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If, like me, you think of op-amps and some National Instruments analog-to-digital converters when you think of Analog Devices, you might be wondering what they'

If, like me, you think of op-amps and some National Instruments analog-to-digital converters when you think of Analog Devices, you might be wondering what they're doing writing Linux drivers. The short answer is they're acquiring IP: They've bought Linear Technology (which makes tons of PMIC devices) and Maxim Integrated, who make tons of specialized PMIC, analog, RTC, interface, and other chips. The link above is a press release, the full list of devices is here: https://wiki.analog.com/resources/tools-software/linux-drivers-all#driver_list https://wiki.analog.com/resources/tools-software/linux-drive... Part numbers prefixed with "LTC" are from Linear Tech, part numbers prefixed with "MAX" are Maxim, part numbers prefixed with "AD" are Analog Devices. Part numbers prefixed with "DS" are from Dallas Semiconductor, which was bought by Maxim a long time ago. As someone who typically uses these devices in much smaller embedded systems, it's nice to have these hardware abstraction layers listed in one place, instead of having to transcribe it from the datasheet.

m0lecules 5y ago
100% This is the next logical step for semiconductor companies like AD, TI, etc. AD doesn't tend to compete on cost, so high quality open source drivers become a key differentiator compared to other companies with lower cost parts, especially as these parts become increasingly complex. A 9 axis IMU with 10 different acquisition and buffering modes, built in algorithms, etc. becomes a lot more tractable if you don't have to write the whole driver from a datasheet.
- stefan_ 5y ago
  Actually I think their plan is to continue not competing by acquiring all competition, as is now the norm in the semiconductor business. They call it "consolidation" but lets not mistake it for what it is.
  - GhettoComputers 5y ago
    Why are they doing Linux drivers then? They have to compete with international chips now.
    - megous 5y ago
      I randomly clicked through the list, out of 10 drivers, 3 were written by independent devs, 5 by comapnies they acquired, and the rest by AD. This looks just like some list of existing drivers, regardless of who wrote them.
      - rgetz 5y ago
        Yes - the list on https://wiki.analog.com/linux https://wiki.analog.com/linux is a consolidated list: - ADI devices (there is only one ADI, when a company is acquired, they are integrated - the group inside ADI that writes drivers doesn't care what the part prefix is) - internal ADI development and upstreamed/mainlined drivers that have been done by our customers / other contributors It was done this way to try to make it easier for people to find the drivers, rather than rolling through kernel source. The Majority of the drivers are upstream (including the ones ADI writes), or are in process of going upstream, but some drivers - because of their development flow - will never meet upstream kernel coding guidelines. [Disclaimer - I work at ADI].
        megous 5y ago
        Perfect. :)
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- shortsightedsid 5y ago
  AFAIK TI has always been very opensource friendly. All their SOCs are mainlined and maintained including pretty old ones. Now if Broadcom starts to be opensource friendly then that would be a real change of heart.
  - mjevans 5y ago
    I once tried to put OpenWRT on this nightmare... https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Actiontec_GT724WGR https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Actiontec_GT724WGR ; or maybe it was a very similar model; it was a long while ago. The core SOC is a TI chip, but at least at the time while TI wasn't abhorrent, anything that might remotely help get the USB port working was a proprietary blob. I think they'd also sold the IP for that product to someone else by the time I was tinkering with it; I can't remember exactly but do recall it was either a nightmare or impossible to get a copy of the source code for the factory firmware. This has turned me off to anything even using TI chips that I'm aware of. Maybe they've gotten better in the last decade. Probably they're fine if you're a hardware manufacturer paying for chips.
deleted 5y ago
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bee_rider 5y ago
Linear Technology? I wonder if they can be convinced to open up the source of LTSpice. I'm sure that isn't something they haven't been asked about already... but if they are willing to give such a good simulator away for free, why not show off the source as well?
- madengr 5y ago
  The simulator is free (specifically their models) so you buy their parts. As soon as it is opened up and populated with non-LT parts, the incentive disappears. I mean, LTSPICE is the sole reason I use LT parts in my designs.
- cushychicken 5y ago
  if they are willing to give such a good simulator away for free, why not show off the source as well? Because giving away the source code to their simulator doesn't make any business sense in the way giving a Linux kernel driver does. Giving away LTSPICE is an effort to commoditize their complements. The complement to an opamp is a high quality simulation model. The complement to a high speed data converter is a working Linux driver for JESD204B. Both decrease the effort involved for ADI's customer to use ADI's parts. Giving away LTSpice source code doesn't achieve a similar aim.
