drivers/clk/berlin · keep-annotate

Marvell Berlin SoC clock controllers (Armada 1500)

Provides clock tree management for Marvell's Berlin family of ARM SoCs (Berlin2, Berlin2CD, and Berlin2Q, also marketed as Armada 1500), which Marvell sold in the mid-2010s as media-streaming application processors. These chips powered devices like the first-generation Google Chromecast, the Valve Steam Link, and the Sony NSZ-GS7 Google TV box, all long discontinued.

keep-annotate conf=0.74 last_sold=2018 deploy=low replacement=none subsystem=clk category=platform-vendor

74%

recommendation

Worth keeping but documenting its niche, because the Berlin SoCs powered a small batch of now-discontinued streaming devices (first-gen Google Chromecast, Valve Steam Link killed off in 2018, Sony NSZ-GS7) that occasionally still turn up in hobbyist hands. Upstream activity is light but not dead: a 2023 determine_rate patch shows it still gets touched, and the device-tree binding remains in-tree. A note flagging it as legacy-only would help future maintainers judge when removal becomes appropriate.

repository signals

10 files

1,950 source lines

6 commits, 5y

+23 / −15 lines added / removed, 5y

5 authors, 5y

monthly commits · 2021-04-21 → 2026-04-21 · 6 total · active in 4/61 months

sources

mjmwired.net
Current kernel DT binding still documents Berlin SoCs and names legacy products including Google Chromecast, Valve Steam Link, Sony NSZ-GS7, and Berlin2Q DMP.
lkml.indiana.edu
A 2023 clk patch series included a Berlin-specific functional change ('clk: berlin: div: Add a determine_rate hook'), indicating some upstream maintenance rather than total abandonment.
en.wikipedia.org
Steam Link hardware used a Marvell DE3005-A1 SoC and the hardware product was discontinued in 2018.
en.wikipedia.org
Chromecast 1st generation was part of the supported Berlin device family and that hardware generation is long discontinued.

codex reasoning notes (technical)

Shell `rg` on the directory showed `CLK_OF_DECLARE` and Marvell Berlin compatible strings, so this is a real SoC clock driver, not a helper library. Shell `git -c safe.directory=... log --since=2021-01-01 -- drivers/clk/berlin` showed only two substantive local-history touches in the window (2022 fix, 2023 determine_rate hook) plus treewide churn, so activity is sparse but nonzero. `lei` was unavailable, so lore evidence was approximated with `web.search_query`: I found a 2023 Berlin clk patch URL, but no removal/deprecation discussion in the searched lore terms. `web.search_query` also found the current DT binding and discontinued end products (Chromecast/Steam Link), supporting a legacy-installed-base assessment: not sold new in 2025, low residual deployments, and no generic replacement because the driver is tied to these specific SoC clock blocks.