Hello,
Therefore, I propose to put device drivers for USB (HID, MSC), GPU, and optionally audio on the agenda. The development should be guided by the i915 implementation and, thus, obsoletes the current linux_drivers. It may sound ambitious, but IMO the drivers should be ready for Genode 12.05. What is your opinion?
I support this course of action and think that realizing the overhaul in version 12.05 is achievable.
In the meantime, we should split 'linux_drivers' from the normal Genode repository to keep Genode's Git repository tiny and neat. In the SVN and release archives, 'linux_drivers' should be included but on Github, we better put them into separate Git repo. Once we go for a 'make prepare' mechanism in 'linux_drivers' (in the line of how we handle all other contrib code now) we can incorporate the new version into the mainline Genode repository.
I also think that taking the porting work of the GPU driver as blue print for the USB stack and audio drivers is the way to go. For the GPU driver, the emulation environment is about 2 KLOC only. Contrasting this value with the more than 300 KLOC of code currently present in the DDE Linux driver environment is a pretty convincing argument. .-)
The only question I have is about the MadWifi driver. Will be abandon it in favor of more current Wifi drivers as found in recent Linux kernels? If yes, I'd propose to schedule this work for the second half of 2012.
Cheers Norman