[gta02-core] OT: N900

[Werner Almesberger]

Christopher Friedt wrote:
> That's really great ... but really ... I'm more interested in learning
> which 3G chip it's using,

Yup, that chip could be interesting.

> design. Since the N900 has a completely hackable software stack, it's
> very likely that the GSM firmware / utilities might also be available.

Has anyone gone through Nokia's kernel code yet and confirmed that
there are no binary-only drivers and such ?

> The 3530 is designed to use PoP (package-on-package) SDRAM / NAND
> chips which reduce memory latency and power consumption.

PoP is pretty much standard these days. Even the the 2442 in GTA02
and gta02-core is PoP, just a little short on the RAM side. But
more modern PoPs/MCPs from Samsung would solve that as well.

> It also has a
> very powerful and integrated 2D/3D GPU, and video/image/audio codec.

As far as I know, at least 3D is still non-open. Not sure about the
other bits.

> The project would be greatly simplified if it weren't for the
> unavailability of the Calypso,

Oh, we don't really like the Calypso all that much ;-)

> and the desire to have a prototype-able design.

Hmm, what good would be a design you can't prototype ? :)

> I wonder if the LCD of the original FR is
> compatible with the OMAP...

Almost certainly yes.

One word of warning about the OMAP. I've been told by people who
have made OMAP-based and Samsung-based designs that the OMAP is
quite demanding in terms of support chips, which complicates the
design and makes it expensive.

The open documentation is great, no doubt about that.

- Werner