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Linux SDIO stack targets ARM SoCs

Sep 29, 2008 — by Eric Brown — from the LinuxDevices Archive — 34 views

Chennai, India-based EmbWise has ported its Linux SDIO stack to two ARM-based system-on-chips (SoCs). Its SDIOWorx stack is now available for Freescale's i.MX31 and i.MX27 multimedia SoCs, which are primarily targeted at the personal media player (PMP), personal navigation device (PND), and video surveillance camera markets, says EmbWise.

SDIOWorx is said to provide driver support for SDIO host controllers and client cards/devices conforming to SD specification 1.10, as well as SDIO, which extends the SD/MMC memory card interface with I/O capabilities. The company's “embedded SD/SDIO stack/bus driver architecture framework” can ease development of SD drivers under Linux 2.6.x, says EmbWise.


SDIOWorx architecture

Specific elements of the SDIOWorx for Freescale i.MX package are said to include:

  • SD/SDIO/MMC host controller driver
  • SD/SDIO stack
  • SD/MMC/MMC4.x, and SD High Capacity (SDHC) drivers
  • Three SDIO-WiFi drivers with WPA/WPA2 supplicant support
    • Marvell 88W8686 (SD8686)
    • Socket Mobile's Go Wi-Fi! P300 SDIO-WLAN
    • Atheros AR6K (provided under GPL license)

Debuting in 2005, Freescale's i.MX31 is based on an ARM 1136JF-S core, clockable from 532MHz to 665MHz. Freescale recently announced the apparent heir to the i.MX31 in the more power efficient, ARM11-based i.MX37, but recently reinforced its commitment to the i.MX31 by shipping a product development kit (PDK) for the SoC.

The other supported SoC, the i.MX27, was announced last year. Based on an ARM926EJ-S core clocked at 400MHz, the i.MX27 inherits many of the on-chip peripherals and peripheral interfaces from the ARM9-based i.MX21, which is also supported by SDIOWorx. EmbWise's driver framework is also said to support the Samsung S3C2440/2410, Marvell PXA270, Raza (RMI) Alchemy AU1200, the Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP24x0, and most recently, TI's DaVinci DM6446.


SDIOWorx block diagram

In addition to supporting Linux, SDIOWorx and the SDIO-WiFi drivers are said to support the ThreadX real-time operating system (RTOS) and NucleusPlus embedded OS platforms. EmbWise is also willing to port the technology to other architectures, OSes, and wireless chipsets through an NRE services model, says the company.

EmbWise introduced SDIOWorx in 2005, and has previously touted support for MontaVista consumer electronics and Mobilinux editions. The company also offers a ZeroConf (Rendezvous) stack for embedded Linux.

Availability

The SDIOWorx and WiFi drivers for the Freescale i.MX31 and i.MX27 are available now, says EmbWise, but the company did not provide details on pricing or licensing.


 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.



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