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Since this is Google making the SoC, surely we have Linux drivers within a month for it? Already upstreamed? Some register documentation? I didn't check, but I
by stefan_ 5y ago
Since this is Google making the SoC, surely we have Linux drivers within a month for it? Already upstreamed? Some register documentation?
I didn't check, but I suppose the answer is "no". Can't keep pointing at Qualcomm anymore, I guess.
- lima 5y agoPresumably, they'll show up on https://android.googlesource.com https://android.googlesource.com if they haven't already.
- Thaxll 5y agoWhy would they release driver for hardware not available to the public?
- stefan_ 5y agoThat happens all the time: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Display13-Initial-Patches https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Di... Because working with upstream is not sitting in your chambers for years, then throwing a huge patch over at the end of it.
- haukem 5y agoIntel does this all the time, but they want normal Ubuntu, RedHat and so on to support their hardware when their hardware gets into the market. With these phones the hardware and the software is shipped together in a bundle, it is a different thing.
- gambiting 5y agoWhat do you mean not available to the public? You can buy this phone now, no?
- saghm 5y agoUsually these devices become available for pre-order on the day of the announcement, but take a bit longer to ship out.
- als0 5y agoGetting new drivers into the kernel can be a long process, sometimes taking months. Some companies prefer to engage early to minimise pressure when the device is released.
- ChuckNorris89 5y agoThat's not how open source works in SoC design. In fact it doesn't work at all an here's why: Google hasn't made the SoC and doesn't own the IP, it most likely bought a bunch of IP blocks from established vendors like Cadence, Synopys, Samsung, etc and fused them together to create a SoC. All those IPs come with their own license terms and NDAs that limit what you can do with it. You can use it in your final product and make money selling it, but most most IP vendors in the semi space will not let you open source anything about their design, including drivers, as that IP is their golden goose. If you want to blame someone for this sorry state of affairs, you can blame the entire semi industry starting from the EDA and IP vendors all the way to the fabs. It's pretty much a cartel and they all keep their cards close to the vest any way they can.
- eikenberry 5y agoHow do they use the GPL2'd Linux kernel then? It implements drivers in the kernel and the license requires that the source be released. Do they use tricks like nvidia and create a free software shim module ties in a userspace driver?
- quotemstr 5y agoEach major release of Android has an explicitly stable kernel internal ABI, meaning that shipping binary drivers is much more viable than it was before.
- eikenberry 5y agoDoesn't matter how easy it is if it is still illegal to do so.
- vadfa 5y agoUpstreamed? Why would they want to deal with that kind of crap?
- forty 5y agoMay I ask you what experience you have with upstreaning or not upstreaming kernel patches that have led you to make this comment? (I have recently read very interesting articles/presentation from Netflix and Google about both approaches and had a conclusion opposite to yours). This is also relevant https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Android-Linux-Upstream-First https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Android-...
- deelowe 5y agoGoogle certainly didn't design all of the IP blocks from scratch...