FCDEV3B bring-up status

[Das Signal]

On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 10:04:03AM -0800, Mychaela Falconia wrote:

> As another alternative to dirtying your kernel with a non-upstreamable
> patch that breaks things for other people who use 230400, 460800 or
> 921600 baud, I just thought of the following idea:
> 
> * Reprogram the EEPROM on your FreeCalypso FT2232D adapter to give it
>   some VID:PID which the standard ftdi_sio driver won't recognize and
>   won't attach to.  The EEPROM is off-chip and optional with FT2232D,
>   but the adapter boards from pldkit.com which I use and recommend do
>   have it.
> 
> * Make a copy of the ftdi_sio driver and build it outside of the Linux
>   kernel tree (i.e., make it an out-of-tree module) under a different
>   name.  Make it bind to the FreeCalypso FT2232D VID:PID you have
>   picked, and have this special out-of-tree driver version remap baud
>   rates like my current patch does.
> 
> * Voila - your actual kernel is now completely pristine, and I would
>   think that loading a custom out-of-tree USB driver module that has
>   proper GPL status (no taint in that regard) and does not touch
>   anything except the special USB VID:PID you have made up for
>   FreeCalypso use should not count as tainting your system.

Hi Mychaela,

This is an excellent suggestion and I did just that, using a board from
pldkit. It works very well and I wrote a README for those interested in
doing the same. Please have a look at

https://www.freecalypso.org/members/ds/ftdi/

--DS