Are We Loong Yet?

Linux just set a place at the table for LoongArch—the chip design used by China’s Loongson CPUs—and the comments instantly turned into a food fight. The headline news: LoongArch support is now threaded through much of the open‑source Linux world, even though the official manuals aren’t fully public. Devs say they’ve pieced together what they need from public tools like QEMU and kernel patches. Translation: the community MacGyver’d this into happening.

But the crowd’s vibe? Split. One camp is cheering that even Debian is jumping on board (link), calling it a legit new player beyond Intel and ARM. Another camp is side‑eyeing hard. “Isn’t this just MIPS in a mustache?” asks one skeptic, dredging up Loongson’s older roots. Others point newcomers to the basics (Loongson on Wikipedia) and tell them to buckle up for a fast‑moving ecosystem.

The biggest flashpoint: availability. “Can anyone actually buy a Loongson without shady hoops?” asks a top‑voted commenter, capturing the mood of curious but cash‑ready shoppers. Meanwhile, meme‑lords chimed in with the instant‑classic pun: “I just want to be‑loong.” The verdict from the peanut gallery: big win for open source, bigger question for wallets. Are we Loong yet? Not until there’s a Buy Now button.