TI OMAP Display Subsystem (DSS) for omapdrm
The display pipeline hardware block found inside Texas Instruments OMAP and Sitara family SoCs (such as OMAP3, OMAP4, OMAP5, DRA7, and AM57x), which drives LCD panels, HDMI outputs, and other display interfaces on TI-based embedded boards, set-top devices, and older smartphones/tablets from the late 2000s onward.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting its niche, because while consumer use of OMAP chips has long since faded, TI still actively sells AM57x-class parts (the AM5728 was listed as orderable in 2025) and TI's own Linux SDK still tells customers to configure displays via omapdrm. Upstream maintenance is also ongoing, with cleanup work on the core dispc code landing as recently as September 2025, and there is no replacement driver that covers this TI display block.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Recent upstream maintenance continued in 2025 on a core DSS file (`dispc.c`), indicating the driver is not abandoned.
- ti.com
TI listed AM5728 as ACTIVE and orderable, with an on-chip display subsystem and HDMI support, showing related TI DSS-class hardware was still sold new in 2025.
- software-dl.ti.com
TI's AM57x Linux SDK documentation still described `omapdrm.displays=` boot options, showing ongoing real-world use of omapdrm on newer TI embedded platforms.
- cateee.net
LKDDb maps `CONFIG_DRM_OMAP` to the upstream `drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/` driver family and describes it as the OMAP DRM driver.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
`drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/dss` is real driver code (module/Kconfig-backed DSS display pipeline for TI OMAP-family SoCs). Lore evidence came from `lore_file_timeline` on `drivers/gpu/drm/omapdrm/dss/dispc.c`; it showed 2021-2025 activity with latest non-removal maintenance in 2025, so this is not a dead subtree. A bounded lore removal-subject regex timed out twice, so absence of removal discussion is an inference from the sampled recent timeline rather than a full corpus proof. Web search found TI's canonical AM5728 product page (`ACTIVE`, orderable) and TI AM57x SDK display docs explicitly using `omapdrm`, which supports `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true` but only `deployments_today=low` because current use appears concentrated in legacy/industrial embedded TI boards rather than broad new consumer deployments. No natural upstream replacement driver covers the same TI DSS block; this argues for `keep-annotate` rather than deprecate/remove.