[LinuxBIOS] [PATCH] Common code base for Intel 440BX boards

Uwe Hermann uwe at hermann-uwe.de
Sat Oct 20 23:39:36 CEST 2007


On Sat, Oct 20, 2007 at 05:13:45PM -0400, joe at smittys.pointclark.net wrote:
> Quoting Uwe Hermann <uwe at hermann-uwe.de>:
> 
> > On Sat, Oct 20, 2007 at 08:44:57PM +0200, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
> >> Please put generic 440 code in northbridge/, and not in mainboard/440-base/
> >>
> >> Having two northbridge directories for the same northbridge sounds complex.
> >
> > Full ack. Northbridge-specific code belongs in src/northbridge/*.
> >
> > However, this is not northbridge specific code. It's more like "common
> > code which somewhat similar mainboards share". Theoretically this could
> > include even more (non-440BX) boards which are also similar enough, but
> > for now I concentrated on 440BX boards.
> >
> > If we later add non-440bx boards (e.g. 430TX or i810 or something) to
> > the same framework, we might rename it to xyz-base (but I have no idea
> > what a good name for xyz would be ;-)
> >
> > Also, I'm a bit undecided if it should be
> >  src/mainboard/common/i440bx-base
> > or
> >  src/mainboard/i440bx-base
> > (i.e. put the "base" code parts in an extra directory or not). Opinions?
> >
> >
> > Uwe.
> 
> Why couldn't there just be a src/northbridge/intel/common/ directory?

Well, maybe there could -- for Intel northbridge-specific stuff. But the
code in my patch is not specific for any northbridge. It's common
mainboard code.

Actually, on the long run (i.e. v3), if we're good we could go even one
step further and have only _one_ mainboard code directory for all boards.

Everything mainboard-specific would then be extactly _one_ file (quite
likely the dts, which we already have), which only contains data (no code).

Basically, the file could just say

 - Use northbridge xyz
 - Use southbridge xyz
 - Use superio xyz
   - Use Super I/O port 0x4e
 - Use this PIRQ table (a bunch of numbers in the dts)
 - Use this CMOS layout (a bunch of lines in dts)
 - Set option yxz (e.g. enable IDE1, disable floppy, etc)

All of this can be done with a plain text/config file (such as the dts),
no need for _any_ code per mainboard.

We're already moving in this very direction with the dts, and it would be
really great if we could make v3 boards consist of only one (data) file.


Uwe.
-- 
http://www.hermann-uwe.de  | http://www.holsham-traders.de
http://www.crazy-hacks.org | http://www.unmaintained-free-software.org
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