Other How do I get freebsd on orange pi 5 with working gpu

I bought a new SBC because I want to use SBCs as a daily driver. I picked the Orange pi 5, how do I go about installing Freebsd with GPU acceleration for cool retro term and other apps. Any help will be greatly be appreciated.
 
You might get some ideas from this thread.


Alternatively, send the guys in shenzhen an email to enquire, they may be able to help you directly.

Whereas the Raspberry Pi is a more or less well understood and standardised design, many of the allwinner sbc's out of shenzhen tend to have proprietary hardware, bootloaders etc, so unless the makers support freebsd themselves, there will likely be "some assembly required".
 
Freebsd with GPU acceleration
Not possible on Arm.
Even on Nvidia boards.
Give scfb driver a try. Its not that bad.

Problem is we only support these OPi with u-boot.
Code:
u-boot-orangepi-one-2022.10    Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-one
u-boot-orangepi-pc-2022.10     Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-pc
u-boot-orangepi-pc-plus-2022.10 Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-pc-plus
u-boot-orangepi-pc2-2022.10    Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-pc2
u-boot-orangepi-plus-2e-2022.10 Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-plus-2e
u-boot-orangepi-zero-2022.10   Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-zero
u-boot-orangepi-zero-plus-2022.10 Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi-zero-plus
u-boot-orangepi_r1-2022.10     Cross-build das u-boot for model orangepi_r1
 
arm sucks as desktop replacement even on linux
you are far better off with a low powered x86
Well, my LGA2011 with GPU burns 45 watts, I'm not very happy with it, your right X86 works quite well for software support. I love the idea of SBCs. Any APUs you can recommend that is very low power.
 

Well I have a mini pc with a Intel Celeron J3455. I kind of like it, I just like the SBC's more though. I had a great time with the raspberry pi 400, that is what brought me to the whole SBC thing. I would love to some day use SBCs as a daily driver.

The real reason I don't like the x86 platform is because I would be forced to build an expensive mini itx pc. Or buy a mini pc which is cheaper but I would also have to pay for the microsoft tax, I hate windows so why should I pay microsoft just to buy a mini pc.

The other part is that I wish to distribute Free BSD to friends buy installing it on a cheap SBC which would be inviting to new users. Nobody wants a desktop pc for using another os. That is one big reason I like SBCs because of size and price.
 
Before you start an odyssey between unsufficient and again overpowered hardware,
I think you may revisit your idea from the very beginning.

You are not looking for lower energy consumption in the first place,
you are looking for higher efficiency.
You don't want to use lower energy whatever the cost.
You want to do your jobs satisfactory at lower power.
🤓

Law of physics:
the larger the difference between input and output power, the worse the efficiency.

Most desktop computers are used below 5...10% of their capacity.
That's highly inefficient, a waste of energy without any use.
I concur.

But to correct that imbalance,
chosing the hardware is the third step.

First you need to define clearly, what to do with it.
What are the daily uses?
And above all, which are not?
Intentionally preclude tasks not be done is where you can save most.

That's where the 90...95% unused power reserves of common machines are from:
Not precluding anything, and be always ready for everything.
And then have those 1...5% done within 10 seconds instead of 20.

Preclude what not to do, to be outsourced to another machine:
high resolution videos, 3D gaming, big compile jobs,...

Second step is to revisit
if the same jobs can also be done otherwise with less power.
E.g. do you need libreoffice (to mention a big fellow),
or are there alternatives?
Avoid bloated, pure visual fiddle-faddle is another big saver (you already mentioned Windows.)
E.g. check if you can live with just lightweight wm like twm, fvwm,... instead of e.g. KDE Plasma.

Then look for the sufficient hw.
 
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