4.2 on J720

I think, having read a bit about CE3 driver development, that I might be able to write an at least elementary graphics driver for the J720. I have never done any CE dev, but a lot of ARM and/or low-level dev, and there is adequate documentation. There's two things though: I dont have much time on my hands for the next few months, but more importantly, how the hell would I test such a driver without flash board? Anyone got a suggestion?

I have the basics, but my low level knowledge is definitely rusty and isn't where it needs to be for WinCE... I would have to invest a load of time to bring it up to speed which you probably guess I just don't have

Anyone with a grasp of the basics, the ability and desire to search for information and most importantly a nearly unlimited amount of free time should be able to have a very good stab at this.

well, first you could experiment writing drivers not for essential stuff i.e. lcd, but for keyboard for example .. or have you seen the serial mouse driver that shadowmaster did?
if that works then we could build a RAM OS that can be booted from CF card (and modify an existing bootloader - the method would be like with linux booting), and test real display etc drivers.
then if the flashboards are ready we'll flash a bootloader and experiment with the OS like crazy, without having to reflash bootloader with special tools.

ok that is just my suggestion. maybe the first step could be skipped

Edited by cmonex 2006-11-18 5:52 PM

Yeah

I like cmonex's idea

But I doubt there will be much people who would help..

..Or are there?

I think whomever thinks they would like to write all these drivers should first try writing a replacement keyboard driver for CE 3.0 to see what it is like. This is one of the easiest things to create and test. Although, you will still have to soft reset every time to test a new version, and if you didn't do something right the device will just hang at the HP logo with no chance to debug anything...

Then, if you get that finished, you can make it to work on 4.2 and move on to the other fun hardware. A replacement keyboard driver for 3.0 has uses of its own anyway (i.e. to allow changing to a keyboard of a different layout).

That is a very very good suggestion, and certainly a lot more tackle-able than the display driver.

CE 4 uses a new system of keyboard input, so a driver for CE 3 wouldn't work with it.

isotherm specifically mentioned getting it to work on cenet 4.2.

CE3 is good as a start because the driver can be tested easily.

topic kinda died..

Anyone else willing to help?