Subject: Kernel Driver Programming Course, The Hague

Hi All,

For quite some time now I've had this plan to teach a course in kernel
driver programming to interested hackers, and now is as good a time
as any to actually make this happen.

The plan is to get together for a kernel driver progamming workshop at
revspace on Sunday once every 2 weeks, from 12:00 - 18:00. After which we
can organize an optional meal together.

I intend this to be a "learning by doing" experience, I've made a list of
projects people can work on during these workshops here:
https://revspace.nl/KernelDriverProjects

These are mostly projects related to Linux support for ARM boards, as this is
an area in which there still is a lot to do, and I've the necessary hardware
for these projects, which I can lend out as necessary. People are free to
also define there own projects.

Participants are expected to have a basic working knowledge of C and the
Linux commandline.

To give a better idea of what I've in mind I've already created a rough
plan for the first 2 Sundays:

Day 1:

ARM boards, unlike x86 systems often do not have any way for the operating
system to discover which hardware is present in a system. This means that
the bootloader (u-boot) and the OS need to be explictly told what hardware
is present, and at which addresses, irqs, etc. u-boot uses a board
configuration file for this, and the kernel uses a text file called a
devicetree for this.

The day will start with an introduction on devicetree files, followed by
the participant getting an ARM board and building a devicetree binary file
for their board from the devicetree source, and then booting their board
with their own devicetree binary. There will be an instruction manual for
this part.

The plan is to use ARM boards for which a driver for some component has
recently been written, but not yet enabled in devicetree, the next step
will be for the participants to modify the devicetree file for their board
and e.g. get sound output going. There will also be some boards for which
no devicetree file exists yet and one will to be created from scratch for
those who want something a bit more challenging.

Depending on how long the above takes we may also look into u-boot board
configuration files.

Day 2:

A lot of the peripherals in the projects list from:
https://revspace.nl/KernelDriverProjects

Are connected via i2c, so this day we will look into i2c. How to add an i2c
device to devicetree, what does an i2c driver in the kernel look like, what
does an i2c (human) input driver look like?

The end goal of the day is to get participants working on missing Linux drivers
for i2c touchscreens, i2c accelerometers, and various functions (gpio,
regulators) of i2c pmic devices.


Note this is a rough idea of what I've in mind, nothing is set in stone,
things can be adapted as necessary and this will also stronly depend on what
the participants want.

Dutch or English? Any "teaching materials" developed will be in English.
The language during the day will be Dutch and/or English depending on the
circumstances.

If you're interesting in participating please reply to this mail, if you've
any specific projects in mind please say so, also please let me know what
the first Sunday is you can participate.

Regards,

Hans