General info on kernel status for vr4121/MobilePro 780

General info on kernel status for vr4121/MobilePro 780

[Ben Hodgens]

I'm attempting build a system around an NEC MobilePro 780, and as there does not 
appear to be full support (ie, can't seem to get a kernel to boot) in either the 
current 2.4 or 2.6 kernel trees.

Here's what I've found and tried so far:

* The Linux VR project's "latest" kernel, circa 2001 or something like that - 
linux-vr-0.1.1.tar.bz2. This does not actually have an option for the MobilePro 
780 in the kernel config, though there is the 770.
* The kernel on http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/NecMobilePro780. This one 
-appears- to be the most complete I've found with regard to the 780; however, 
the tree is a 2.3 base (2.3.99 or something like that, I think), and not only 
pretty damn old, but I'm having a difficult time building it with the MIPS 
Technologies toolchain as a result. (Nothing I think I won't be able to figure 
out eventually - just makefile issues - but I don't want to persue it too much 
if there's a better alternative to start with). Additionally, this page has a 
binary kernel (and rootfs) which boots, but it doesn't boot with either a Debian 
sarge or etch bootstrap-installed rootfs (this is probably related to devfs, 
Ithink).
* Both the latest 2.4 and 2.6 kernels don't have explicit support for the MP. I 
don't know where to go from here to where I want to go, though if there's 
nothing current in the current trees, I figure I'll learn to port drivers 
(provided I can figure which is the current latest support for the MP).

So I'm asking: does anyone know where else I might look? If there is no current 
kernel tree which builds, does anyone know where the current/most up-to-date 
device support for the MobilePro is kept, or in which kernel it's in?

Any/all help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Ben Hodgens
ben@hodgens.net

Re: General info on kernel status for vr4121/MobilePro 780

[Ricardo Mendoza]

Ben Hodgens wrote:
> I'm attempting build a system around an NEC MobilePro 780, and as there
> does not appear to be full support (ie, can't seem to get a kernel to
> boot) in either the current 2.4 or 2.6 kernel trees.
> 
> Here's what I've found and tried so far:
> 
> * The Linux VR project's "latest" kernel, circa 2001 or something like
> that - linux-vr-0.1.1.tar.bz2. This does not actually have an option for
> the MobilePro 780 in the kernel config, though there is the 770.
> * The kernel on http://www.handhelds.org/moin/moin.cgi/NecMobilePro780.
> This one -appears- to be the most complete I've found with regard to the
> 780; however, the tree is a 2.3 base (2.3.99 or something like that, I
> think), and not only pretty damn old, but I'm having a difficult time
> building it with the MIPS Technologies toolchain as a result. (Nothing I
> think I won't be able to figure out eventually - just makefile issues -
> but I don't want to persue it too much if there's a better alternative
> to start with). Additionally, this page has a binary kernel (and rootfs)
> which boots, but it doesn't boot with either a Debian sarge or etch
> bootstrap-installed rootfs (this is probably related to devfs, Ithink).
> * Both the latest 2.4 and 2.6 kernels don't have explicit support for
> the MP. I don't know where to go from here to where I want to go, though
> if there's nothing current in the current trees, I figure I'll learn to
> port drivers (provided I can figure which is the current latest support
> for the MP).
> 
> So I'm asking: does anyone know where else I might look? If there is no
> current kernel tree which builds, does anyone know where the
> current/most up-to-date device support for the MobilePro is kept, or in
> which kernel it's in?

Current l-m.o tree has vr41xx support thanks to Yoichi, that's the best
starting point. But as you said, support for the board itself is not
there as a whole, there were some drivers for kbd/tpanel/fb around from
an old project (not linux-vr), just gotta look for them.

Afterwards, just mix the ingredients and bake the pie.


     Ricardo

Re: General info on kernel status for vr4121/MobilePro 780

[Ralf Baechle]

On Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 06:07:48PM -0700, Ben Hodgens wrote:

> * The Linux VR project's "latest" kernel, circa 2001 or something like that 
> - linux-vr-0.1.1.tar.bz2. This does not actually have an option for the 
> MobilePro 780 in the kernel config, though there is the 770.

LinuxVR is a defunct project which is archived on linux-mips.org to avoid
losing the project's history and also in case anything hasn't merged into
Linux/MIPS or the other projects LinuxVR is based on.

  Ralf