I give up pc side UI library, that is too heavy for VoCore display…

no SDL any more.

I want to make the display support SDL so we can play a lot of games and make app based on SDL2.

PS: I love DOS games 🙂

SDL2 supports directFB which is not maintained anymore.
So I am consider to write a video driver for my display.

In SDL source code, SDL_DirectFB_video.c, we can get every interface:

    /* Set the function pointers */
    device->VideoInit = DirectFB_VideoInit;
    device->VideoQuit = DirectFB_VideoQuit;
    device->GetDisplayModes = DirectFB_GetDisplayModes;
    device->SetDisplayMode = DirectFB_SetDisplayMode;
    device->PumpEvents = DirectFB_PumpEventsWindow;
    device->CreateSDLWindow = DirectFB_CreateWindow;
    device->CreateSDLWindowFrom = DirectFB_CreateWindowFrom;
    device->SetWindowTitle = DirectFB_SetWindowTitle;
    device->SetWindowIcon = DirectFB_SetWindowIcon;
    device->SetWindowPosition = DirectFB_SetWindowPosition;
    device->SetWindowSize = DirectFB_SetWindowSize;
    device->SetWindowOpacity = DirectFB_SetWindowOpacity;
    device->ShowWindow = DirectFB_ShowWindow;
    device->HideWindow = DirectFB_HideWindow;
    device->RaiseWindow = DirectFB_RaiseWindow;
    device->MaximizeWindow = DirectFB_MaximizeWindow;
    device->MinimizeWindow = DirectFB_MinimizeWindow;
    device->RestoreWindow = DirectFB_RestoreWindow;
    device->SetWindowGrab = DirectFB_SetWindowGrab;
    device->DestroyWindow = DirectFB_DestroyWindow;
    device->GetWindowWMInfo = DirectFB_GetWindowWMInfo;

    /* !!! FIXME: implement SetWindowBordered */

#if SDL_DIRECTFB_OPENGL
    device->GL_LoadLibrary = DirectFB_GL_LoadLibrary;
    device->GL_GetProcAddress = DirectFB_GL_GetProcAddress;
    device->GL_MakeCurrent = DirectFB_GL_MakeCurrent;

    device->GL_CreateContext = DirectFB_GL_CreateContext;
    device->GL_SetSwapInterval = DirectFB_GL_SetSwapInterval;
    device->GL_GetSwapInterval = DirectFB_GL_GetSwapInterval;
    device->GL_SwapWindow = DirectFB_GL_SwapWindow;
    device->GL_DeleteContext = DirectFB_GL_DeleteContext;

#endif

    /* Shaped window support */
    device->shape_driver.CreateShaper = DirectFB_CreateShaper;
    device->shape_driver.SetWindowShape = DirectFB_SetWindowShape;
    device->shape_driver.ResizeWindowShape = DirectFB_ResizeWindowShape;

    device->free = DirectFB_DeleteDevice;

Of course, I do not think VoCore2 can run OpenGL, because it do not have any video hardware, ignore that.

PS: mesa3d has a software mode but it must be very slow. 🙂

To be simple, we do not need shaped window support either…

OK, rest interfaces for windows look like necessary, every video driver has them.
So they are VideoInit/Quit, Get/SetDisplayModes, CreateSDLWindow/From, SetWindowTitle/Icon/Position/Size, Show/Hide/Raise/Maximize/Minimize/Restore/DestroyWindow.

But it still need to code a lot…
I find most of the interfaces are empty in its psp video driver, maybe there is a way to make everything simple.

Any good idea?

TO BE CONTINUE…

Currently default pinmux is one ethernet port + sdcard + i2s + i2c + refclk + many gpio.
Actually there is a hidden pinmux in mt7628 chip, we can use ethernet x 5 + sdcard without i2c/i2s.

Very interesting, this pinmux works well on VoCore2 but do not have any clue in datasheet.
We need to remove i2c pull up resistor to make it work normal.

Its pin order:

29-GPIO0-SD_CLK
16-I2S_SDI-SD_D1
18-I2S_WS-SD_D0
19-I2S_CLK-SD_CMD
20-I2C-SCLK-SD_D3
21-I2C-SDAT-SD_D2

but also need to update driver to make it work. 🙂

Today, support get an interesting question, how long is the VoCore lifetime?
I think this is an important question for the people want to use VoCore2 as part of their production.

As we promised, VoCore2 life is not end until the chip stop production. Mainly VoCore2 have three chips, one DDR2, one CPU, one NOR flash, DDR2 and NOR flash are widely used in many area, so we can think it will keep production forever. The only problem is CPU.

VoCore first version is using RT5350F which is almost stop production by mediatek/ralink. I said ‘almost’, because we still able to buy it from MTK(not recycle chip, the new one). The only problem is its price is increased a lot, almost double of MT7628.

Chip companies such as mediatek will not allow their chips suddenly death, that is not good for themselves and not good for their loyal clients. Normally mediatek will increase the chip price month by month if they decide to end one production. One day, the old chip price will be higher than the new one, so why pay much to use old slow one but not the new fast low power consume one? At that time people will start to upgrade their production. For RT5350, this process is over three years.

Actually VoCore old version is still in production, but price is much higher than the one based on MT7628. When RT5350F price is same as MT7628, I removed VoCore from site, because MTK is giving a clear signal: we are going to stop, do not use it anymore.

MT7628 is coming around four years, it still have over 10 years lifetime, so no need to worry about VoCore2 🙂
note: MTK is not stupid, why stop a cash cow? unless nobody use it already.:)