- pwr-electronics 5y ago
  That won't happen. They've specifically said that they maintain it because it helps them sell more product. They also encrypt their models. If they open source it, they lose both encryption and exclusivity.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  I'd be happy if they'd just open-source the UI. I couldn't care less about the simulator secret sauce, but there is no reason it has to be saddled to a user interface that makes EAGLE look sane by comparison.
  - zbrozek 5y ago
    I'm actually glad that they haven't overhauled the UI. It would be great if they made tiny improvements, like making the font size and color defaults more pleasant. Deep blue on black as the default plot is less than stellar. Also, unless something has changed, ltspice is wholly written by one person.
DaveExeter 5y ago
PMIC = Power management integrated circuit
madengr 5y ago
They bought Hittite too, hence the HMC parts. Too bad the ADI web site sucks. I really miss Linear Tech and Hittite web sites, as they were written for engineer.
simias 5y ago
Analog Devices also does DSPs such as the Blackfin which, as far as I know, were made in-house and can Linux (well, Linux without MMU, but still).
- rgetz 5y ago
  Blackfin Linux was EOL'ed ~ Mar 2019 https://ez.analog.com/dsp/software-and-development-tools/linux-blackfin/f/q-a/108907/end-of-life-for-blackfin-linux https://ez.analog.com/dsp/software-and-development-tools/lin... Devices with ARM A5 (like https://www.analog.com/adsp-sc589 https://www.analog.com/adsp-sc589) are still supported. Disclaimer - I work at ADI.
cushychicken 5y ago
If, like me, you think of op-amps and some National Instruments analog-to-digital converters when you think of Analog Devices, you might be wondering what they're doing writing Linux drivers That's a pretty dated view of ADI's business. These days they make most of their cheddar in their high speed data converter business. They have GSPS ADCs and DACs available that are hundreds of dollars per chip. The Kuiper Linux support for Xilinx Zynq and MPSoC is telling. That's coded language for 5G physical layer and electronic warfare/SIGINT uses.
- LeifCarrotson 5y ago
  I know it's a pretty dated view, but is it really true that most of their...profits? revenue? are in the high-speed high-dollar data converter segment? Sure, one of those chips might cost as much as a reel of other chips, but for every van with a SIGINT box, there are thousands of civilian electronic devices.
  - cushychicken 5y ago
    High speed A/D and D/A is a big research driver to much of their business. The advances they make in gigasample D/A fabrication, can apply across a wide range of their product portfolio. The cutting edge chips may not represent a huge chunk of silicon volume, but they are a big driver of profitability. The volume is also likely a lot higher than you realize: these ADCs/DACs are ubiquitous in modern digital radars of the type preferred by the US military. It also forms a big part of their business to sell associated components that complement the converters: clock sources, PLLs, some discrete RF, etc.
- rgetz 5y ago
  >The Kuiper Linux support for Xilinx Zynq and MPSoC is telling. You missed the Intel SoC and Raspberry Pi support too. :) According to the Annual Report [1] - ADI works with 125,000+ customers. That means diversity in application. The press release was focused on Linux, but there are a lot of other ecosystems that ADI also participates in - from Arduino to Pmod to No-OS to Mbed and more. https://www.analog.com/media/en/news-marketing-collateral/solutions-bulletins-brochures/Solutions-for-Rapid-Prototyping.pdf https://www.analog.com/media/en/news-marketing-collateral/so... [Disclaimer - I work at ADI] [1] https://investor.analog.com/static-files/ddc81d14-3ffe-4655-9726-7dd754332b17 https://investor.analog.com/static-files/ddc81d14-3ffe-4655-...
carapace 5y ago
Kind of a tangent, but I found: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/i2c/muxes/i2c-mux-ltc4306.c?id=HEAD#n63 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin... static bool ltc4306_is_volatile_reg(struct device *dev, unsigned int reg) { return (reg == LTC_REG_CONFIG) ? true : false; } Oh man, c'mon. That kind of thing bugs me. Just "return reg == LTC_REG_CONFIG" already, sheesh. (And maybe make it a preprocessor directive while you're at it?)
- vlovich123 5y ago
  Int-> bool conversion is something that MSVC complained about (C4800) for the longest time for some kind of obscure reason. Wouldn’t surprise me if this code was written against a longer that had a similar warning OR that maybe this code is shared with their Windows driver and this needs to compile on both (at least that’s my attempt at finding the most generous explanation for that).
  - carapace 5y ago
    Sorry, what int -> bool conversion?
    - testrun 5y ago
      parameter reg is int, return value is bool.
      - NavinF 5y ago
        “reg == LTC_REG_CONFIG” is a bool. There’s no conversion going on here.
        zargon 5y ago
        In the C language, the result of the equality operator is an int, not a bool.

