linuxdc-dev

[linuxdc-dev] Completion of LinuxDC merge into LinuxSH

[M. R. B. <mr...@li...>]

Hi all,

Sorry for it taking so long, but I've completed the merge of LinuxDC driver
support into LinuxSH:

- The Maple Bus driver has been shuffled around a bit to:
  a) make it more consistent with kernel driver placement (Maple is a
     *subsystem*, not a single driver ;-),
  b) facilitate it's (complete) rewrite by Paul Mundt and myself.  The new
     Maple core will be able to support a wide range of DC peripherals,
     including MTD storage and framebuffer support for VMUs.
- Support for Dreamcast System ASIC hardware events.  This allows us to
  map hardware events to virtual IRQs, so that drivers can respond to
  events as they would a normal IRQ.  Examples of this include the vsync
  interrupt for the framebuffer, the BBA IRQ, GD-ROM DMA/Command
  completion, etc.
- The generic dcfb framebuffer driver has been replaced with the pvr2
  framebuffer, in hopes of providing a standard driver for all video cards
  based on the PowerVR2 architecture.  Acceleration (DMA blitting, etc.)
  and better video mode support are on its way for pvr2.

There is some RTC stuff that's currently missing, but that's being rewritten
so that I can integrate it with the new RTC changes.

Now that the basic stuff's been merged, future DC driver development will
be folded back into LinuxSH after testing, so you'll always be able to grab
the latest development stuff from linuxdc.org.

I'm currently finishing up gathering enough info to write a GD-ROM driver,
hopefully I'll be able to begin work on it this weekend.

Have fun!

M. R.

[linuxdc-dev] Re: [linuxsh-dev] Completion of LinuxDC merge into LinuxSH

[YAEGASHI T. <t...@ke...>]

In the article <200...@ma...>,
"M. R. Brown" <mr...@li...> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> Sorry for it taking so long, but I've completed the merge of LinuxDC driver
> support into LinuxSH:
> 
> - The Maple Bus driver has been shuffled around a bit to:
>   a) make it more consistent with kernel driver placement (Maple is a
>      *subsystem*, not a single driver ;-),
>   b) facilitate it's (complete) rewrite by Paul Mundt and myself.  The new
>      Maple core will be able to support a wide range of DC peripherals,
>      including MTD storage and framebuffer support for VMUs.
> - Support for Dreamcast System ASIC hardware events.  This allows us to
>   map hardware events to virtual IRQs, so that drivers can respond to
>   events as they would a normal IRQ.  Examples of this include the vsync
>   interrupt for the framebuffer, the BBA IRQ, GD-ROM DMA/Command
>   completion, etc.
> - The generic dcfb framebuffer driver has been replaced with the pvr2
>   framebuffer, in hopes of providing a standard driver for all video cards
>   based on the PowerVR2 architecture.  Acceleration (DMA blitting, etc.)
>   and better video mode support are on its way for pvr2.
> 
> There is some RTC stuff that's currently missing, but that's being rewritten
> so that I can integrate it with the new RTC changes.
> 
> Now that the basic stuff's been merged, future DC driver development will
> be folded back into LinuxSH after testing, so you'll always be able to grab
> the latest development stuff from linuxdc.org.

This surprised me a bit, because I've paied little attention to
your project's status for a long time.  Now it seems much better
than my drivers. ;-> Great work.

Please go ahead with merging your works into LinuxSH's CVS.


> I'm currently finishing up gathering enough info to write a GD-ROM driver,
> hopefully I'll be able to begin work on it this weekend.

You may know BERO has already had the GD-ROM driver ported from
NetBSD:

	http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/2004/dcdev/linux/linux.html

I have another driver based on this, and a standalone Debian
system can boot on my Dreamcast with the kernel powered by it.

I'm now working on adding GD-ROM drive and ISO9660 supports to
eCos+RedBoot/Dreamcast to make it serve as a bootloader, and
planning to distribute CD-Rs at LinuxWorld Expo/Tokyo.

--
YAEGASHI Takeshi <t...@ke...>

Re: [linuxdc-dev] Re: [linuxsh-dev] Completion of LinuxDC merge into LinuxSH

[M. R. B. <mr...@li...>]

* YAEGASHI Takeshi <t...@ke...> on Thu, May 24, 2001:

> 
> This surprised me a bit, because I've paied little attention to
> your project's status for a long time.  Now it seems much better
> than my drivers. ;-> Great work.
> 

Hehe, imagine my surprise when your code was finally released, and we had
basically the same drivers!  All of your work is appreciated, and I understand
the situation you were in before, and I'm glad you're able to hack on these
drivers :).  Here's what's on LinuxDC's agenda in the next few weeks, for
those of you out there who want to help out:

- Finish rewriting Maple subsystem
- Finish drivers for the vmu MTD flash and LCD fb
- Finish AICA RTC stuff
- GD-ROM support
- MTD driver for DC's internal flash
- ALSA or OSS drivers for the AICA system
- if necessary, External DMA, and other minor subsystems

