I also don't get this. Isn't their goal to sell more chips? Then wouldn't they sell a lot more with good/better software/support?
Seems like they don't want people to use Linux on them.
They do make the most powerful SoC's on cheaper SBC's. I use Amlogic SoC's for video editing. For that you only need a good cpu(multicore+single core), and gpu/vpu is of lesser importance. In power per watt the A311D/S922X are just the best.
But I'd like to be able to do a lot more than just video editing on them. I loved the Odroid C2 with S905. Was more versatile. But then again they claimed 2Ghz clockspeed.
I can't wait for the RK3358 to show up on a board. That should be able to outmatch the Amlogic SoC's. It is to see what consumption and how much heat it'll produce.
Rockchip used to be worse than amlogic in their support. But they did make that up. Allwinner is no match in performance. But they are very usable boards for lighter tasks. OPi+ is my MP3 player and NAS with a sata hd and 1.5TB USB2 external HD. No other board does that better.
The RK3399's are my most used SBC's for light desktop tasks/surfing/watching video. But no match for video editing. RK3399 can edit/render 1080p videos well. But A311D does 1440p. The C2 used to do 720p. So it did improve quickly last years.
I'm very happy you make these images. Me with a lot of other people. It makes many boards a lot more useful where otherwise they'd be paperweights. I love your efforts in making more compatible images. One of my next videos will be about that. Nobody else ever came so close to universal images as you have. I take my hat off for that.
I just bought the X96 Air since it's S905X3. Made me nostalgic to my Odroid C2 and it was dirt cheap. If only I had the SMD soldering skills, then I could take the 32GB eMMC and 4GB ram from X96 and solder them onto my 2GB+16GB Khadas VIM3. For the 30euro I payed, the 32gb eMMC and 4GB ram are worth it. I just don't want to risk the VIM3.
Cheers.