m0lecules 5y ago

100% This is the next logical step for semiconductor companies like AD, TI, etc. AD doesn't tend to compete on cost, so high quality open source drivers become a key differentiator compared to other companies with lower cost parts, especially as these parts become increasingly complex. A 9 axis IMU with 10 different acquisition and buffering modes, built in algorithms, etc. becomes a lot more tractable if you don't have to write the whole driver from a datasheet.

stefan_ 5y ago
Actually I think their plan is to continue not competing by acquiring all competition, as is now the norm in the semiconductor business. They call it "consolidation" but lets not mistake it for what it is.
- GhettoComputers 5y ago
  Why are they doing Linux drivers then? They have to compete with international chips now.
  - megous 5y ago
    I randomly clicked through the list, out of 10 drivers, 3 were written by independent devs, 5 by comapnies they acquired, and the rest by AD. This looks just like some list of existing drivers, regardless of who wrote them.
    - rgetz 5y ago
      Yes - the list on https://wiki.analog.com/linux https://wiki.analog.com/linux is a consolidated list: - ADI devices (there is only one ADI, when a company is acquired, they are integrated - the group inside ADI that writes drivers doesn't care what the part prefix is) - internal ADI development and upstreamed/mainlined drivers that have been done by our customers / other contributors It was done this way to try to make it easier for people to find the drivers, rather than rolling through kernel source. The Majority of the drivers are upstream (including the ones ADI writes), or are in process of going upstream, but some drivers - because of their development flow - will never meet upstream kernel coding guidelines. [Disclaimer - I work at ADI].
      - megous 5y ago
        Perfect. :)
deleted 5y ago
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shortsightedsid 5y ago
AFAIK TI has always been very opensource friendly. All their SOCs are mainlined and maintained including pretty old ones. Now if Broadcom starts to be opensource friendly then that would be a real change of heart.
- mjevans 5y ago
  I once tried to put OpenWRT on this nightmare... https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Actiontec_GT724WGR https://deviwiki.com/wiki/Actiontec_GT724WGR ; or maybe it was a very similar model; it was a long while ago. The core SOC is a TI chip, but at least at the time while TI wasn't abhorrent, anything that might remotely help get the USB port working was a proprietary blob. I think they'd also sold the IP for that product to someone else by the time I was tinkering with it; I can't remember exactly but do recall it was either a nightmare or impossible to get a copy of the source code for the factory firmware. This has turned me off to anything even using TI chips that I'm aware of. Maybe they've gotten better in the last decade. Probably they're fine if you're a hardware manufacturer paying for chips.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bee_rider 5y ago

Linear Technology? I wonder if they can be convinced to open up the source of LTSpice. I'm sure that isn't something they haven't been asked about already... but if they are willing to give such a good simulator away for free, why not show off the source as well?

madengr 5y ago
The simulator is free (specifically their models) so you buy their parts. As soon as it is opened up and populated with non-LT parts, the incentive disappears. I mean, LTSPICE is the sole reason I use LT parts in my designs.
cushychicken 5y ago
if they are willing to give such a good simulator away for free, why not show off the source as well? Because giving away the source code to their simulator doesn't make any business sense in the way giving a Linux kernel driver does. Giving away LTSPICE is an effort to commoditize their complements. The complement to an opamp is a high quality simulation model. The complement to a high speed data converter is a working Linux driver for JESD204B. Both decrease the effort involved for ADI's customer to use ADI's parts. Giving away LTSpice source code doesn't achieve a similar aim.
pwr-electronics 5y ago
That won't happen. They've specifically said that they maintain it because it helps them sell more product. They also encrypt their models. If they open source it, they lose both encryption and exclusivity.
CamperBob2 5y ago
I'd be happy if they'd just open-source the UI. I couldn't care less about the simulator secret sauce, but there is no reason it has to be saddled to a user interface that makes EAGLE look sane by comparison.
- zbrozek 5y ago
  I'm actually glad that they haven't overhauled the UI. It would be great if they made tiny improvements, like making the font size and color defaults more pleasant. Deep blue on black as the default plot is less than stellar. Also, unless something has changed, ltspice is wholly written by one person.

