Re: [spi-devel-general] [Patch 0/4] IndustrialIO subsystem (ADCs, accelerometers etc)

Hans J. Koch
2008-07-24T15:41:19Z

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 11:01:44AM +0100, Ben Dooks wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 09:41:25AM +0200, Hans J. Koch wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 08:19:18PM +0100, Ben Dooks wrote:
> > > On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 06:00:29PM +0100, Jonathan Cameron wrote:
> > > > Dear All,
> > > >
> > > > The need for an industrialio subsystem was discussed in
> > > > http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/5/20/135
> > >
> > > The name is really bad, this sounds like something for doing large
> > > scale industrial process control.
> >
> > Well, it says "Industrial I/O". To me, this means it handles I/O devices
> > typically found in industrial applications.
>
> Yes, industrial is generally process control of manufacturing
> processes which in my view is making this sound like it is limiting
> the field of operations.

OK, I agree.

>
> All the applications we would currently need are things like
> handheld PDA type devices which are hardly 'industrial' or small
> consumer measurement systems.

Well, though the _use_ of such devices might not be "industrial",
_technically_ they are very similar to embedded systems found in
automation or other industrial equipment.

Many of these devices (all that have mmappable memory) can be handled
with a UIO driver, but for the rest (mostly stuff connected to serial
busses), it's important to have a subsystem in the kernel. I really
don't care too much about its name. BTW, before UIO was first published,
its internal name was "Industrial I/O" ;-)

Thanks,
Hans