Hardware Planning to get an odroid c2, have some questions

[Nyap]

I wasn't sure where else to put it so if its in the wrong section sorry

Basically I'm planning to get this
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php
and I have some questions

1) arm is foss, right?
2) should this odroid work exactly the same as a rpi? so I can use operating systems for the raspberry pi and the same tutorials etc
3) is gcc available for arm platforms? I'd like to do some coding (specifically in C++ but I'd prefer having the entire gcc)

 

[raystriker]

1) yes
3)yes
2) not exactly, since they're different boards to begin with. You can't use the same operating system just like that. You might need to build one from source. Imagine this through the following example: the RPi is an htc 10 and the c2 is a Galaxy A9. Sure, they both run the same architecture etc but they're different chipsets to begin with hence ROMs working on the Samsung will not work on the htc unless ported through some means; similar is the case for the RPi and C2

 

[Pleng]

1) ARM is a hardware architecture. It is neither free, open source or software. So, no.

2) No. You need to use OS builds designed specifically for the device to ensure device driver support for all the hardware

3) Yes

 

[Nyap]

@Pleng but is it closed as in nobody knows how to make them other than arm themselves (sort of like intel and amd are the only companies who know how to make amd64)

 

[Pleng]

According to Wikipedia:

"British company ARM Holdings develops the architecture and licenses it to other companies, who design their own products that implement one of those architectures"

So while it's not an in-house product like an Intel or AMD Cpu, it's not something that anybody can just develop without a licence. Who on earth has the equipment lying around at home to fabricate CPUs/SOCs, anyway?