No more new fbdev drivers, please

[Bernie Thompson]

On Sat, Sep 26, 2015 at 11:01 AM, Geert Uytterhoeven <geert at linux-m68k.org>
 wrote:
> The smallest of these (udl) still counts in at ca. 2800 LoC,

Note udlfb.c, the original fbdev driver that I helped write and that the
udl DRM driver was based on, is ~1800 LoC ... so we're actually talking in
the ballpark of 2x (rather than 10x) between fbdev and DRM in this case.
That said, the complexity difference is probably higher than the LoC
difference. I know I personally have struggled in the shift from
understanding fbdev to understanding DRM.

The fact that there's drivers of both types and USB hardware might make udl
may be a good driver to use as a base for any additional simplification /
helper work. David Airlie and David Herrmann both have this hardware. David
Airlie did the port from fbdev to DRM, so he's made it an exemplary
driver.  And if anyone needs any hardware which works with udlfb and udl,
we're happy to send free hardware to any programmers who are willing to
contribute in the form of code or testing:
http://plugable.com/projects/plugable-open-source-hardware-samples-program

More simplification and documentation would be great. In particular, the
optimization for the connector+encoder+crtc combination others have
mentioned seems like it would be worthwhile.

Cheers,
Bernie

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