DaveExeter 5y ago

PMIC = Power management integrated circuit

madengr 5y ago

They bought Hittite too, hence the HMC parts. Too bad the ADI web site sucks. I really miss Linear Tech and Hittite web sites, as they were written for engineer.

simias 5y ago

Analog Devices also does DSPs such as the Blackfin which, as far as I know, were made in-house and can Linux (well, Linux without MMU, but still).

rgetz 5y ago
Blackfin Linux was EOL'ed ~ Mar 2019 https://ez.analog.com/dsp/software-and-development-tools/linux-blackfin/f/q-a/108907/end-of-life-for-blackfin-linux https://ez.analog.com/dsp/software-and-development-tools/lin... Devices with ARM A5 (like https://www.analog.com/adsp-sc589 https://www.analog.com/adsp-sc589) are still supported. Disclaimer - I work at ADI.

cushychicken 5y ago

If, like me, you think of op-amps and some National Instruments analog-to-digital converters when you think of Analog Devices, you might be wondering what they're doing writing Linux drivers That's a pretty dated view of ADI's business. These days they make most of their cheddar in their high speed data converter business. They have GSPS ADCs and DACs available that are hundreds of dollars per chip. The Kuiper Linux support for Xilinx Zynq and MPSoC is telling. That's coded language for 5G physical layer and electronic warfare/SIGINT uses.

LeifCarrotson 5y ago
I know it's a pretty dated view, but is it really true that most of their...profits? revenue? are in the high-speed high-dollar data converter segment? Sure, one of those chips might cost as much as a reel of other chips, but for every van with a SIGINT box, there are thousands of civilian electronic devices.
- cushychicken 5y ago
  High speed A/D and D/A is a big research driver to much of their business. The advances they make in gigasample D/A fabrication, can apply across a wide range of their product portfolio. The cutting edge chips may not represent a huge chunk of silicon volume, but they are a big driver of profitability. The volume is also likely a lot higher than you realize: these ADCs/DACs are ubiquitous in modern digital radars of the type preferred by the US military. It also forms a big part of their business to sell associated components that complement the converters: clock sources, PLLs, some discrete RF, etc.
rgetz 5y ago
>The Kuiper Linux support for Xilinx Zynq and MPSoC is telling. You missed the Intel SoC and Raspberry Pi support too. :) According to the Annual Report [1] - ADI works with 125,000+ customers. That means diversity in application. The press release was focused on Linux, but there are a lot of other ecosystems that ADI also participates in - from Arduino to Pmod to No-OS to Mbed and more. https://www.analog.com/media/en/news-marketing-collateral/solutions-bulletins-brochures/Solutions-for-Rapid-Prototyping.pdf https://www.analog.com/media/en/news-marketing-collateral/so... [Disclaimer - I work at ADI] [1] https://investor.analog.com/static-files/ddc81d14-3ffe-4655-9726-7dd754332b17 https://investor.analog.com/static-files/ddc81d14-3ffe-4655-...

carapace 5y ago

Kind of a tangent, but I found: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/i2c/muxes/i2c-mux-ltc4306.c?id=HEAD#n63 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin... static bool ltc4306_is_volatile_reg(struct device *dev, unsigned int reg) { return (reg == LTC_REG_CONFIG) ? true : false; } Oh man, c'mon. That kind of thing bugs me. Just "return reg == LTC_REG_CONFIG" already, sheesh. (And maybe make it a preprocessor directive while you're at it?)

vlovich123 5y ago
Int-> bool conversion is something that MSVC complained about (C4800) for the longest time for some kind of obscure reason. Wouldn’t surprise me if this code was written against a longer that had a similar warning OR that maybe this code is shared with their Windows driver and this needs to compile on both (at least that’s my attempt at finding the most generous explanation for that).
- carapace 5y ago
  Sorry, what int -> bool conversion?
  - testrun 5y ago
    parameter reg is int, return value is bool.
    - NavinF 5y ago
      “reg == LTC_REG_CONFIG” is a bool. There’s no conversion going on here.
      - zargon 5y ago
        In the C language, the result of the equality operator is an int, not a bool.