[PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Dmitri Vorobiev]

Ralf Baechle on Atlas board support in the linux-mips mailing list:

Maciej is promising to fix it up since a few years ;-)  Aside of that it's
safe to say the Atlas is dead like a coffin nail.

Signed-off-by: Dmitri Vorobiev <dmitri.vorobiev@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt |    8 ++++++++
 1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt b/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
index 20c4c8b..c053318 100644
--- a/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
@@ -333,3 +333,11 @@ Why:	This driver has been marked obsolete for many years.
 Who:	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>
 
 ---------------------------
+
+What:	Support for MIPS Technologies' Altas evaluation board
+When:	March 2008
+Why:	Apparently there is no user base left for this platform.
+	Hardware out of production since several years.
+Who:	Dmitri Vorobiev <dmitri.vorobiev@gmail.com>
+
+---------------------------
-- 
1.5.3

Re: [SPAM] [PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dmitri Vorobiev wrote:
> Ralf Baechle on Atlas board support in the linux-mips mailing list:
> 
> Maciej is promising to fix it up since a few years ;-)  Aside of that it's
> safe to say the Atlas is dead like a coffin nail.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Dmitri Vorobiev <dmitri.vorobiev@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt |    8 ++++++++
>  1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt b/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
> index 20c4c8b..c053318 100644
> --- a/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
> @@ -333,3 +333,11 @@ Why:	This driver has been marked obsolete for many years.
>  Who:	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>
>  
>  ---------------------------
> +
> +What:	Support for MIPS Technologies' Altas evaluation board
                                               ^^^^^
					       Atlas

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

						Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
							    -- Linus Torvalds

Re: [SPAM] [PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Dmitri Vorobiev]

Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dmitri Vorobiev wrote:
>> Ralf Baechle on Atlas board support in the linux-mips mailing list:
>>
>> Maciej is promising to fix it up since a few years ;-)  Aside of that it's
>> safe to say the Atlas is dead like a coffin nail.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Dmitri Vorobiev <dmitri.vorobiev@gmail.com>
>> ---
>>  Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt |    8 ++++++++
>>  1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt b/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
>> index 20c4c8b..c053318 100644
>> --- a/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
>> +++ b/Documentation/feature-removal-schedule.txt
>> @@ -333,3 +333,11 @@ Why:	This driver has been marked obsolete for many years.
>>  Who:	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>
>>  
>>  ---------------------------
>> +
>> +What:	Support for MIPS Technologies' Altas evaluation board
>                                                ^^^^^
> 					       Atlas

This is what happens when doing things in a rush. Thanks, Geert.

I'll post a corrected version soon.

> 
> Gr{oetje,eeting}s,
> 
> 						Geert
> 
> --
> Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org
> 
> In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
> when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
> 							    -- Linus Torvalds
> 

Re: [SPAM] [PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Maciej W. Rozycki]

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dmitri Vorobiev wrote:

> >> +
> >> +What:	Support for MIPS Technologies' Altas evaluation board
> >                                                ^^^^^
> > 					       Atlas
> 
> This is what happens when doing things in a rush. Thanks, Geert.

 Hmm, I wonder why you'd be in such a rush to remove my pet project... ;-) 
The last time I tried it worked; unfortunately I have since been taken 
away my second serial port that I used as a terminal device for the Atlas 
lying next to me and the first port I have in continuous use.  I'll see if 
I can give it a hit before March though -- any issues with the port should 
be minimal.

  Maciej

Re: [SPAM] [PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Dmitri Vorobiev]

Maciej W. Rozycki пишет:
> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dmitri Vorobiev wrote:
> 
>>>> +
>>>> +What:	Support for MIPS Technologies' Altas evaluation board
>>>                                                ^^^^^
>>> 					       Atlas
>> This is what happens when doing things in a rush. Thanks, Geert.
> 
>  Hmm, I wonder why you'd be in such a rush to remove my pet project... ;-) 
> The last time I tried it worked; unfortunately I have since been taken 

This was my way of reasoning here:

1) I would like to make a massive cleanup in the arch/mips/mips-boards
   for the reasons explained here:

http://www.linux-mips.org/archives/linux-mips/2008-01/msg00136.html

2) Removing Atlas would reduce the clean-up effort.

