I guess I should have known better, just like nature, open source "finds a way".
[1] https://www.realworldtech.com/forum/?threadid=196533&curpost...
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25216680
etc..
Not necessarily.
Reverse engineering the unknown architecture and porting the Linux kernel to the new machine is impressive work that we should support and celebrate.
But making it to be a usable desktop or laptop computer (e.g. with functional power management, 3D acceleration and other drivers) is another matter. See Nvidia graphics. Even after 10 years, some cards are still not fully supported by Nouveau due to the lack of documentation. I'm afraid that Apple M1 is going to stuck at a similar state for a long time - technically, Linux boots, but it's not a machine you'd like to browse the web, write code, or carry around.
It did sound a bit like a taunt to enlist the community in figuring it out.
> Hello everybody out there using minix –
> I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. (.. .)
> Linus
> PS. Yes – it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have :-(.
You're using it here as a substitute for "I believed what he said", when in fact "Drank the kool-aid" means you are admitting you were brainwashed into believing a doomed idea to the point you're practically willing to die for it.
The followers of Elizabeth Holmes or Adam Neumann can be said to have "drank the kool-aid".
If you're not aware, it's a direct reference to the Jonestown mass suicide, so to me it comes off pretty jarring to see it used to refer to something as noncommittal and inconsequential as "I didn't disbelieve his statement".
There's mainline support for ODROID boards, for example, but you're still dependent on the manufacturer for making sure new kernels actually work with the hardware and for new images. Once that manufacturer stops maintaining the kernel and images for their old hardware, either the community has to step up or you'll be running an increasingly out of date kernel and distro until you buy new hardware.
As another poster has said, there's still a long ways to go for support.