Debian on ebook-readers with sipix display
Hi,
at the moment all ebook-readers with epaper displays from Sipix seem to come
from one OEM line from Qisda. Among them are models like the Oyo, Fnacbook,
Positivo Alfa, Benq K60, Bq Avant, Asus DR-900 and dozens more. Essentially if
you have a device that looks like the BenQ K60 / Positive Alfa / Bq Avant it
comes from the same line [they seem to even share the plastics].
Most interestingly they have a native dual-boot capability - i.e. by holding a
key combination during power-on they boot a kernel / initramfs from the sd
card instead of the native system.
Originally the devices use a crude 2.6.21 fork as their kernel, so during the
last weeks I have worked on getting current kernels to work on the devices
[1]. As of today I seem to also have the usb gadget port working, so it's
possible to access the device via g_ether instead the serial console which
needs soldering [2].
Hardwarewise the devices are based around a s3c2416 with 128mb ram, 2gb flash,
6 or 9 inch Sipix epaper display with a multitouch capable touchscreen, sound-
codec is an Realtek alc5624.
On the driver side we have the basic stuff working. The alc5624 should only
need minimal additions to the alc562x driver in the kernel. For the
touchscreen I found basic implementation in the sources for the Dell Streak
[which seems to use the same touch-solution from AUO]. We have crude sources
for the epaper-display and Jaya Kumar [developer of other epaper drivers in
the kernel] seems interested in also working on the sipix display - but I
still need to find a device for him.
So if anyone is also interested in this please shout :-)
Apart from this call for help, what is the best way to get a fresh debian on
such a device? From what I read there seem to be ways to use D-I for this but
I'm not sure on how to do this.
Heiko
[1] http://gitorious.org/oyo-hack
[2] http://www.ownyo.de 7th and 8th pic
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