Using ARM for Bootcamp

mkturner

Are there any documented issues with using ARM (aarch64) or is the script just failing because the course wasn't necessarily designed with ARM in mind? Yes, I'm using one of those new M1 macs that has gotten everyone interested in ARM support overnight . The readyfor.sh complains twice about not finding x86_64 architecture. There is also a fail regarding BogoMIPS but I assume this has something to do with the emulation -- not that the processor isn't strong enough. I'm running Ubuntu 20.04 in a Virtual Machine with Parallels 16 and performance is great with 4 cores & 4 GB RAM. How big of an issue is this for the linux courses? I don't think I will have to worry about it once I get to DevOps/Containers/k8s.

TL;DR: Is it certain that aarch64 will not work with the linux courses, or it is an 'ymmv' or 'at your own risk' kind of deal?

coop

I've forwarded your post to the author ofready-for.shfor a more authoritative view. However, I believe for the bootcamp YMMV is probably right. The important thing is the guest VMs not the host, and as you say "I'm using one of those new M1 macs" and that script is used in about 40 courses, some of which definitely cannot use that architecture. For LFS201 in particular, the resources needed are small. If you have trouble it will be in the v irtualization lab where you have to run kvm but all else should be ok.

hschoenh

Hi, running into the same issue on a MBPM1pro. Is there a risk to run the full course or can I stay on this platform during the bootcamp?
Thx Heiko

luisviveropena

Hi Heiko,

Is there a risk to run the full course or can I stay on this platform during the bootcamp?

I don't think that your laptop is gonna crash or anything like that, hehehe. Few things may not work, mostly virtualization, as Coop mentioned.

Regards,
Luis.

coop

not having the memtest package won't matter. As far as the performance issue goes, I doubt it is a problem as the LFS201 course is not demanding, but as you do anything else in the bootcamp, you will need good luck. We cannot promise much about hardware we do not test, and there are limits to what we can test on what

kevinsee

My suggestion is get a Google Cloud, AWS or Oracle Cloud account.

From there, you are able to create a Linux Virtual Machine.

There are free tier available that doesn't cost you anything except $1 for credit card verification.

coop

If they are going to do that they might as well use a VM under VMWare or Virtual box on a Windows/MacOS/Linux machine. I think the point is they want to use the hardware If they have one of the other hosts there is no reason not to use a full GUI at least for LFS201