[ubuntu-x] Final Maverick i830, i845g, i855 support

[Bryce Harrington]

On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 04:17:10PM -0600, Gordon Schumacher wrote:
> On 09/19/2010 11:05 PM, Bryce Harrington wrote:
> > Driver development isn't really that hard from a programming
> > perspective, in that you don't need to know much about data structures
> > or advanced algorithms or whatnot.  The code itself is pretty basic C,
> > and there isn't really that much of it.  Mostly the hard part is about
> > learning about the hardware and its functions, and figuring out what
> > values need to be poked into what registers.
> >   
> 
> I'm familiar with the concept - I worked at Maxtor, writing a
> drive-testing application which had its own driver stack - and I've done
> some low-level communications with the drive, which is very similar.  I
> meant more that I know absolutely nothing about the kernel APIs for any
> OS, much less Linux.  :)

Aha, gotcha.  I *suspect* the calls are already coded up in the 8xx
driver code.  If there's anything missing, then it should be possible to
cargo-cult from the 9xx code.  On the plus side, if you get stuck with
any API stuff, the Intel developers are friendly and can be reached on
irc or mail pretty readily.

> > One thing I'm not sure of is if the registers are the same for all the
> > different 8xx models, or if they vary from chip to chip.  I suspect the
> > latter, since that's a really common condition.  (Unfortunately Intel
> > didn't publish the hardware documentation, which would have made it
> > easier to doublecheck the register mappings for the particular hw.)
> >   
> 
> Hmm.  There is some very slight chance I may be able to do something
> that.  It's a long shot, but we'll see...
> 
> > Anyway, if the above doesn't sound like complete technojibberish, maybe
> > you have the chops to do driver bug fixing!
> 
> Don't get me wrong - I know that I *could* do it.  It's just another one
> of those areas that's a complete black box to me at this point :)
>
> > If it does sound like technojibberish, well at least maybe it gives some
> > better insights into why 8xx has been hard to get working right:
> >   
> 
> Well, we'll also see what my time permits.  That does give me something
> to go on if I get the chance...

Cool, well even if you get stuck or run short on time, please report
back with what you found and how far you got; possibly you can help give
the next guy that looks at it a leg up, or else someone might have a bit
of know-how that can unstick you.

Thanks,
Bryce