mini640 X display driver

Hi all!

I am trying to configure a working debian distro on a mini6410 board,
following this tutorial :
http://code.google.com/p/mini6410-debian/wiki/Tutorial

This tutorial is very clear, and takes me very closer to my goal (debian
squeeze, linux kernel 2.6.36). The only thing that I still miss is a
working X server.

When I startup the devboard, it loads the kernel and starts running but the
LCD (Nec 4,3'') shows only vertical color stripes. I compiled the latest
available kernel for this board, using the config_mini6410_n43 as config. I
also compiled uboot with the mini6410_nand_config-ram256 template.

The framebuffer device (/dev/fb0) is present on the root fs, but "cat
/bin/bash > /dev/fb0" doesn't change any pixel in the LCD. 

When I try to configure the X server with "X -configure" it fails saying :
"No devices to configure. Configuration failed."

Anyone is experiencing the same issues, or got this working?

Thanks in advance!

Andrea

Hi Andrea,

I'm glad this tutorial does really help someone =) Do you see the kernel
booting and the bash on the screen or just the color stripes? I initially
had the same problem, because I connected a 7.5V power supply to the board.
Apparently it runs ok with this voltage, but the display, at least the NEC
4,3", doesn't tolerate anything else than 5V.
Otherwise I had running an X server with installing lxde. As you should
have the same base as me, I wonder why this in not working ...

Daniel

Hello Daniel,

  actually your tutorial is really straightforward, it helped me a lot when
I got lost in this arm jungle ;)

With the uboot and kernel I compiled on my own I can see only the stripes,
but strangely it works properly with the uboot and 2.6.28 kernel images
supplied with the board
(zImage_n43+u-boot_nand-ram256+rootfs_qtopia_qt4-s.ext3).

This would point me towards the kernel, even if I used the
config_mini6410_n43...

I compiled uboot and kernel  in the following way : 

Uboot (u-boot-mini6410-20101231.tar.gz):
  make mini6410_nand_config-ram256
  make

Kernel (linux-2.6.36-20110112.tar.gz):
  make
CROSS_COMPILE=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolschain/4.5.1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueab
zImage
  make
CROSS_COMPILE=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolschain/4.5.1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-
modules
  make
CROSS_COMPILE=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolschain/4.5.1/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-
INSTALL_MOD_PATH=/mnt/arm modules_install

I will try to check the LCD supply voltage.

Thanks!

Andrea

Are you really sure, that the board boots into the linux kernel? What
output do you get via the serial console? For a start, try my builds, that
you can find on the download page. They definitely work and so you can
check if somethings wrong with your config or with your builds.
I'd blame the kernel image, because even if the rootfs isn't present, the
kernel will initialize the screen and you'll see the tux.

Daniel

Daniel,

  again you gave me a precious hint!

The power supply was exceeding the 5V, I changed the power supply and the
tux is back.

Thanks!

I'm happy to have helped. If you get the touchscreen running properly on
Debian, I'd be happy if you share it with me. Till now, I didn't need it,
but I didn't manage to get it running either ...

I am trying to figure out the touch screen problem. Also installed lxde,
which is very cool!

I am getting the "mini6410-ts event buffer full" message on the console,
this means that no app is pulling out data from the driver buffer. Will let
you know as soon as I find a solution, touchscreen is a requirement on my
app.

install tslib and copy ts_calibrate from the qtopia rfs
replace ts.conf in /etc/ folder with one provided in qtopia rfs
copy friendly-arm-something from /usr/lib/ts folder to your /usr/lib/ts
folder
add these line in ~/bashrc

export TSLIB_TSDEVICE="/dev/touchscreen"
export QWS_MOUSE_PROTO="tslib:/dev/touchscreen"

the last one is for QT if you like ....
then run ts_calibrate to configure the ts.

Hi Usama,

I already did this some time ago, but I had to set the ts-device to
"touchscreen-1wire", as "touchscreen" didn't give any results. It was also
possibly to calibrate with ts_calibrate but then I went out of luck. I
didn't manage to get it working with the X-server on Debian ... I tried and
something other I don't remember anoymore ...

Daniel