3) According to Ralf, the user base for Atlas is zero, the board itself
   is buggy.

4) History knows of an attempt to remove Atlas:

http://www.linux-mips.org/archives/linux-mips/2007-06/msg00153.html

5) Nobody is losing, man-hours are saved. No explanation of why not to do that.
   Hence, the patch to the feature-removal-schedule.txt.

> away my second serial port that I used as a terminal device for the Atlas 
> lying next to me and the first port I have in continuous use.  I'll see if 
> I can give it a hit before March though -- any issues with the port should 
> be minimal.

It would be nice if you could take a look at that (please see the "P.S." part):

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=84c21e254205ecac98f75b01589996440c6a6db0

> 
>   Maciej
> 

Re: [SPAM] [PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Maciej W. Rozycki]

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dmitri Vorobiev wrote:

> 1) I would like to make a massive cleanup in the arch/mips/mips-boards
>    for the reasons explained here:
> 
> http://www.linux-mips.org/archives/linux-mips/2008-01/msg00136.html

 You are certainly welcome to do so!

> 2) Removing Atlas would reduce the clean-up effort.

 You can make it a bonus project ;-) -- I would certainly do some testing 
with real hardware if pieces of software start flying by.

> 3) According to Ralf, the user base for Atlas is zero, the board itself
>    is buggy.

 The Ethernet controller embedded in the onboard SAA9730 chip is 
questionable, though some of the problems are apparently the result of our 
buggy driver.  For example the settings of the PHY chip are not 
synchronised to what is set in the MAC.  I cleaned up a lot of cruft at 
one point, but more can apparently be done.  Switching to PHYLIB could 
help and is on my to-do list.  The PHY is a QS6612 and is already 
supported by PHYLIB.

 Otherwise the board is just fine, though perhaps a little bit strange -- 
no south bridge for example (i.e. no subtractive ISA/LPC decoding, nor 
8259A or 8237A cores within), though the SAA9730 does implicit active 
decoding (i.e. not through PCI BARs) of some addresses that used to be 
assigned to motherboard devices in the PC/AT architecture (most notably 
the keyboard controller).  Essentially a PCI-based junk I/O controller of 
some sort.

> 4) History knows of an attempt to remove Atlas:
> 
> http://www.linux-mips.org/archives/linux-mips/2007-06/msg00153.html

 Yes, I know.

> 5) Nobody is losing, man-hours are saved. No explanation of why not to do that.
>    Hence, the patch to the feature-removal-schedule.txt.

 Well, I am always uneasy about removing stuff that is sufficiently 
different from what keeps being supported as quite frequently apparently 
oversimplification decisions are made afterwards which make the addition 
of support for less usual designs that appear later on unnecessarily 
painful.

> It would be nice if you could take a look at that (please see the "P.S." part):
> 
> http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=84c21e254205ecac98f75b01589996440c6a6db0

 I have seen this, thanks.  I'll have look, time permitting.

  Maciej

Re: [SPAM] [PATCH][MIPS] Add Atlas to feature-removal-schedule.

[Dmitri Vorobiev]

Maciej W. Rozycki пишет:
> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008, Dmitri Vorobiev wrote:
> 
>> 1) I would like to make a massive cleanup in the arch/mips/mips-boards
>>    for the reasons explained here:
>>
>> http://www.linux-mips.org/archives/linux-mips/2008-01/msg00136.html
> 
>  You are certainly welcome to do so!
> 
>> 2) Removing Atlas would reduce the clean-up effort.
> 
>  You can make it a bonus project ;-) -- I would certainly do some testing 
> with real hardware if pieces of software start flying by.

OK, thanks for your reply. I'll try to proceed with the cleanup without
removing Atlas.

Dmitri