email from Clive Messer with question why we do not support 96Boards, ie. HiKey and Dragonboard as they are cheap and available.
I am not surprised with such question. It would be great to have support for both boards but their current state makes it quite hard. There is no support for them in mainline kernel, Dragonboard needs some firmware files which license forbids packaging it (note bolded part):
Distribution of the Redistributable Binary Code is subject to the following restrictions: (i) Redistributable Binary Code may only be distributed in binary format and may not be distributed in source code format: (ii) Redistributable Binary Code may not be distributed on a stand alone basis but may be redistributed in conjunction with and as a part of a software application created by you; (iii) the Redistributable Binary Code may only operate in conjunction with platforms incorporating Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. chipsets; (iv) redistribution of the Redistributable Binary Code must include the .txt file setting forth the terms and condition of this Agreement; (v) you may not use Qualcomm Technologies’ or its affiliates or subsidiaries name, logo or trademarks; and (vi) copyright, trademark, patent and any other notices that appear on the Materials may not be removed or obscured.
So even if we get mainline kernel working on it some things will not work without non-free files.
Then we have bootloaders. Hikey can be flashed with UEFI but (according to bootloader install documentation) you need to keep partitions in some magic way. Where is “there has to be one ef00 type partition formatted with FAT” as it is with other UEFI powered machines? Dragonboard 410c uses fastboot ;(
ARM
On ARM side there is common question about “most readily available and used board, with the most units sold and the biggest community” one. I think that developers from that community do not want their board supported in main distributions like Debian or Fedora.
Heresy? Do not think so. What needs to get board supported was told many times. Mainline kernel support, firmware blobs with redistribution license, drivers for graphics and sane bootloader (UEFI, U-Boot, maybe some other too).
Summary
So if you want to have your board supported then spend some time on mainlining your changes/drivers. And then come to us.