Intel Atom tablet and TPS68470 ACPI PMIC operation regions
Glue code that lets the firmware on Intel Atom-based tablets and 2-in-1s (Bay Trail, Cherry Trail, Whiskey Cove, Crystal Cove, Dollar Cove) talk to their power-management chips through ACPI, plus support for the TI TPS68470 PMIC used on Intel camera modules. Without it, things like battery readings, thermal sensors, and camera power sequencing on these devices would not work.
recommendation
It should stay because there is no replacement for the role it plays, and although most of the Intel tablet chips it supports are legacy hardware from the mid-2010s, the TI TPS68470 PMIC is still listed as an active, orderable part in 2025 and is wired up to current Intel camera support. Maintenance patches were still landing in 2024 with more cleanup activity in flight, so the code is not abandoned. A note clarifying that most of the covered Intel Cove PMICs are low-volume legacy tablets, with TPS68470 as the one still-current use case, would help future readers.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Recent upstream activity still exists in 2026 for this directory's core PMIC opregion code, and it is cleanup/maintenance rather than removal.
- lore.kernel.org
The directory saw multi-file maintenance in 2024, indicating it is not abandoned.
- ti.com
TI lists TPS68470 as ACTIVE and orderable, so at least one chipset family covered by this directory is still sold new in 2025.
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_TPS68470_PMIC_OPREGION remains present through current kernel series, tied to drivers/acpi/pmic/tps68470_pmic.c and INTEL_SKL_INT3472 camera plumbing.
- git.kernel.org
Kconfig shows this directory is a bundle of several old Intel tablet PMIC opregion drivers plus TPS68470 support, with no in-tree replacement driver for the same ACPI opregion role.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not an early-exit case: shell inspection of drivers/acpi/pmic/Kconfig and file list showed real driver code and entry-point-backed PMIC opregion drivers. lore_activity on drivers/acpi/pmic/intel_pmic.c (tool: lore_activity) returned 2024 and 2026 maintenance patches, with no removal signal in that probe; a broader lore_regex removal scan timed out once and was not retried. Web open of TI's product page (tool: web search/open) showed TPS68470 marked ACTIVE, so the directory cannot be treated as purely dead tablet baggage. Canonical-recall kernel.org Kconfig URL and LKDDb web pages were used to confirm the directory still covers current kernels and that the same use case is ACPI PMIC-opregion glue, not something superseded by another upstream driver. Net: most Intel Bay/Cherry/Whiskey/Dollar-Cove deployments are legacy, but TPS68470 keeps the directory relevant; keep it, but annotate as mostly low-volume legacy hardware with one still-current niche.