Thanks to the help of Peter and Seb, I feel pretty confident about the hostmot2 firmwares I announced last week -- http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.devel/2834
For emc2.4 I'd like to use these built firmwares in place of the ones that are presently in our source tree. Here is how I envision that happening: * Put my new work in a new git repository on linuxcnc.org, hostmot2-firmware.git * Add debian/ stuff to that for building the emc2-firmware packages on systems where Xilinx ISE 9.2 is available -- packages built in this way will be put on linuxcnc.org for installation with apt-get, and on linuxcnc.org and/or sourceforge.net in .tar.gz form for people who do not use debian-based systems * Remove hal/drivers/mesa-hostmot2/firmware from the emc2 source tree in the master branch * Remove the src/Makefile and debian/ stuff for installing and packaging the emc2-firmware packages What are the benefits of this? * Reduce the size of an emc2 source tar.gz by about 3 megs (25%!) * Stop increasing the size of an initial git clone by a similar amount each time the hostmot2 firmwares are updated * Be certain that we know what source goes with mesa firmwares * emc2 and hostmot2-firmware releases need not be made in lock-step -- you won't have to download new hostmot2 firmwares with each emc2 release, or get a new emc2 release just for a hostmot2 bugfix, new pinout, or other change What problems are there? * There may be card-specific problems (like the 3x20 problem) until I have feedback from users with each card (however, Seb and I will have a chance to test a number of cards next weekend) * For technical reasons these firmwares are not compatible with current emc2.3 versions; if we find it desirable, we can add that compatibility to a future emc2.3 release. For users of the packages, I believe that a line like 'Conflicts: emc2 (<<2.4.0)' will make sure the new firmwares aren't installed alongside a 2.3.x system; after a future 2.3.x release such as 2.3.6 supports these firmwares, new firmwares can be issued which 'Conflicts: emc2 (<<2.3.6)'. (Adding support in 2.3 looks as easy as merging commit ac4284af but I haven't tried it) * The no-cost ISE 9.2 does not support the 3s2000 fpga on the 3x20-2000, so that card will not be supported. however, there are not presently many reasons to buy this card for hostmot2 as the 3x20-1000 has only about 1/3 of the chip resources used by a typical firmware (SV24, the firmware for 24 pwm + 24 encoders) Why use a different git repository, instead of leaving it in emc2.git? It makes the most sense to maintain a 1:1 relationship between debian source packages and git repositories, but I don't want to force everyone building an emc2 package to have Xilinx ISE installed. Please let me know your thoughts in the next week. Unless this thread turns up some unforeseen problems, I will make the emc2.git changes early next month (yes, fudging my own deadlines, but I want to make sure this has some time for discussion and additional testing) Jeff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for Conference attendees to learn about information security's most important issues through interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established companies. http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-developers mailing list Emc-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers