I think before we told them we *need* it, we should explain why it's
important for them. I'm not sure they fully realize that yet, and it's
on what we should focus. It takes education, and not just a video
interview.
> He can use the argument: look, Rockchip has DT files in the Linux kernel,
> and there are none from Allwinner.
Both of them have. And until very recently, coming from the same
source: hobbyists. Rockchip has started in the past couple monthes to
work on it.
> Or, if you want to enter the server market, then it is quite
> important to have mainline Linux kernel support.
That is true, but again, you're just making a statement, without
explaining why.
> The effort happening from linux-sunxi is for the benefit of Allwinner.
Are we talking about 3.4 or mainline here?
> > > I suspect they could eliminate 50% of their support burden by doing
> > > two things:
> > > 1) Full documentation in the manuals/datasheets
> > > 2) Put the SDKs up on a public server so that people can be sure they
> > > are using the most recent ones.
> >
> > Keep in mind that Allwinner are used to not having many outside
> > developers working on code for their chips. The SDK is produced by a
> > fairly small team of people, and their main target market is high wolume
> > tablets, where all is using their SDK and supported periperial devices
> > (touch screens etc), and even large part of the PCB designs are done by
> > a small group and then copied as-is by others.
> >
> > Going from that to full documented chip with a lot of code developed &
> > maintained outside is very very far and they will need a lot of help and
> > positive guidance on how to move forward.
> >
>
> I think that this describes the situation, and we should take that into
> account when interacting with Allwinner.
Yep. Again, I'm not sure an interview is the proper way to express this.
> > Demanding is not the right approach. Allwinner is not dependent on
> > linux-sunxi at all for the bulk of their market share.
>
> The argument about the A80 being used in a server environment is quite
> strong and requires mainline Linux kernel support.
Multiple examples show that the server market doesn't "require"
that. See NX-BOX and mininodes.
> In addition, Allwinner would probably want to grown in new markets, such as
> tablets with Firefox OS (Mozilla Foundation) or Ubuntu (Canonical).
> Both these would ideally require mainline Linux kernel support (and uboot,
> etc).
> There was a recent mail here about 500 A31 tablets running Firefox OS and
> having a exotic issue with OS/X.
Which shows that Firefox OS can accomodate pretty well with a vendor kernel.
I'm playing a bit the devil's advocate here, but it's really answers
that you should expect.
--
Maxime Ripard, Free Electrons
Embedded Linux, Kernel and Android engineering
http://free-electrons.com