Re: [RFC 0/3] misc: new serdev based drivers for w2sg00x4 GPS module and w2cbw003 wifi/bluetooth

From: Rob Herring
Date: Thu May 25 2017 - 08:49:26 EST


On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 8:49 AM, H. Nikolaus Schaller <hns@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Rob,
>
>> Am 23.05.2017 um 15:10 schrieb Rob Herring <robh+dt@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>>
>> +Marcel
>
> Good!
>
>>
>> On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 7:48 AM, H. Nikolaus Schaller <hns@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Hi Rob,
>>>
>>>> Am 23.05.2017 um 14:28 schrieb Rob Herring <robh+dt@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 12:43 AM, H. Nikolaus Schaller
>>>> <hns@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>> Hi Rob,
>>>>>
>>>>>> Am 23.05.2017 um 04:26 schrieb Rob Herring <robh+dt@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, May 21, 2017 at 5:44 AM, H. Nikolaus Schaller <hns@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>> Since our proposed API was not acceptable and the new serdev API has arrived in 4.11 kernels,
>>>>>>> we finally took the challenge to update the w2sg and w2cbw drivers to use the serdev API.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The approach is to write a "man in the middle" driver which is on one side a serdev client
>>>>>>> which directly controls the UART where the device is connected to and on the other side
>>>>>>> presents a new tty port so that user-space software can talk to the chips as if they would
>>>>>>> directly talk to the UART of the SoC (e.g. ttyO1). This is similar to connecting to a remote
>>>>>>> serial device e.g. through USB (ttyACM) or Bluetooth UART profiles.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For example gpsd or hciattach expect a /dev/tty they can control (flow control, baud rate
>>>>>>> etc.).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I understand from the prior discussion why you want to pass the data
>>>>>> thru for gps, but why do you need to do that for BT?
>>>>>
>>>>> Because we otherwise can't turn on power when /dev/ttyBT0 is opened and turn off when it
>>>>> is closed. I.e. it should not be powered unless someone does a hciattach /dev/ttyBT0. And it
>>>>> should be turned off by a killall hciattach.
>>>>
>>>> Still, you can do power control within BT HCI drivers.
>>>
>>> We do not use any driver for bluetooth. We just start hciattach on demand.
>>> And afaik there is no plugin mechanism for adding power control to hciattach.
>>
>> You don't need hciattach. All userspace has to do for kernel BT
>> drivers is "hciconfig hci0 up|down".
>
> Hm. Well:
>
> root@letux:~# hciconfig hci0 up
> Can't get device info: No such device
> root@letux:~#
>
> I wonder how I can tell hciconfig about the UART port if not by running hciattach /dev/ttyBT0?

You don't create a tty device. Instead you call
hci_uart_register_device from the serdev probe.

>>> Or do you have a link to what you think about?
>>
>> Look at the nokia BT or TI (HCI_LL) BT drivers. Those both have f/w
>> downloading and some GPIO controls. Given that this module is based on
>> Marvell chipset, I'd expect you need to add serdev support to
>> hci_mrvl.c.
>
> The w2cb003 has a Marvell WiFi (libertas) but a CSR Bluetooth side.
>
> It has built-in firmware and already talks serial HCI over simple UART right
> after power-on. This is why our serdev driver has no firmware download.

Okay, then probably add serdev support to hci_bcsp. In any case,
hci_uart_register_device just needs to register the correct protocol.

Rob