Display support on Embedded Systems: a tour of Linux implementation & limitations
Display Controllers can drive many display interfaces, with much variance in the exact protocol support. Such fragmentation is even more evident in Embedded Systems, where the Display Controller is optimized to handle the Product’s Marketing Use Cases.
On the other hand, to limit code duplication and enhance conformance to protocol specifications, the Linux Kernel DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) must implement generic support for the most common display protocols and features.
In his talk, Neil will give the audience a tour of the Upstream Supported display protocols, which System-On-Chip implements such protocols and the difficulties encountered in handling some modern features and keeping the simpler Display Controllers working nominally.
Neil will also speak about how the paywall on the specifications and conformance testers harms the Linux Kernel developers’ ability to properly implement those features in the open without depending on the goodwill of companies’ contribution and testing.
Neil Armstrong, Linaro
Video: YouTube
Slides:
Neil joined Linaro in September 2022 to work full-time on Qualcomm Upstreaming of their high-end SoC platforms.
Neil has been hacking on embedded platforms since he was 16 years old, from Casio Calculators, Set-Top-Boxes & security SoCs for Digital TV to Compute & Phones platforms in the last months, upstreaming 1k+ changes to Mainline Linux so far.
He maintains the Amlogic Linux & U-Boot baseport, Linux DRM Bridge & Panel codebase. In addition to Qualcomm, Neil regularly contributes to the Linux Kernel and U-Boot supporting the Amlogic SoCs support and DRM codebase.