Re: [tlug] Dinky silent Linux box

[Jon Povey <jon@example.com>]

On 03/12/2010 16:32, Jawaad Mahmood wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 3:49 PM, Jon Povey<jon@example.com>  wrote:
>> Thanks for the replies so far.
>> I was just reading about the awful state of Linux drviers for the
>> GMA500
>> chipset in the fit-pc2, so maybe I will be looking harder for an
>> alternative. Don't want to be stuck with an ancient kernel.
> If you don't mind me asking, in what way are the drivers in bad shape?
>   They only exist for the 2.4 and 2.2 kernels?

I've just run into a few articles/blog posts today.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzY2MA
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/how-kick-your-friends-face-gma500
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/12/poulsbo-mess-casts-a-shadow-on-intels-moblin-project.ars

and so on.

> (I'm thinking about doing some kernel hacking and looking at old
> drivers might be interesting)

Good luck. It seems people have ported the base drivers, but not the 
binary-only X server and other bits and bobs you need for 3D and 
accelerated video decoding.

Trying to hack on an undocumented graphics driver with binary blob 
firmware sounds like a frustrating way to get into kernel hacking.

--
Jon