1 files changed, 58 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/src/arm/adventures.org b/src/arm/adventures.org
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8712435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/arm/adventures.org
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#+title: New adventures in ARM
+#+author: Thomas Albers Raviola
+#+date: 2022-10-10
+
+* Backgroud
+If you have read my poorly written articles about my Z80 computers, it is
+probably no surprise that I ended up playing with ARM processors.
+
+Way back I bought a Beaglebone Black based on the Sitara AM335x series of armhf
+processors. I never really gave it much use as I got more interested in Z80 and
+the idea of myself building and soldering my own computer.
+
+This changed some weeks ago, when while enjoying the free time between semesters
+at university I decided to buy a Pinenote from Pine64. I had seen before the
+E-Ink tablet of one of my tutors and wanted to replace taking notes on paper for
+some kind of digital form. Initially I used my X200T laptop for this end but the
+battery life does leave some performance to wish for.
+
+The alternatives I found in the market shared all the same disadvantages. For
+example, the reMarkable tablet of my Tutor seems to work in some kind of
+restricted ecosystem with cloud syncing bullshit I don't care about.
+
+If I am not able to run the software I want, I don't care about the product.
+
+The Pinenote on the other hand, while still in development and with basically no
+finished software ready, is designed to leave complete freedom to the user.
+
+My plan was to experiment with my Beaglebone, learning to compile a kernel and a
+GNU/Linux distro for ARM and then apply this knowledge to port some system to
+the Pinenote.
+
+This however was not at all necessary, as there are already people who have
+reverse engineered the DRM driver for the display and documented how to comile a
+custom kernel to run on the ARM processor of the Pinenote. This process ended up
+being actually really easy.
+
+I won't claim to be able to explain it better. Nonetheless I have documented (or
+will) the process as part of this series of articles about my experiments with
+low-level ARM hacking.
+
+This topic evolved rapidly into an extremly deep rabbit hole. As I still plan to
+learn how the boot process for ARM devices work by writing a bare-bones blink
+LED code, the Hello World! of low-level programming, for my Beaglebone. I plan
+this to be the continuation of me learning low-level stuff as with my Z80.
+
+I also discovered that the ebook reader I had and that now is left redundant by
+my Pinenote also has an ARM processor (I know, not a big surprise). But instead
+of writing the system to a eMMC, tolino packed a SD card with the system,
+rendering the process of testing other code a trivial one.
+
+Given my despise for Android and how satisfied I am with my Pinenote, I actually
+decided to buy the Pinephone Pro and the Pinebook Pro. When the time comes, I
+would like to also write articles on how I port my favourite GNU/Linux distro,
+GNU/Guix, to these platforms. Hopefully I won't need to use a damn Android
+device ever again and will actually be able to use my devices the way I want.
+
+Ranting aside, I now invite you to check the writings about the findings in my
+new adventures in the ARM world.