2021-01-02

Help needed: clean up and submit KMS driver for Geode LX to LKML

Ever since X.org switched to rootless operation, the days of the Geode X.org driver have been numbered. The old codebase dates back from Geode's early days at Cyrix, was then updated by NSC to add support for their new GX2 architecture, from which AMD dropped GX1 support and added support for their new LX architecture. To put it mildly, that codebase is a serious mess.

However, at least the LX code comes with plenty of niceties, such as being able to detect when it runs on an OLPC XO-1 and to probe DCC pins to determine the optimal display resolution on other hardware. This still doesn't make the codebase cruft-free.

Anyhow, most Linux distributions have dropped support for anything older than i686 with PAE, which essentially means that the GX2 code is just for show. Debian is one of very few distributions whose x86-32 port still ships with i686 without PAE. In fact, the lowest common denominator kernel on i386 is configured for Geode (LX).

A while back, someone had started working on a KMS driver for the Geode LX. Through word of mouth, I got my hands on a copy of their Git tree. The driver worked reasonably well, but the codebase needs some polishing before it could be included in the Linux kernel tree.

Hence this call for help:

Is there anyone with good experience of the LKML coding standards who would be willing to clean up the driver's code and submit the patch to the LKML?

3 comments:

Christian Gmeiner said...

Where can someone find the git repo with the WIP kms driver?

Sam Ravnborg said...

Is this related to the patch:
https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20201030030800.1036888-3-lkundrak@v3.sk/
It needs only very limited work before it is ready

Martin-Éric said...

Christian: I've e-mailed you a tarball of the Git tree.

Sam: That seems to be for a newer version of the OLPC, not the one based on the Geode LX.