Amlogic Meson HDMI-CEC controllers
The HDMI Consumer Electronics Control block built into Amlogic Meson family SoCs (GX, G12A, SM1, A311D2 and similar), which lets a TV remote drive set-top boxes and single-board computers like ODROID and Khadas VIM devices over the HDMI cable. Used in Android TV boxes and hobbyist SBCs from roughly 2016 to the present.
recommendation
Worth keeping but worth flagging as a low-activity, niche driver. The hardware ships in current Amlogic-based single-board computers like the ODROID-C4 and Khadas VIM4 that are still sold new in 2025, and the code received routine maintenance as recently as September 2024, but actual usage of the Linux CEC interface on these boards appears modest. No removal effort is in progress, so it should remain in tree with a note that activity is mostly treewide API cleanup rather than active feature work.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Latest upstream touch affecting both Meson CEC files was a 2024-09-25 platform_driver remove-callback API conversion, indicating the code is still maintained and not under removal.
- lore.kernel.org
Driver-specific maintenance patches for ao-cec-g12a were posted in 2023, showing some subsystem attention beyond initial bring-up.
- cateee.net
LKDDb lists the driver as current in modern kernels and ties it to Amlogic Meson GX/G12A/SM1 compatible strings, confirming active upstream presence and hardware scope.
- hardkernel.com
ODROID-C4 was still sold as a retail board and uses the Amlogic S905X3 with HDMI 2.0 and CEC, evidencing continued new-device availability in the Meson family.
- khadas.com
Khadas VIM4 remained on sale and uses the Amlogic A311D2 SoC, supporting the conclusion that newer Meson-family hardware is still sold.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: Kconfig and module_platform_driver markers identify Amlogic Meson AO/G12A HDMI CEC platform drivers. Evidence came from MCP lore_file_timeline on ao-cec.c and ao-cec-g12a.c plus local shell read of drivers/media/cec/platform/Kconfig; lore showed touches through 2024-09 with no removal-thread evidence, but most activity is low-volume maintenance/treewide API churn. Web search provided LKDDb and current vendor product pages. Hardware is still sold in 2025 via SBCs using Meson-family SoCs, but deployments for this specific Linux CEC block look niche rather than broad, so keep the driver and annotate as low-activity instead of deprecating or removing.