Pandora Pandora Kernel Git Server

[wesbrown18]

Just GIT'ed this.

300MB! God, we've gone a long way since the 0.99.2 kernel days when I started using Linux seriously.

linux-0.99.2.tar.Z 06-Apr-1998 05:11 872K

 

[Svartalf]

Just GIT'ed this.

300MB! God, we've gone a long way since the 0.99.2 kernel days when I started using Linux seriously.

linux-0.99.2.tar.Z 06-Apr-1998 05:11 872K

Heh... Just wait until you do a distribution spin with something like OpenEmbedded...

 

[lardman]

QUOTE
1. Almost ALL drivers have been finished and work fine so far!


afaiu the PowerVR drivers were not being worked on by the Pandora team (i.e. they come direct from ImgTech), so I'm not sure this statement covers them at all. I presume they are either available or not, no in-between.

QUOTE
They have drivers. Unfortunately right now, if you want them, you have to sign away your first and second born in a contract with Imagination Technologies, signed in your own blood... My impression on it is that they're on the way and we're just going to have to wait a bit longer for the publicly accessable stuff from them.


Is this a fact? Why the requirement for the NDA/whatever to use them? Is it because they are not GPL compatible? Out of interest, does anyone know what the actual hold-up with these drivers is, if there is indeed one?

 

[ldesnogu]

Why the requirement for the NDA/whatever to use them? Is it because they are not GPL compatible? Out of interest, does anyone know what the actual hold-up with these drivers is, if there is indeed one?

(Not talking from a Pandora perspective, since I was ignored by Craigix and so won't work on that platform.)
The Linux drivers exist but are not finalized so it's obvious no one wants them to be distributed. I have run these drivers on some OMAP3 platform, so I can confirm they exist.

 

[CoMiKe]

(Not talking from a Pandora perspective, since I was ignored by Craigix and so won't work on that platform.)

What a shame...

I would have voted to send you a finished MK2 board.

 

[timofonic]

Anyone knows if all this work will be merged into the Linus' tree or will be just a fork forever?

 

[ldesnogu]

Anyone knows if all this work will be merged into the Linus' tree or will be just a fork forever?

Most of the OMAP3 patches are being pushed to the main kernel, which is so much better than what happened with gp2x.
However the process can take time

 

[notaz]

Anyone knows if all this work will be merged into the Linus' tree or will be just a fork forever?

As for Pandora specific parts, significant amount is already in linux-omap, and ALSA guys accepted sound related part today (yay!). None of that reached mainline yet, but 2.6.29 might have some basic support. Some parts are expected to never reach mainline though (bluetooth, wifi, 3D open parts, etc). But I hope it will be eventually possible to have useable system by just using mainline.

 

[vega01]

Why aren't wifi and bluetooth going to be in mainline?

 

[notaz]

Wifi is in mainline (Nokia contributed new driver), BT needs some rework to be accepted, but nobody is interested in doing that.

 

[Vitel]

Why do you still use 2.6.27 (according to the git repo)? It's very historic. Do we have some problems with the latest versions?

 

[Yod4z]

Not too old the last stable is the 2.6.32. Why using last version if it didn't add fix or new feature for the Pandora Hardware? New don't mean better all the time ^^

 

[Vitel]

Why using last version if it didn't add fix or new feature for the Pandora Hardware?

New peripheral drivers at least.

 

[dflemstr]

Not too old the last stable is the 2.6.32. Why using last version if it didn't add fix or new feature for the Pandora Hardware? New don't mean better all the time ^^

Well, if Pandora hardware stuff is unaffected, then why not? It's just a "git pull" and a recompile, after all...

 

[torpor]

Is this a complete working copy of the to-be-distributed-to-end-users kernel sources? If not, what is missing, and when/how is that going to be added to this for us other developers to use?

I'm really hoping we're not going to have license issues with things like the SGX drivers and whatnot, but .. if so .. whats the solution?

 

[notaz]

Is this a complete working copy of the to-be-distributed-to-end-users kernel sources? If not, what is missing, and when/how is that going to be added to this for us other developers to use?

If you have a working OpenEmbedded setup you can build complete firmware right now, including binary compatible kernel and wifi driver. It's possible to build kernel without OE, but it will be incompatible with modules in firmware.

To setup OpenEmbedded, read http://wiki.openembedded.net/index.php/Getting_started .
You need to use openembedded.git as main repository and openpandora.oe.git as an overlay. OE will fetch everything else it needs itself (except SGX, read below).

I'm really hoping we're not going to have license issues with things like the SGX drivers and whatnot, but .. if so .. whats the solution?

We won't ever distribute SGX drivers, you will have to get them from TI (they make new releases public regularly) and place them somewhere OE can find.
http://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_sb/targetcontent/gfxsdk/latest/index_FDS.html

 

[torpor]

Notaz: Okay I have OpenEmbedded set up and am adding the overlay, will fire off my first build tonight and see how far it gets. Of course without working hardware this isn't much use, but I can at least have a look at the driver issue and familiarize myself with it in the meantime ..

We won't ever distribute SGX drivers, you will have to get them from TI (they make new releases public regularly) and place them somewhere OE can find.

.. understood, its just like the Beagleboard situation.. but the question has to be asked: how will end-users get these drivers installed, if they're not already included in the shipping product? Does OP Inc. have a license to distribute to end-users, or is this a gray area for now? This is really curios to me .. as the PowerVR SGX chip isn't much use without these drivers, how will the end users get them? If OP Inc. can ship them to end users, why can't they be included in the resources being used to support development (i.e. the openpandora.oe.git overlay ..)?

Just curious in the situation so I understand it ..

BTW, can you post logs/details about the Wifi testing/debugging done so far, so that I can catch up with you? Or would you prefer to meet on IRC to discuss it? I'll get on IRC as soon as I can get home (can't do IRC from within THALES, alas..)

 

[notaz]

Notaz: Okay I have OpenEmbedded set up and am adding the overlay, will fire off my first build tonight and see how far it gets.

be sure to replace root OE git as that also contains changes (not sure why DjW keeps them like this).

We won't ever distribute SGX drivers, you will have to get them from TI (they make new releases public regularly) and place them somewhere OE can find.

but the question has to be asked: how will end-users get these drivers installed, if they're not already included in the shipping product?

I personally don't know, everyone's is focusing on the first firmware that will be shipped with the device and include everything, I guess they'll figure that out later..

BTW, can you post logs/details about the Wifi testing/debugging done so far, so that I can catch up with you? Or would you prefer to meet on IRC to discuss it? I'll get on IRC as soon as I can get home (can't do IRC from within THALES, alas..)

There are no "interesting" logs as the driver appears to be functioning properly but with bad performance. I'll pass you some more details sometime later.

 

[torpor]

There are no "interesting" logs as the driver appears to be functioning properly but with bad performance. I'll pass you some more details sometime later.

Okay, I've sent you an email with my details and some ideas/notes on my first look at the driver sources, so we can take it to email if you'd prefer that for now ..