Re: [Gumstix-users] Re: framebuffer support in the 2.6 kernel

[Zach W. <zw...@su...>]

Holly, (and fellow 'stikers)

Holly and I have had a good exchange off-list after our first posts, and
I apologized after realizing he just happened to have pre-production
boards.  What are the odds?  Certainly, I owe him another apology here
as well.  Me and my mouth, what can I say; however, ....

Holly Gates wrote:
> Zach, I don't blame you for whipping my ass on the mailing list for 
> asking this question. How were you to know that I paid for a custom 
> gumstix to be developed, and not just some clueless loser mailbombing
>  the gumstix list even though I was on another platform?

Indeed, how was I to know. :)

[ massive philosophical snip ]

I would be happy to engage responses that follow the less ephemeral
threads that this discussion has brought up on my parallel list, leaving
this forum free for more technical matters.  Here is my initial
"rebuttal" to your points, and it's quite a read (on several levels):

http://lists.superlucidity.net/pipermail/gumstix/2004q2/000001.html

You can subscribe here:

http://lists.superlucidity.net/mailman/listinfo/gumstix

It wouldn't be fair of me to starting ranting about inappropriate ML
behavior without providing an outlet for my own abuse, now would it? ;)

> I think it quite likely that the version of the gumstix we have 
> partially sponsored development for, which has the LCD port pins 
> broken out to  a connector will be made available at some point in 
> the future to the public. We didn't ask for or expect exclusivity on
>  the modified board, and I actually hope that other people will be 
> able to make use of it as well. So any work to get the fb working on
>  the gumstix will also be useful to the community in general 
> (probably). However we have a head start on everyone else on this 
> particular platform by virtue of having the first batch of hardware.

Since there turns out to be such latent benefit, there is just merit in
accommodating your request - though I still feel the best (read: ummm,
cost effective) thing for you to do is hire a consultant.  The nature of
your requirements shows you need a fairly competent kernel developer to
deliver your results, and those usually don't come for free even if
their work product does.  That's all my 2 cents for this list.

[snip]
> But in the 2.6 kernel, pxafb.h and pxafb.c are not even in the 
> drivers directory in the 2.6.6-rc3-gnalm2-gum0 source. And after 
> patching that source with a variety of pxafb patches for 2.6, the 
> files look much different than they did in the 2.4 kernel.

As I mentioned privately, I did drop those bits from the original 2.6
patches with which I started, as the stock Gumstix couldn't use them.  I
can add it back in again in the future, but getting those bits to
function will require some investigation (as you have already discovered).

[ snip ]
> One option would be for us to use a 2.4 kernel and continue to use 
> our patches and mods that had the framebuffer set up properly for us.
>  But as far as I know there isn't a 2.4 kernel available for gumstix,
>  and I am probably not an expert enough to back port the gumstix 
> patches to the 2.4 source tree.

Starting with your complete 2.4 patches for the cerfcube, I could
probably have a 2.4 Gumstix kernel for you in a "few weeks" (quotes used
to indicate I don't really know how much that process will entail, given
the other things you might need back-ported).  We can talk about that
off-list, but I am curious if others might want to have 2.4 support for
similar reasons.  Curious - not seeking it.

Despite any interest, I will personally urge everyone to move old bits
to 2.6, as it will only becoming increasingly difficult to obtain
support for the 2.4.  For example, there will be no chance of seeing the
changes merged upstream as mainline has been frozen for new platforms
and drivers.   For that reason alone, I do not consider 2.4 a viable
choice for the Gumstix platform and see the 2.6 kernel as the only
reasonable option for ongoing development efforts.  A sad reality, in
some respects, but such is life.

[ more philosophical bits cut ]

I would hope my posting record does not make others feel hesitant to
join into the melee.  This is all fun and games (well, my career too),
and I'm definitely *not* looking to cause any hurt feelings.

I'm harmless, mostly.

Cheers,

Zach Welch
Superlucidity Services

P.S. Do these new units have on-board LEDs?  The little things count for
so much that I just can't help but ask.  Maybe I don't want to know, I'd
only be even more jealous.... ;)