2.6 Kernel Options

[Ashitaka]

Is there somewhere a status update about kernel 2.6 for Zaurus?
I know some people in OpenZaurus are working on it, it still seems active since patches continue to be applied, but after spending some time looking for information I have no clue what is the current status.
If I remember correctly there was problems with some binary-only drivers, for SD card amongst others, has it been solved?
The project in which I work (http://www.nautilus6.org) is very interested by what we could do with 2.6 on Zaurus, that's why I ask


I also have contacts with people working in Sharp, on the Zaurus or not, and I just asked them if there was a chance Sharp was working on it or not, waiting for their answers...

[Mickeyl]

Quick status:

It's progressing but sloooooooooooooowly, since there are only two people (John Lenz and Richard Purdie) working on it. At the moment, core support, framebuffer, mtd, are working. Richard Purdie just got pcmcia starting to work yesterday.

More help would be needed. Contact openzaurus-devel@lists.sf.net, if you want to participate.

[Ashitaka]

I just had an answer from somebody from Sharp, saying he was developping a patch for kernel 2.6.8.1 for Zaurus SL6000, which was also working with C860.
There are still problems, since Sharps' QT does not work for the moment (Trolltech's free original QT does apparently), and that there are some licence problems.
It would be nice if you could join your efforts, I will see what I can do ^^

[Mickeyl]

Very interesting. If you speak to this guy again, ask him if that is an official mission or if he does that on a volunteer/geek basis. If it is an official thing, then I give up hope that he cooperates with mainstream. Neither Lineo Japan nor Sharp has ever cooperated with mainline and I don't see that changing anytime soon. In the moment they realize that they will have to rewrite most drivers because their quality is inacceptable for mainline, they would probably give up saying it's not worth it. If on the other hand it's a geek job from someone "inside", I have high hopes. Please point this guy to our openzaurus-devel mailing list, where all Zaurus kernel development discussion is happening.

[Ashitaka]

This is turning out nicely ^^
Just a side note, for the moment he said he could only have me try the patch...

>>Are you doing this as an official job for Sharp or not? Which gcc do you
>> use to cross-compile?


We use arm-linux-gcc-3.4.3 and binutils-2.15.92.0.2. I can put it with
kernel patch.


>> I am interested in testing it, even if there is no graphical interface
>> for the moment. And if Trolltech's QT works that would be great, they
>> are about to release Qtopia 2.1 which looks very nifty 


I guess I can give you initrd.bin including Trolltech's QT binary file,
but without SD modules.


>> BTW, are you aware that people from the OpenZaurus community are also
>> working on this? They told me it was not going very fast since only two
>> persons where working on it, but now core support, framebuffer, mtd,
>> pcmcia are working.


Great. Our plan is just for 2.6.8.1 and 2.6.9. Can we get a next version
further thanks to their efforts? right?

Some informations are missing but I guess you can ask him if I get him to subscribe to openzaurus-devel ml.
Last thing, it is a geek, but who managed to do real geek stuff inside an official job He works sometimes in the office next door, but I don't know him too much

[Ashitaka]

Did he contact you ?

[Mickeyl]

Me? No - if I recall correctly, nothing like that appeared on openzaurus-devel yet.

[Ashitaka]

I just received the ROM and the programming tools from him, I will now test it, but I don't have the rights to distribute it or anything.
BUT, according to him, 2.6 port should be made available by Sharp in a "not very long time", even if I'm not sure what it means

[Mickeyl]

Hmm... I can't follow the restriction not to redistribute GPLed source code, but anyway I hope it comes sooner than later. Which model support code is their 2.6 supposed to contain?

[Ashitaka]

You're only supposed to redistribute GPLed code if you make the binary public, they have the right to do their development stuff secretly ^^ (not that I approve it)
And it's targeted to 860 and 6000.

[Ashitaka]

One more thing... If you knew how Japanese are used to work, you would stop trying to make them collaborate with somebody else, usually it's Mission Impossible

[Mickeyl]

Very unfortunate. Let's see how far they get with that attitude and what happens when 0% of their stuff gets accepted by mainstream. Ah right... they will probably just don't care. Very unfortunate and narrow minded.

[Ashitaka]

Yes, I think that's the point ! They release the source because they have to, but if it is useless, well... they don't care, that's all, no need to try to understand Sharp's philosophy with complex concepts ^^

Not that I even blame them by the way: some engineers are just told to have a Linux running on the platform they plan to sell, they manage to hack through it, and then they just forget about it.
Because you are working on a Linux kernel in Sharp does not necessarily mean you are an open-source geek or that you plan to broaden the view of your society. And even if you are, you may not have the possibility to do so.

[guylhem]

Ashitaka, will they put softfloat in the kernel 2.6 + qtopia 2.1 batch?
Since 2.6/2.1 will most certainly break compatibility anyway, why bother keeping something slow.

[Ashitaka]

Yes that would be great, but I have no information about that.
But sf is supposed to be integrated in GCC 3.4, so I think there is...

Anyway I'm just starting vacations till next tuesday, and I did not bring back any Zaurus home (yes that's possible !), so more info next week. If anyone knows how to detect if softfloat is used (compile and try a test program?)...

Happy New Year !