Are you currently designing a project for a common single-board computer (SBC), and do you expect other people to build your project, too? We routinely feature projects that do exactly this. Well, …
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The advantage of SBCs aren’t just the price, it’s the uniformity. Before SBCs made it on the scene, the default response when something doesn’t work was either:
“Well, it works on my 12-year-old Thinkpad”
Or
“Your system sucks, just buy better hardware”
Now there’s a consistent system to build compatibility for and benchmark against that can help the most people, allowing devs to spend time on things other than hardware, and allowing a “how-to” community to flourish, bringing new users into the fold.
Doesnt docker also basically solve the same thing?
Docker helps with software compatibility, SBCs with hardware.
It’s like why home game consoles remained a thing for so long, even after common home computers began to easily kick their butts in terms of raw processing power. Code a game for PCs and you have to worry about supporting all kinds of hardware combinations. Code a game for a console and all your players are using the same machine with the same specs.
It’s also why I’m excited about the Steam Machine despite not actually owning or wanting one. It gives a consistent benchmark upon which game developers can be judged, and hopefully further encourages Linux support.
If reviewers start consistently referencing Steam Machine performance, it’ll give developers something to optimize for instead of just optimizing for the latest, fastest hardware.
I use a Steam Deck, and compatibility with that machine has definitely influenced how I feel about any game coming down the pike. I’m also a desktop Linux user and really dig how the Steam Deck and SteamOS have forced big developers to care about their stuff running on Linux.
