Having followed Genode's interesting quarterly development updates for quite some time, I hope to finally make a move towards a hands-on understanding and therefore set the modest goal for myself to at least read the entire handbook this year. Not as exciting as committing to any real development work, but hopefully easy enough to actually achieve and leaving room for more.On to wishes.1. I think, it would be a good side project for developers, to add support for at least one ebook reader. My reasoning behind this is, that these devices are relatively cheap and actually useful beyond (embedded) software development work and seem to offer an easy enough application scenario to support. This could also raise awareness of Genode's existence beyond the current level.Ereaders' innovation cycles are more developer friendly than, say, laptops', tablets' or smartphones' and the hardware used is more homogeneous. Many current models still use the i.MX6 SoC, including Kindle and Tolino devices, which Genode developers seem to be willing to support anyway.The Tolino Shine 2HD, for instance, would appear to be an attractive target, since it boots from a microSD card, which could easily be replaced by one with a Genode image on it. While the technically very similar Kobo Glo HD does not seem to be sold any longer in Germany, it might still be in other countries (otherwise, I would have suggested the Glo HD, since its case is easier to open; Tolino and Kobo devices are designed by the same manufacturer, so that their hardware has always been very similar).Ebook readers are not much more expensive than a development board but come with the benefit of an extra display. Some popular third party reading apps like koreader are also internally based on mupdf, for which I think, I've read, Genode had already some support, which leads me to believe, that a purely Genode-based typical ebook reader scenario could be within reach with reasonable effort from a knowledgable developer, who has run a Genode scenario on i.MX6 before.This could be a basis for a later support of further ebook readers, including more professionally oriented ones like the Onyx Boox Max Carta (also uses i.MX 6), which could even be used as a full development machine, considering its large eye-friendly display and built-in Bluetooth for keyboard connection. Maybe an incentive for sunlight-affine programmers, if such exist, not to mention my wish to see Genode support stylus input in general.2. While ebook reader support itself would also offer Genode the opportunity to present its native documentation, the handbook, in an attractive form, it might be an easier first step to provide an official EPUB version of the handbook. The current PDF version from the web site, for its formatting, is not very ebook reader friendly, regarding the mainstream 6 inch devices. It would be nice to either see an EPUB version or a PDF optimised for common ereader screen sizes. Given the surprisingly poor margin truncating support of many of these devices, a PDF should have small margins. (The current state of stock ereader software screams for something better.)I think, these two points are my main input for the roadmap 2018 discussion. I also like the quality and resilience aspect, which Norman alluded to in his discussion starter. Seeing critical components implemented in SPARK might be a step in a right direction and even would be, if there were nothing more to it, than a mere shift towards a more readable implementation language.
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