Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 3 Apr 2013 18:06:04 -0700 | From | Greg KH <> | Subject | Re: GPS driver for Linux - kernel or user-space driver? |
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On Wed, Apr 03, 2013 at 05:52:03PM -0700, Tim Bird wrote: > I've been approached by a developer at Sony who wants to publish an > open source driver for a Sony GPS receiver module.
What does the device look like? USB device? UART? Something else?
> I've looked in the kernel source, and only see one standalone GPS > driver, for Garmin. It appears that most GPS support in Linux is done > via user-space drivers. Many GPS hardware modules appear to be > accessed via a serial line, or USB/serial port. The Sony > module is pretty much the same, accepting commands and delivering > data via a uart from the chip. > > I planning to recommend writing a user-space driver (based on > gpsd and/or the Android GPS HAL specification). But I'm worried > I'm missing something. Is this the correct approach, or is there > an established kernel API for GPS modules - such that I should > recommend that this developer writes a kernel module instead > of, or in addition to, the user-space support for the hardware?
If it's just a uart-like device, just write a serial driver and drive it from gpsd. That way seems to be the simplest and then the kernel just becomes a dumb-pipe, which is fine.
thanks,
greg k-h
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