[joezydeco]

NXP's software support for the heterogenous ARM cores is abysmal. I had to abandon an architecture on the iMX7 because their RPMSG drivers were simply broken. Documentation and examples were multiple-years old and their FAE support came down to "well, the examples work." Except they didn't.

Perhaps it's better with the newer BSPs on the 8, but I wouldn't be too quick to jump back into it.

[pantalaimon]

I haven't worked with 'bigger' (application processors running Linux) yet, but with the small MCUs I always stick to an Open Source toolchain/RTOS. Sometimes you have to write a driver yourself, but if you can integrate it upstream it's not in vain.

But I imagine that the larger SoCs are a more complex beast where getting everything to play nice with upstream Linux would be a greater challenge.

[magicalhippo]

Yikes that doesn't sound very promising. I've seen the i.MX 8 used in several different products, so clearly someone has made them work, or at least kinda work... but I can imagine that might be despite the "support".

[joezydeco]

The iMX line is totally solid for ARM/Linux application work. I've been shipping with them for over a decade. The automotive sector uses it heavily because of the onboard hardware codecs for video and camera.

It's just the coprocessor stuff they're weak on. It's easier to just link up to a Cortex-M3 offboard, but then again NXP has completely screwed up their supply chain and these parts are somewhat hard to get.