PPC RTC on I2C

[Joakim Tjernlund]

> [Matt]
> > I always thought that one would implement some low-level ppc-specific
> > i2c master access functions.  These would be available via a few
> > ppc_mds and one could have a generic i2c 'adapter' to call the
> > functions.  For RTC access, one would then have a i2c RTC implementation
> > using these access functions rather than using the generic PPC RTC
> > device.  This does bypass the bloated i2c layer, however.  If done

[Wolfgang]
> IMHO the whole I2C system is  (1)  overkill  and  (2)  unusable.  For
> example, we often have to deal with PICs and other devices on the I2C
> bus  where  you  must  first  issue a write operation (for example to
> select a register) followed  by  one  or  more  read  operations  (to
> receive  the  data).  This is difficult to implement application code
> that perform such accesses when there is more than  one  device,  and
> more  than one application process. Things get worse if you also have
> to provide simultaneous access tot he  I2C  bus  from  one  ore  more
> device drivers.

It's not unusable. For the kind of access you are describing there is
a ioctl() i/f where you kan combine all you read/write operations into
one atomic system call. It's available inside the kernel as a function
call, i2c_transfer(), as well.

Tim, if you are using a 8xx CPU, make sure to get a updated version of
the i2c-algo-8xx.c driver from BK curr, 2.4 devel branch.

  Jocke


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