> 
> You may know BERO has already had the GD-ROM driver ported from
> NetBSD:
> 
> 	http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/2004/dcdev/linux/linux.html
> 
> I have another driver based on this, and a standalone Debian
> system can boot on my Dreamcast with the kernel powered by it.
> 

Wow! This is ... cool! :)  I'm glad we have a starting point for writing a
GD-ROM driver, would you mind sending me the driver you have as well?  Some
of the things I wanted to support in addition to the PIO stuff Marcus has
done are DMA reads and audio playing, which is why I've been hesitant just
using his "stock" GD-ROM code :).  This is a tremendous help, thanks!

> I'm now working on adding GD-ROM drive and ISO9660 supports to
> eCos+RedBoot/Dreamcast to make it serve as a bootloader, and
> planning to distribute CD-Rs at LinuxWorld Expo/Tokyo.
> 

That would also be great, we've been mostly using dcload for sending
kernels over the BBA, but once we get proper GD-ROM support added a decent
bootloader will be required.  I've played with RedBoot a little bit, but
haven't sat down to get kernels booting via TFTP, etc.  I would be
interested in helping you out with this, just let me know :).

For those of you out there who don't hack kernels but still want to help,
you can, by:

- testing the kernels, finding bugs, and reporting them
- helping with documentation where needed (it's needed *badly*, ATM)
- using the cross-tools to port your favorite app/library over (hehe, I've
  already done SDL, just need to accel. that damn frame buffer :)
- helping get binary images together for those who don't have the means to
  build everything from scratch
- doing whatever else you can think of :)

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] Re: [linuxsh-dev] Completion of LinuxDC merge into LinuxSH

[<p2...@mi...>]

Hi,

> * YAEGASHI Takeshi <t...@ke...> on Thu, May 24, 2001:
> 
> > 
> > This surprised me a bit, because I've paied little attention to
> > your project's status for a long time.  Now it seems much better
> > than my drivers. ;-> Great work.
> > 
> 
> Hehe, imagine my surprise when your code was finally released, and we had
> basically the same drivers!  All of your work is appreciated, and I understand
> the situation you were in before, and I'm glad you're able to hack on these
> drivers :).  Here's what's on LinuxDC's agenda in the next few weeks, for
> those of you out there who want to help out:
> 

Last weekend I tried the cvs snapshot of the DC Linux kernel on a dreamcast
with BBA. I downloaded the kernel via the serial port. I had to make some 
small changes to the pci_gaps code to get the BBA to work.

> - Finish rewriting Maple subsystem
> - Finish drivers for the vmu MTD flash and LCD fb
> - Finish AICA RTC stuff
> - GD-ROM support
> - MTD driver for DC's internal flash

Any pointers on this ? I have done some work on MTD drivers.

> - ALSA or OSS drivers for the AICA system

I was planning on looking into this RSN. I have experience with ARM programming
on both linux and eCos. I was thinking of running eCos on the AICA :)

Peter.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] Re: [linuxsh-dev] Completion of LinuxDC merge into LinuxSH

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Peter De Schrijver <p2...@mi...> on Thu, May 24, 2001:

> 
> Last weekend I tried the cvs snapshot of the DC Linux kernel on a dreamcast
> with BBA. I downloaded the kernel via the serial port. I had to make some 
> small changes to the pci_gaps code to get the BBA to work.
> 

Yeah, I had those problems before, but Yaegashi's BBA code doesn't exhibit
that bug (uploading over serial won't init the BBA).  I still need to merge
what I did last nite back into LinuxDC, so for the next couple of hours
LinuxSH contains the most recent kernel :).  I've tested the BBA with both
BBA upload and serial upload, and it appears to work fine.

> > - Finish rewriting Maple subsystem
> > - Finish drivers for the vmu MTD flash and LCD fb
> > - Finish AICA RTC stuff
> > - GD-ROM support
> > - MTD driver for DC's internal flash
> 
> Any pointers on this ? I have done some work on MTD drivers.
> 

Paul Mundt (Lethal) and myself (mrbrown) hang out in #linuxdc on
irc.openprojects.net.  This is where we do the majority of discussion on
the Maple stuff.  Once I do the (LinuxDC) merge, we'll probably start
committing things to LinuxDC CVS, and you're welcome to stop by to get a
bead on where things are going.

The internal flash interface requires more info than what I have currently,
and Marcus Comstedt seems to know the most about its specifics.

> 
> I was planning on looking into this RSN. I have experience with ARM programming
> on both linux and eCos. I was thinking of running eCos on the AICA :)
> 

Wow, I've actually been trying to stay away from the ARM as much as
possible :).  As soon as you have a patch (even your pci_gaps fix from
above would be fine), send me it with your SF info and I'll add you to the
list of developers :).

M. R.