[RFC PATCH 5/5] ipq40xx: add target for Google WiFi (Gale)

[computersforpeace at gmail.com]

On Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 03:58:34PM +0200, mail at adrianschmutzler.de wrote:
> > Thanks for the scrutiny! I do have some questions here: is the
> > VENDOR/MODEL supposed to match closer to a marketing-friendly/user-
> > friendly name, or a developer/low-level name?
> 
> I typically prefer something that the user can read on the device, as everything else will add to the confusion.
> 
> > Or just some balance of both? Because there's several constraints
> > here:
> > * The bootloader recognizes compatible="google,gale-v2" -- I don't believe I
> > can reliably drop the "v2" there, but I suppose that doesn't require the file
> > names, etc., to include it
> > * There really is no v1 publicly-available; as noted in the commit message, I
> > believe that was pre-release hardware, and the revisions just stuck around
> > through development
> > * the "v2" here does *not* mean second generation, as in
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nest_Wifi#Second_generation
> 
> I don't think we have to care too much about the v1 here; however, if
> there is a different "second generation" with the same name, then we
> should include a "1st-gen" in the name somewhere, maybe even instead
> of the v2 if there is no v3 to be expected for the "1st-gen".

The "second generation" is labeled as "Nest WiFi" or "Google Nest WiFi".
I don't know if that's considered the "same" name by the layperson. I
could toss in a "1st-gen", if that helps.

I doubt there's a "v3" to be expected for 1st-gen. I'll drop the "v2"
everywhere but the 'compatible' property.

> The Wiki article is not entirely precise here, so is the gale-v2 the
> "first generation" in the nest article

Yes.

> or is there actually a 1st and
> 2nd generation of that Nest devices and gale something even different?

No, Gale is the thing called "first generation" there.

Google is excellent at naming things :D

I believe the 2 products here are named "Google WiFi" and "Nest WiFi"
(where Nest is part of Google...) -- there's some shift to using the
"Nest" brand for this type of hardware, I guess. I presume the Wikipedia
authors have retroactivey renamed the page to "Google Nest WiFi" to
follow the latest branding, even if the first generation had no such
"Nest" marketing.

  1st generation = Gale = Google WiFi
  2nd generation = Nest WiFi (by Google!)

> > * "WiFi" doesn't really make for a good MODEL on its own, although it's OK
> > when paired with the VENDOR. But I still preferred sticking the codename
> > (Gale) around, since that's the unambiguous way hackers can recognize the
> > model.
> > 
> > What do you think? Should I try to keep the keywords "google", "wifi", and
> > "gale" in all of the config, image, and DTS name? And I'll avoid the "v2"
> > labeling (and DEVICE_VARIANT) outside of "compatible", because I think that
> > would be misleading.
> 
> If you call this gale, the question is how you proceed with the nest
> series then. Will you switch to marketing-based "nest" then, or will
> you use the internal name though the user will read something
> different on the device?

(I have no plans for Nest WiFi support, FWIW.)

I could see it going either way.

I guess one thing that trips me up: suppose I call this
"Device/google_wifi" (and Nest WiFi -> "Device/nest_wifi"), then the DTS
file comes out as
 Google WiFi -> qcom-ipq4019-wifi.dts
 Nest WiFi -> qcom-ipqXXXX-wifi.dts

That seems...pretty obtuse to me. Is that a case where I override the
auto-naming for the DTS, and call them "qcom-ipq4019-google-wifi.dts"
and "qcom-ipqXXXX-nest-wifi.dts"?

Or I could use hyphens, so the DTS derivation is nicer
(Device/google-wifi, or even Device/google_google-wifi -- either of
those should produce ...-google-wifi.dts)?

> Unfortunately, this stuff is never easy to decide. Personally, I
> always lean towards what's printed on the thing.

Brian