> "The GR8 seems to be a rebadged Allwinner chip"
It could be, but reading up on the features of the C.H.I.P. Pro it supports mainline Linux. I assumed this meant without blobs. Is there mainline support for any Allwinner chips?
It could be, but reading up on the features of the C.H.I.P. Pro it supports mainline Linux. I assumed this meant without blobs. Is there mainline support for any Allwinner chips?
http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort#Status_Matrix
EDIT: The GR8 is specifically called out on this page as having mainline support from kernel 4.9.
> Powered by a chip you can actually buy. > R8 SoC + 256MB DDR3 > 1 package. 1 price. > $6 in any quantity.
(that's $6 for their rebadged chip.) TBH this looks like not a bad solution for someone looking to board-down a linux capable product. I wonder if the GR8 needs a power mgt chip or if that's integrated into the SoC as well.
Back to your original question, NTC (among others) worked with AllWinner I believe to mainline some of the R8 code and reduce (or possibly eliminate?) binary blobs.
Fun fact, there are blobs in mainline Linux. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux-libre#History