[gta02-core] OT: N900

[Christopher Friedt]

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 11:39 PM, Werner Almesberger<werner at openmoko.org> wrote:
>> 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 ?

I would just as quickly assume that the gsm firmware is binary-only.
The update utility (a.k.a. flashing tool) is apparently freely
downloadable, but I have no idea if it's open source.

>> 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 3D is definitely binary, but binary is better than nothing. Still
TI has a pretty decent track-record for playing well with the Open
Source community, so support for the binary-only drivers (and maybe an
open-source one) is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The
3D is provided by Imagination (PowerVR), and with all of the OMAP
Linux devices that are coming out of the woodworks these days (e.g.
OpenPandora, BeagleBoard, TouchBook, smartbooks), who knows, they
might end up caving and providing some more slack.

>> and the desire to have a prototype-able design.
> Hmm, what good would be a design you can't prototype ? :)

I can definitely understand that sentiment.

> 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.

I guess since it's not one of the 'next-gen' SoC's with integrated
baseband, that there would be the baseband processor, RF modem,  and
whatever other components they need. Looking at the Beagleboard though
(p 38 of the ref. manual), it doesn't seem to require much more than
the TWL4030 and a VBAT regulator, aside from passive SMT components.
It has a level shifter for RS232, but that's typical. The USB OTG PHY
is contained within the 4030.