On Sun, March 4, 2012 11:39 pm, Tracy Harms wrote:
> I'll be getting one of the Raspberry Pi computers as soon as I can. The
> most refined OS for that computer is Fedora, with Arch Linux ARM just
> showing up.

Debian also, but Ubuntu doesn't have an ARM6 version at present.

> Has anybody been using J on Fedora?

I intend to, as part of my work testing education software in various
Linux distributions. Currently I am using J on Ubuntu Linux.

> My understanding is that Fedora only works with software that is built
> specifically for Fedora, so source code is needed, so the candidate J
> version is 7.01.

Almost every Linux distro has a differently-built selection of
libraries installed under different names, so there is a lot of that.
What we want as soon as we can get it is J packaged for the major
distros, particularly Fedora and Debian, in their respective RPM and
DEB package formats. It is then easy, or at least straightforward, for
maintainers of other distros to port packages and deal with their
dependencies appropriately.

However, the existing installers for J on Linux at
http://jsoftware.com/stable.htm do not seem to have any of these
problems. The choices are J6 or J7 in 32-bit or 64-bit binaries, but
there are no distro-specific downloads.

> I'd like to know if I'm wrong in thinking this. If I'm not
> in error, I'd like to know whether such building seems easy or not. If
> it's not easy, I'd like to understand what count as impediments.

The first batch of RPis sold out in minutes. The only serious
impediment I see is getting hold of one with your preferred Linux
distro to try out the process of building from source. The readme.txt
file in the source says

"If you are playing with a supported platform or are doing a port to a
'nearby' platform then the current packaging might meet your needs. An
example of a 'nearby' platform would be Linux/ARM as differences are minor
from already supported platforms."

> The target audience for Raspberry Pi is education, and I imagine KEI would
> have wanted to see J among the languages that are readily used on a
> computer with these aims. Several programming languages are being included
> with its stock Fedora installation.

I have just completed a draft of Ken's book Algebra: An Algorithmic
Treatment, in J translation, as part of the Replacing Textbooks
program at Sugar Labs. The last steps were writing new exercises in J,
and using the J plot package+Inkscape to make most of the graphs in
the text. (Copyediting still needed, further suggestions and QA
welcome.)

http://booki.treehouse.su/algebra-an-algorithmic-treatment/

We will be doing much more of this. Ken wrote a number of textbooks
ranging from arithmetic to calculus, plus treatments of various
specific topics in math and Computer Science. A good selection is
available at

http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Books

although some of the books are incomplete.

> Regardless of its target audience, it has been attracting phenomenal
> attention among computer hobbyists. Having J work on it sooner, rather
> than
> later, gives a decent chance of catching some attention within this
> adventurous group as they explore the capabilities of this machine.

Work on getting J onto Raspberry Pi devices will also apply to the new
ARM-based One Laptop Per Child XO-3, which also runs Fedora Linux.

> My personal interest is to have J work on an ultra-portable device with no
> need for internet connection.

The joke at APL91 in Denmark was that when you could get an IBM
mainframe in a wristwatch running MVS, every time you turned it on its
first act would be to ask you the time.

> --
> Tracy
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
>


-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm

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