[Arm-netbook] AllWinner A31 and PowerVR Driver Development Kit

[joem]

On Fri, 2014-01-17 at 11:35 +0100, mike.valk at gmail.com wrote:
> Just posted a reply in the comments.
> http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/01/10/a80-optimusboard-features-allwinner-octa-core-big-little-soc/#comment-148096
> 
> 
> PR crap


+10000% second that no end!!




Just before the download link it says

"[1] We always open source the kernel mode code for our drivers, to
 enable Linux developers to build kernels without restriction. However,
 just like every other GPU provider we know of, we do not provide open
 source code for the user mode section of our driver, as a lot of
 confidential information resides in that code. 
 
 Also this code is
 closely tied to the hardware, which means each driver must be modified
 by our licensees for each separate chip to link it to all the hardware
 functions within the chip, and to ensure it works optimally.
 Imagination could never disclose any proprietary information of our
 licensees, such as hardware details or address maps.

 [2]Imagination is working very closely with the Linux community,
 significantly increasing the number of code releases upstreamed over
 the past year. We are extremely keen to maintain our current level of
 involvement especially following our acquisition of MIPS and build on
 our already broad and active links with the Linux community for all of
 our IP
 
 [3] We have been aware of various open source initiatives over many
 years attempting to produce open source GPU drivers for PowerVR and
 other GPUs. However inevitably these drivers are significantly lower
 performance than production drivers from Imagination and our licensees,
 as developers of these drivers have never tried to obtain the
 architectural information necessary to optimise performance.

 [4] We know our licensees are always keen to get the best possible
 performance platform for their end customers, which is why the GPU
 driver is always provided as part of the BSP provided with their SoCs,
 and why we always recommend that developers get their GPU drivers
 directly from our licensees rather than trying to use open source.
"

Effectively 1 says ONLY the IP licensee can make good drivers
Effectively 2 says they claim to work with Linux, what is problem?
Effectively 3 says Linux developers are idiots anyway.
Effectively 4 says we don't work with Linux idiots.

Doh!

NEVER seen so much troll talk.

If [1] is true, then the rest are false and totally
superfluous idiocy.
 
If [1] is true, there is no way for ANYONE in the open source world
or ANY independent proprietary company to get ANY hardware details
or ANY address maps to write ANY software to make ANY use of ANY SoCs
with ANY PowerVR stuff. Critical proprietary
information is split between licensees own IP and NDAs they signed.
It requires 2 independent corporations, their board of directors and
share holders to agree to release information to the open
source world before ANYTHING can happen. Fat chance.

The only part about [2] that is true is that they are working on behalf
of their licensees to make sure their closed source stuff is working
with Linux.
They are NOT working with the Linux community.
They are working for *THEMSELVES* !!
And if they don't engage, their licensees are toast.

The claims in [3] are no where near truthful.
The licensees are prohibited from sharing any of their information
with anyone from the NDAs they have signed.
So they can't release anything to make open source drivers.

Finally we come to plug [4] for BSPs of SoC makers.
Who is to say their BSP closed sources software is not dumb?
No one has seen this code outside of the closed sources
company and the handful of engineers that worked on the code.
And even if you saw the dumbness, it is beyond your power to change it
because of NDAs, or distribute the changes to everyone through releasing
patches.

The licensees are not going to be able make drivers for every distro out
there. So who exactly will make all the drivers in this world
where no one has access to critical sources, hardware architectures
and address maps?

It is easy for PowerVR people to rectify this.

Document their registers and functions, and make it
one contiguous address block that cannot be modified
when the IP is implemented.
All that anyone has to do then is work out the base address 
and then any kind of driver can be written for it.
At no stage is anyone's intellectual property being
disclosed here.

If there is intellectual property being disclosed in the
way and manner registers are arranged (welcome to the
world of patent trolls!), then they should
implement those functions in hardware through undocumented registers
that copy information from documented registers. This level of
indirection discloses none of the proprietary information.
Its better too - as no one from open source world has any interest in
those undocumented registers, and it can change without someone
having to modify and recompile drivers.

Also they need to seriously pull their fingers out
and sort out the differences between working
for themselves and working with the Linux community.

They are NOT working with the Linux community.
They are working for *THEMSELVES* !!
And they are deluding themselves if they thought they
can bite the hand that feeds them.
If they don't engage with Linux, their licensees are toast,
and so are their revenues that are toast, and they know it.

So if they want more revenue, especially now that they have
bought MIPS, the only way they can hope to expand
their SoC uptake is to change their business model
and make all attempts to release publicly all register documentation.

I am not buying any PowerVR Driver Development Kit as sold by marketing
trolls any time soon me thinks.