Hello FC community, I have just created a new FreeCalypso firmware source tree named FC Tourmaline:
https://www.freecalypso.org/hg/fc-tourmaline/ FC Tourmaline is our fourth firmware offering after Citrine, Magnetite and Selenite, and it is intended for phone handset UI development. As I see it, our current FC firmware for AT-command-controlled modem functionality does not need any more work beyond ordinary maintenance: our current Magnetite hybrid and Tourmaline stdmodem firmwares (the two are mostly equivalent) are perfect for modem functionality, and our new FC Tango module provides the perfect hardware counterpart to this FC modem fw. Instead the area where real work is needed is untethered phone handset functionality, and FC Tourmaline has been created to facilitate development work in that direction. FC Tourmaline can be built in both handset and modem functional configs; stdmodem and vpm configs can be built for all targets, but the handset configs of primary interest support only two hw targets currently: FC Luna and Mot C139. Furthermore, the UI code we got from TI and which we are going to develop and polish further exists in two configurations, bigcolor and smallbw, and only the smallbw config can be built for C139 - bigcolor requires a 176x220 pixel LCD, which practically means FreeCalypso hardware, currently Luna. Our FC Caramel2 boards are coming along (the PCBs are here, and I will be taking everything to Technotronix on Oct 23, kicking off the assembly phase), and when these Caramel2 boards become available to the public, Luna LCD and keypad add-ons will become available too. Therefore, anyone who wishes to try their hand at FC handset UI fw development *will* be able to get the necessary hardware. The current state of Tourmaline UI firmware is still nowhere close to practically usable, but the changes I made from Magnetite to Tourmaline are necessary in order to facilitate further work toward a practically usable phone. Considering my other life commitments, I don't know if I will live to see my FreeCalypso phone dream brought to reality - therefore, I very strongly encourage other interested people to buy Caramel2+Luna development kits when they become available and to try their hand at UI fw development, to make this FreeCalypso phone dream less dependent on just me. I have already built the foundation, now please build on top of this foundation rather than letting it die with me when I kick the bucket. Over the next few weeks I will be working with Technotronix toward getting our C2 boards made, and I am also working toward an upcoming fc-host-tools-r14 release. We already have a few new developments since fc-host-tools-r13 that are ready for release, but before I cut the release tarball, I need to do my due diligence in terms of waiting an adequate length of time for Linux ftdi_sio maintainer to respond to my latest (Oct 5) argument in defense of my proposed DUART28C patch: https://marc.info/?l=linux-usb&m=160192817717108&w=2 https://marc.info/?l=linux-usb&m=160166458708022&w=2 https://marc.info/?l=linux-usb&m=160166462508044&w=2 I currently plan on waiting until Nov 5 before I bug the maintainer about this patch, and I prefer to delay the release of fc-host-tools-r14 until we have a little more in the way of resolution. If the patch gets officially rejected, I will need to document that situation so that our users will know whom to blame for having to apply the kernel driver patch locally on their own systems. Just to be clear, the controversial ftdi_sio driver patch in question is needed only if you get a Caramel2+DUART28 hardware kit *and* if you wish to use the entirely optional feature of programmatic boot control. If you don't need programmatic boot control, i.e., if pressing PWON and RESET buttons with your fingers is good enough for your usage, then you can leave the CTL interface unconnected, leave the DUART28 adapter's EEPROM in its default S configuration, and everything will work with the standard unpatched ftdi_sio driver. The driver patch is obviously also NOT needed for working with Mot C1xx phones or any other non-FreeCalypso hardware. While the release of fc-host-tools-r14 is on hold waiting for some resolution on the ftdi_sio patch issue, I may work in a few additional small utilities that will help facilitate more automated conversion of Mot C139 phones between Motorola and FreeCalypso firmwares. Right now doing a *proper* installation of FC firmware on a C139 phone is a huge PITA: flashing the fw image by itself is not sufficient, one also needs to construct a proper FFS for FC-on-C139, and the current manual process for doing the latter is very involved. I have an idea for a new set of tools that will make the process of converting a C139 phone to FC (with proper FFS) much more automated and fool-proof, and also automatically generate an fc-loadtool command script for restoring Motorola's original fw, so users can easily convert in both directions. Some low-level tools will need to be worked into FC host tools, and then there will be a higher-level add-on package (called "C139 toolkit" perhaps) with high-level automation tools intended for end users. Hasta la Victoria, Siempre, Mychaela aka The Mother _______________________________________________ Community mailing list Community@freecalypso.org https://www.freecalypso.org/mailman/listinfo/community