[U-Boot] [PATCH] video: Add new driver for Silicon Motion SM501/SM502 Part 1/2

[ksi at koi8.net]

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008, Wolfgang Denk wrote:

> Dear ksi at koi8.net,
>
> In message <Pine.LNX.4.64ksi.0812071006250.8651 at home-gw.koi8.net> you
> wrote:
>>
>> As a matter of fact, SM501 is an older, now nonexistent version of
> SM502.
>
> Yeah. Tell that to some hardware companies who  are  shipping  boards
> with the SM501 on it. :-)

They must be well stocked up with those :) Yeah, sure there are still such
boards and they will still exist in foreseable future. But I personally
think it is not a reason for that old basic driver to hang out forever if
the new one can also work with old boards with minimal changes.

>> Its support in U-Boot is rudimentary. I'd rather removed that old
> sm501.c
>> altogether and replaced it with a new sm502.c. That should work for
> old
>> SM501 chips if there are still any in existence.
>
> They are, and will be in existence at least for a couple of years (my
> expectation for couple is a two-digit number).

They must have loads of them in their inventories... Yes, I agree they will
be used until inventories run dry but it is not something that has future.

I would rather suggest having 2 separate drivers--sm501.c and sm502.c--for a
transitional period. Then we could rework all boards using old sm501.c to
use the new driver, one by one, and when the last one is converted we'll be
able to get rid of the old code.

Just thoughts, ya know...

>> Support is much better in Linux kernel -- it is almost fully supported
> out
>> of the box, video, USB, sound etc.
>
> Linux is an OS - U-Boot is a mere boot loader ;-)

Eh, for some U-Boot is also an OS...

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