Fwd: Re: Crossroads

[Gabriel Ambuehl]

[the reply to issue bit me another time ;)]
On Tuesday 13 March 2007 17:51:00 Sean Moss-Pultz wrote:
>   Marvell has some nice for larger devices (the 8388). But we need
>   one specifically for mobile phones (like the 8686). If somebody
>   can help us find the right vendor, we'll give you a free Neo1973.

Well for starters it would help if you could give a somewhat more concise 
requirement ;)

Aside of the aforementioned Ralink and Zydas (which USB works easily with 
Linux and doesn't even seem to need a firmware blob [1]).



http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/293/ (posted on 2006-12-27)


Atmel:
"For some things we do require non-disclosure agreements, but we are generally 
able to provide the API documentation and the firmware driver interface 
specifications for our hardware. As to why others may not be able to do 
this... well, our software is developed in-house, but others might out 
outsource their driver development to third-party companies, so they may not 
even have the documentation that a programmer requests.

We usually provide driver source code, and we try to put it under the GPL if 
possible, so that's usually good enough if you want to write your own driver. 
If you want to see more than that, we generally require an NDA, or if you're 
an embedded customer, we provide reference platforms." Some of the Atmel 
drivers are even in 2.6.20 as is Zydas.

Realtek and RAlink have similar statements of wanting to work with Linux 
vendors. And that investigation was done by someone who didnt actually want 
to buy anything.

Realteks USB chips require 3.3V and 1.8V, 5V is "tolerated" for input.
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=1&Level=6&Conn=5&ProdID=36
they don't seem to support SPI. Realtek seems to think they are fit for use in 
phones and lists mobile phone as application area explicitely. Publically 
available data doesn't seem to list power consumption. Driver tarball on the 
site seems to consist of sources only.

[1] I once looked at the driver tarball and didn't find it, in any case. It 
might still be hidden inside some variable deepdown in a source file.