[Linux-parport] [PATCH] parport: Add character LCD driver for da850/omap-l138

[Sudhakar Rajashekhara]

On Fri, Sep 04, 2009 at 03:50:42, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 19:23:27 +0530
> "Sudhakar Rajashekhara" <sudhakar.raj at ti.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, Sep 01, 2009 at 18:53:30, Pavel Machek wrote:
> > > Hi!
> > > 
> > > > On TI DA850/OMAP-L138 EVM, HD44780 (24x2) LCD panel is
> > > > being used, interfaced through the SoC specific LCD
> > > > interface[1].
> > > > 
> > > > Driver from drivers/staging/panel/panel.c works for this
> > > > LCD panel but that driver expects the LCD panel to be
> > > > interfaced through a parallel port.
> > > > 
> > > > This patch implements a dummy parallel port driver which
> > > > interfaces to the panel driver in staging area through the
> > > > LCD interface available on SoC.
> > > 
> > > This is a nasty hack, right? Just fixup panel.c to work with your
> > > interface, too?
> > > 								Pavel
> > > 
> > 
> > Agree, that this is a hack. I have submitted a patch which modifies
> > panel.c to support this kind of interface.
> > 
> > Currently the problem with panel.c is that, it is tightly coupled
> > with parallel port interface. Panel driver needs to be completely
> > re-written to de-couple parallel port related stuff. If I have to
> > do this, then I need to start from ground zero as I do not have a
> > setup on which HD44780 panel has been interfaced using parallel
> > port. But I can certainly help here by testing such a modification
> > to the panel driver by testing on the hardware what I have.
> > 
> > In the meantime, can I re-submit this patch by moving the dummy
> > parallel port driver to reside in staging area? Later it can be
> > moved/deleted depending on the modifications to the panel driver.
> > 
> 
> If we're going to pull tricks like that then panel.c will never get
> itself moved from outside staging/ :(
> 
> Really, I don't think we should be hacking things into drivers/parport/
> code to accommodate design shortcomings in a staging/ driver.  Once done,
> these things have a tendency to never be undone.
> 

Is anyone working on cleaning up the panel driver under staging to
remove dependency on parallel port? If yes, please reply to this
mail, so that we can coordinate.

Regards, Sudhakar