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Date:      Thu, 20 Jul 2006 21:50:30 -0700
From:      John-Mark Gurney <gurney_j@resnet.uoregon.edu>
To:        Intron <mag@intron.ac>
Cc:        freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Improving FreeBSD's hardware compatibility
Message-ID:  <20060721045029.GL96589@funkthat.com>
In-Reply-To: <courier.44C0476F.00013FE2@intron.ac>
References:  <e6575a30607181811x3bedbeeajcaa5d1c0c6ef7293@mail.gmail.com> <20060720103228.GA716@turion.vk2pj.dyndns.org> <1153397244.66653@origin.intron.ac> <20060720181216.GJ96589@funkthat.com> <courier.44C0476F.00013FE2@intron.ac>

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Intron wrote this message on Fri, Jul 21, 2006 at 11:18 +0800:
> John-Mark Gurney wrote:
> 
> >Intron wrote this message on Thu, Jul 20, 2006 at 19:25 +0800:
> >>On the other hand, so many hardware vendors (especially some small
> >>enterprises, which are eager to obtain software support)
> >>have publicized data sheets of their integrated circuit products,
> >>but so few people would write hardware driver for FreeBSD.
> >
> >I haven't seen this.  The only case that I can think of is due to
> >developers not having the hardware, or a need to use said hardware,
> >so nothing happens...
> >
> >Do you have a list of hardware that has documntation available that
> >needs device drivers to be written?
> 
> Well, I list all hardware products whose data sheets I've seen and which
> haven't been supported by FreeBSD.
> 
> 1. Cologne Chip - HFC-S PCI A ISDN Controller IC
>    http://www.colognechip.com/isdn/controllers/main-datasheets.htm
> 
>       FreeBSD only supports ihfc(4), its ISA version, but doesn't
> support this PCI version.

If the programming interface is the same, then it should be a simple
matter of writing a PCI front end, a good junior hacker project...

> 2. Sigmatel - STIR 4200, USB 1.1 - IrDA 1.3 adapter
>    The data sheet was once published on their website. Both Linux and
> NetBSD support this chip.

FreeBSD's USB stack needs some tender loving from someone...  There
is an alternative stack I know exists but haven't looked at it yet...
The current stack has many issues, and not being locked is a major
issue...  so, before more drivers are written, we should get a working
USB stack first...

> 3. Philips SAA 7130/7134, TV decoder
>    This is one of the most popular TV decoder chips on the market.
> The data sheet can be obtained from the vendor, just as what Linux
> community has done.

analog TV? what's that?  isn't everyone going digital?  (yes, I know
that analog TV will be with us for a long time due to security cams
and other uses..)

But a decoder isn't much use w/o the rest of the chip... This driver
really should be in userland anyways, no point in putting items like
this in the kernel...  bktr should be broken out where it's just a
DMA engine, and all the tuner chips are drivers in userland speaking
over the iic device interface...

> 4. USB MIDI device class
>    http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs
> 
> 5. USB IrDA device class
>    http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs
> 
>      Some new USB-IrDA chips conform to this specification.
> 
> 6. TI 3410/5052 USB-RS232C adapter
>    http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tusb3410.html
>    http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tusb5052.html
> 
>      Please have a look at those Linux device drive websites and perceive
> the disparity that FreeBSD falls behind:
> 
> Modem:               http://linmodems.org/
> Video:               http://linux.bytesex.org/
> Temperature sensor:  http://www.lm-sensors.org/
> USB PC Camera:       http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html

See above about USB...

>      Although not all data sheets have been publicized by vendors, but
> at least FreeBSDers can follow/keep up with Linux community, cannot we?

a) some drivers that aren't that high visibility don't get the
demand/attention that they necessarily deserve...  Mostly because
there is only one or two people interested...  There are a couple
video capture drivers (saa and cxm) that both are apparently ready,
but haven't yet been integrated...  I did send mail asking about the
cxm licensing issues (it has firmware necessary for operation), but
never got a response...

b) Many times the vendors ignore FreeBSD... DVIco has continued to
fail to provide me w/ the necessary docs, but I think this is more
because the person that is providing the docs is asleep at the wheel
as others seem to want to give them out, but it's hard when it takes
a lot more...  Most of the stuff above are small little ones that
the vendors don't really care about, but the ones that are really
useful and not as easy to find alternatives are much harder...

Get writing the drivers...  It's a lot easier than people think...

-- 
  John-Mark Gurney				Voice: +1 415 225 5579

     "All that I will do, has been done, All that I have, has not."



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