Atmel/Microchip AT91SAM9 and SAMA5 raw NAND flash controllers
Raw NAND flash controllers built into Atmel (now Microchip) AT91SAM9 and SAMA5 ARM system-on-chips, including the PMECC hardware error-correction block. These parts power industrial and embedded Linux gear from the late 2000s onward, with the SAMA5D2 family still sold new for industrial gateways, point-of-sale, and IoT designs.
recommendation
Worth keeping but flagging as a narrow embedded-only component. Microchip still actively markets the SAMA5D2 family in 2025 and publishes current Linux4SAM PMECC documentation, and the upstream stable tree saw fresh Atmel NAND fixes in 2025. A March 2025 linux-mtd thread converting the device-tree bindings to YAML explicitly dropped the word "deprecated," confirming maintainers view this as legacy-but-supported rather than on the way out. Real-world deployments are niche industrial embedded systems rather than mainstream hardware.
repository signals
sources
- microchip.com
Microchip still markets the SAMA5D2 series and related SOM/SiP variants on a current product page, indicating the family remained sold new in/after 2025.
- developerhelp.microchip.com
Microchip published and updated Linux4SAM PMECC configuration guidance in 2025 for AT91SAM/SAMA5 NAND use, showing ongoing support for the controller family in embedded Linux deployments.
- git.sceen.net
The stable-tree MTD log shows 2025 Atmel raw NAND fixes and pull summaries mentioning additional Atmel rawnand fixes, so upstream maintenance is active rather than abandoned.
- lists.infradead.org
A 2025 linux-mtd thread converted Atmel NAND DT bindings to YAML for 'legacy nand controllers'; the review discussion removed 'deprecated' wording, which indicates maintenance of legacy bindings rather than a driver removal push.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Not an early-exit case: local source inspection via exec_command shows platform_driver/module code plus OF matches for at91sam9g45, sama5d4, and sama5d2 NAND/PMECC blocks. URLs were obtained by web.search_query; the stable log and linux-mtd thread were also inspected via web.open. Evidence points to active fix traffic in 2025 and current Microchip product/support pages for SAMA5D2-class hardware. Deployments look niche industrial/embedded Linux rather than broad mainstream, so keep the driver but annotate it as legacy/narrow rather than deprecating or removing it.