Hello Ben,
thanks for your comments!
My first thoughts on this are as follows:
- I would love to use Genode as my primary OS, but I have been unable
to make sufficient progress for any of my computers. The older ones don't have AHCI support, Genode's hardware support for my custom desktop computer is severely limited, and I don't even have any idea what's not working on my laptop because I haven't been able to get AMT to work. If you can add support for an alternative method of getting debugging output (or somehow support my desktop computer's motherboard) then I would happily try again to setup my own Turmvilla-like Genode system.
I have followed the SATA story [1] and appreciate your patience. It is unfortunate that it went to a dead end for now. We may consider obtaining the board you mentioned - but I can't give a promise as this line of work is just a side track of us.
[1] https://github.com/genodelabs/genode/issues/1547
Regarding the log output, there are two principle alternatives to AMT, enhancing NOVA or core with the ability to print those messages to the VGA console (similarly to how L4/Fiasco is doing it). Alex has a branch for this feature [2] but I do not know if it works with Genode 15.11. The second way would be to connect a UART ExpressCard, if your laptop is equipped with such a slot.
[2] https://github.com/alex-ab/genode/commits/experimental_vga_console
- I would love graphical configuration utilities, but I would consider
them a much lower priority than improved hardware support. I could make my own utilities, but I would need a lot of help getting Genode to support my hardware.
I am afraid that hardware support will never be enough. With this thinking, we could never even start to move Genode forward on the hardware that it already supports well.
I have seen Turmvilla running decently on a variety of Intel-based laptops equipped with Intel wireless, Intel E1000 networking, Intel integrated graphics, and Intel HDA audio. Why not to take this rough specification as the requirement for running Genode and declare other platforms as unsupported?
Having us few developers constantly extend the range of supported hardware does not scale, and since our testing capabilities are limited, regressions would be likely to occur. So the effort would eventually go wasted. Unless the burden of extending and regularly testing the hardware support is carried by a growing developer community, it remains unfeasible. So I'd prefer to focus on the narrow range of PC platforms mentioned above. For starting out with Genode, a refurbished Lenovo x201 that costs merely 200 USD is just perfect - especially compared to the investment of time needed to support other hardware (I am looking at the back-and-forth of our attempt to enable your SATA device [1]).
Please don't get me wrong. I am not dismissing hardware support as a working topic. We will need to continuously work on that. But when doing so, I'd like to address current-generation or next-generation hardware.
Coming back to the actual discussion about the roadmap, I don't see improved hardware support appearing as a major topic as it is quite intangible. For someone studying the roadmap, "improved hardware support" tells not much.
Cheers Norman