A huge part of the project I wanted to implement was direct ARM support. This being because ARM has a massive future and following. As we all know, x86 and amd64 are not great and supporting them is something we do only because more users have access to x86 or amd64. Like Ubuntu proper did with i386 and other 32 bit implementations, Ubuntu Lumina sees a higher market for our distribution in the ARM world with Pine64 and Raspberry Pi.
There are no official partnership plans for Ubuntu Lumina on ARM, we want the hero’s of Pine64 and maybe even Raspberry Pi Foundation to work with us. Since the complete arsenal for our ARM testing is a Pi3b+ and a Pi4, we are low on hardware, and having the two biggest open-source ARM hardware makers on our side would be a dream.
Partnering with ARM is one thing, building ARM is another. As far as we understand, there are no official building methods with our current ISO builder. This means one of two things.
A – We have to build our own custom ARM img builder
B – We modify our current ISO builder to build ARM img’s
Neither of these are ideal, but until we find a suitable option to build ARM directly there are currently no other options. Of course if you have an application to share, post the GitHub/GitLab link to it, for security we will block any other links. Please make sure it also has an open-source license, any are fine but we prefer the Apache license, any GPL license, MIT, and BSD licenses.
Supporting ARM officially will be difficult, but luckily we do have a solid base we will use. This being the Ubuntu server image for RPi, but this does hold a lot of software we will need to purge. We will look into talking to Martin Wimpress, Canonical employee behind Ubuntu proper and lead of Ubuntu MATE who has the Desktopify side project. While the project does have a lot of tools and information for us to borrow, it still holds the fact that it is NOT an img, and as far as we know only runs in live-session, which is not ideal for building install mediums.
The biggest things with the build is that if possible, we want to integrate it with our current ISO builder, making it easier to build and ship both the ISO and the ARM image.
Other general information is that it is possible to continue (as best as possible) Ubuntu 32 bit support, although being a small margin of users, it falls in line with us building small systems for older machines. While there is no official decision on our end to support 32 bit or other architectures at this time, Ubuntu Lumina Remix wants to support people and not let good hardware go to waste.
If you want more information, to help us by any means get our project higher off the ground and one day no longer be only a remix, any help is welcome. Emotional support has really kept this one-man-plan floating and releasing. We however will be looking for people more knowledgeable with ARM, can test ARM, or even help build or test Ubuntu Lumina. More information will be coming out in a future time on how to help the project fully, but if you wish, email us at [email protected], as we want as much help as possible with the massive dreams of the project! These are all volunteer positions, and the project is not financially capable of paying contributors, just wanted that to be clear for various legal reasons.
Hello friend, I recently became interested in Ubuntu Lumina Remix, because I saw it as a great opportunity to give Ubuntu support to ARM again, I wish I could help, with monetary donations, but I am unable to do so
No worries, we aren’t accepting monetary donations right now anyways. We will work extensively to make it all happen.