please modernize to the latest raspios (OpenThread OTBR Matter)

[jahess]

If someone has a raspberrypi, they might be expected to update their raspios to the latest.  This would be the first and primary raspberrypi a developer might have.  But, they are probably unwilling to wipe it since they are likely using it for other things.

Current documentation suggests the following raspberry pi images to build the indicated pieces of software:

* OTBR: 2021-0507-raspios-buster-armhf-lite (Pi 3 or later).  See (https://openthread.io/codelabs/openthread-border-router#1) referred to by (https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/2.2.0/nrf/ug_thread_tools.html#installing-otbr-manually-raspberry-pi).

* Matter -- for CHIP-tool: Use Ubuntu 22.04 for Matter 64 bit (Pi 4 64 bit only).  See (https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/matter/chip_tool_guide.html#supported-commands-and-options) referred to by (https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/nrf/ug_matter_gs_testing_thread_one_otbr.html).

That is now three raspberry pi's, configured differently to do "something" with matter hardware.  Add to this a desktop/laptop for embedded development on windows / macos / whatever and that is 4 machines.

I know not all of the source is nordics.  I will post relevant issues to OpenThread and Matter.  However, could you please use your influence in the opensource communities to help prioritize this and streamline the burden for developers?  Software supporting "standards" should be more portable than this.

There is no reason for any of this software to require a 64 bit OS.  It should work with 32 or 64 bit operating systems.

I also believe this lack of portability is a direct result of reliance on containers -- containers effectively promote unportable software.

PS.  I would also encourage porting the nordic tool suite to raspios now that it has vscode (nRF Connect for VSCode, nRF Connect for Desktop, nRF Connect for Desktop Bluetooth Low Energy, and etc).  I will surely keep using my Mac laptop but being able to to all development from a raspberrypi sounds cool and... it would make a cheap cog in a continuous integration farm.

[Charlie]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for your feedback, sounds like you would prefer to use raspberry pi for your development. I am a rpi owner from 1-4 and I like your idea.

I know not all of the source is nordics.  I will post relevant issues to OpenThread and Matter.  However, could you please use your influence in the opensource communities to help prioritize this and streamline the burden for developers?  Software supporting "standards" should be more portable than this.

You are right. Nordic actually only work on the accessory device side. OpenThread and Matter development environments are actually maintained by different companies or organisations.

OTBR has several options, you can use rpi based solution or HomePod mini, Nest Hub 2 and so on.

Matter Controller also has several different choices, it could be apps on your smartphones (iOS and Android), or the CHIP tool running on Linux (amd64/aarch64) or macOS devices. I guess the non-support for 32bit is just for maintenance convenience. You can create a 32-bit support request from Issues · project-chip/connectedhomeip (github.com) for RPI.

I also believe this lack of portability is a direct result of reliance on containers -- containers effectively promote unportable software.

I believe this is possible, OTBR actually has docker solution, but it will increase the complexity of the setup. I believe developing Matter accessories with existing smart home ecosystems like Apple Homekit, Google Home kit and so on will be most developers' choice in the future since they start to formally support Matter v1.0.

PS.  I would also encourage porting the nordic tool suite to raspios now that it has vscode (nRF Connect for VSCode, nRF Connect for Desktop, nRF Connect for Desktop Bluetooth Low Energy, and etc).  I will surely keep using my Mac laptop but being able to to all development from a raspberrypi sounds cool and... it would make a cheap cog in a continuous integration farm.

I agree with you and it is very cool to develop nRF chips only on a raspberry pi. You can find current NCS supported operating systems on Requirements — nRF Connect SDK 2.2.0 documentation (nordicsemi.com). Maintaining a new operating system needs some effort and support following. The table shows our current support/unsupport states on variants of  Windows, Ubuntu and Mac. It is highly possible you can use Ubuntu on RPI if Ubuntu ARM 64 is supported, but we cannot promise the time now.

One of my concerns is that compiling and debugging samples would be the most time-consuming part of your development. Even RPI4 has much weaker computing power compared with a recent PC or Mac, so do not think it is a good idea to use RPI as your NCS development environment.

Best regards,

Charlie

[jahess]

Roger on the slow pi but I run a 64bit pi with a proper ssd -- comparatively speedy to the micro sd cards.  I think a fileshare over a 1Gb ethernet would be faster than a local micro sd card as well.

True, I would actually do the meaty MCU development on my MacBookPro.  But,I dont want the OTBR running on it.  Instead, I would want that running on a pi in a stationary cabinet.