Integrate camera interface of OMAP3530 in Angstrom Linux

Integrate camera interface of OMAP3530 in Angstrom Linux

[Andreas Nagel]

Hello,

I am using an embedded module called TAO-3530 from Technexion, which has 
an OMAP3530 processor.
This processor has a camera interface, which is part of the ISP 
submodule. For an ongoing project I want to capture a video signal from 
this interface. After several days of excessive research I still don't 
know, how to access it.
I configured the Angstrom kernel (2.6.32), so that the driver for OMAP 3 
camera controller (and all other OMAP 3 related things) is integrated, 
but I don't see any new device nodes in the filesystem.

I also found some rumors, that the Media Controller Framework or driver 
provides the device node /dev/media0, but I was not able to install it.
I use OpenEmbedded, but I don't have a recipe for Media Controller. On 
the Angstrom website ( http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/repo/ ) 
there's actually a package called "media-ctl", but due to the missing 
recipe, i can't install it. Can't say, I am an expert in OE.

Can you help me point out, what's necessary to make the camera interface 
accessible?

Best regards,
Andreas

Re: Integrate camera interface of OMAP3530 in Angstrom Linux

[Laurent Pinchart]

Hi Andreas,

On Thursday 06 September 2012 20:00:04 Andreas Nagel wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am using an embedded module called TAO-3530 from Technexion, which has
> an OMAP3530 processor.
> This processor has a camera interface, which is part of the ISP
> submodule. For an ongoing project I want to capture a video signal from
> this interface. After several days of excessive research I still don't
> know, how to access it.
> I configured the Angstrom kernel (2.6.32), so that the driver for OMAP 3
> camera controller (and all other OMAP 3 related things) is integrated,
> but I don't see any new device nodes in the filesystem.

You should upgrade to a much more recent kernel, as the driver for the OMAP3 
ISP included in the Angstrom 2.6.32 kernel is just bad legacy code that should 
be burried in a very deep cave.

> I also found some rumors, that the Media Controller Framework or driver
> provides the device node /dev/media0, but I was not able to install it.

You will need to upgrade your kernel for that. I'd advise going for the latest 
mainline kernel.

> I use OpenEmbedded, but I don't have a recipe for Media Controller. On
> the Angstrom website ( http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/repo/ )
> there's actually a package called "media-ctl", but due to the missing
> recipe, i can't install it. Can't say, I am an expert in OE.
> 
> Can you help me point out, what's necessary to make the camera interface
> accessible?

-- 
Regards,

Laurent Pinchart

Re: Integrate camera interface of OMAP3530 in Angstrom Linux

[Andreas Nagel]

Hi Laurent,

thanks for your reply.

Using a current mainline kernel is a little problematic. Recently I 
compiled the 2.6.39 and it wasn't able to boot at all. The reason for 
this are probably the chips, that are built on the CPU module. Usually, 
a working kernel for this module was undergoing some modifications by 
Technexion because of these chips.
Currently, Technexion only offers the 2.6.32. and 2.6.37 kernel. The 
latter one makes a new device node /dev/media0 available (after 
activating some 'experimental' marked options in the kernel config), but 
I wasn't able to capture any signal.

I'm going to try the latest mainline kernel, but I doubt it will work.

Kind regards,
Andreas


Am 26.09.2012 13:41, schrieb Laurent Pinchart:
> Hi Andreas,
>
> On Thursday 06 September 2012 20:00:04 Andreas Nagel wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am using an embedded module called TAO-3530 from Technexion, which has
>> an OMAP3530 processor.
>> This processor has a camera interface, which is part of the ISP
>> submodule. For an ongoing project I want to capture a video signal from
>> this interface. After several days of excessive research I still don't
>> know, how to access it.
>> I configured the Angstrom kernel (2.6.32), so that the driver for OMAP 3
>> camera controller (and all other OMAP 3 related things) is integrated,
>> but I don't see any new device nodes in the filesystem.
> You should upgrade to a much more recent kernel, as the driver for the OMAP3
> ISP included in the Angstrom 2.6.32 kernel is just bad legacy code that should
> be burried in a very deep cave.
>
>> I also found some rumors, that the Media Controller Framework or driver
>> provides the device node /dev/media0, but I was not able to install it.
> You will need to upgrade your kernel for that. I'd advise going for the latest
> mainline kernel.
>
>> I use OpenEmbedded, but I don't have a recipe for Media Controller. On
>> the Angstrom website ( http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/repo/ )
>> there's actually a package called "media-ctl", but due to the missing
>> recipe, i can't install it. Can't say, I am an expert in OE.
>>
>> Can you help me point out, what's necessary to make the camera interface
>> accessible?

Re: Integrate camera interface of OMAP3530 in Angstrom Linux

[Laurent Pinchart]

Hi Andreas,

On Monday 01 October 2012 15:07:26 Andreas Nagel wrote:
> Hi Laurent,
> 
> thanks for your reply.
> 
> Using a current mainline kernel is a little problematic. Recently I
> compiled the 2.6.39 and it wasn't able to boot at all. The reason for
> this are probably the chips, that are built on the CPU module. Usually,
> a working kernel for this module was undergoing some modifications by
> Technexion because of these chips.

That's why vendors should push board support to the mainline kernel.

> Currently, Technexion only offers the 2.6.32. and 2.6.37 kernel. The
> latter one makes a new device node /dev/media0 available (after
> activating some 'experimental' marked options in the kernel config), but
> I wasn't able to capture any signal.
> 
> I'm going to try the latest mainline kernel, but I doubt it will work.

Probably not out of the box, you will likely have to port board support from 
the vendor-specific kernel to mainline.

-- 
Regards,

Laurent Pinchart