Synopsys ARC EMAC and Rockchip RK3xxx 10/100 Ethernet controllers
A 10/100 Mbps Ethernet MAC originally designed by Synopsys for ARC-core FPGA and SoC reference designs, plus the Rockchip glue that wires the same MAC into the RK3036, RK3066, and RK3188 application processors used in budget Android tablets, set-top boxes, and embedded boards from roughly 2013 to 2016.
recommendation
Worth keeping but worth flagging as niche. The hardware is well past its prime, but the code still receives genuine maintenance, including a 2024 API cleanup and a 2026 bug fix on the Rockchip probe path, and there is no sign of an upstream removal effort. Some RK3188 boards are even still being sold as new old stock in 2025, so the small base of users remains real.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
Recent non-treewide maintenance still lands for this driver family: a 2026 netdev bugfix for the Rockchip ARC EMAC glue/probe path.
- lore.kernel.org
The driver saw 2024 API-churn adaptation rather than removal, indicating it is still kept buildable upstream.
- cateee.net
This directory covers Rockchip RK3036/RK3066/RK3188 EMAC controllers and remains present across current kernel series.
- cateee.net
The ARC EMAC core is for legacy Synopsys ARC FPGA/on-chip 10/100 Ethernet devices, pointing to legacy/niche deployments rather than mainstream new systems.
- opensource.rock-chips.com
RK3036 is a 2014-era SoC with only 10/100 RMII EMAC, consistent with aging embedded/set-top-box hardware.
- rockchips.net
At least one 2025-era reseller still lists RK3188 as sold/new stock, suggesting residual availability even though the family is long past broad-market relevance.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Lore grounded first: `lore_activity(file=drivers/net/ethernet/arc/emac_rockchip.c,since=5y)` produced the 2026 bugfix and 2024 maintenance URLs; that looks like low-volume but real upkeep, not abandonment or removal work. `lore_activity` on `emac_main.c` was dominated by stable rollups, so I treated the specific netdev patch as the stronger maintenance signal. Deployment evidence came from web search + open on LKDDb and Rockchip pages: LKDDb ties this driver to legacy ARC FPGA boards and Rockchip RK3036/RK3066/RK3188; the RK3036 page shows 2014/vintage 10/100 RMII hardware; the RK3188 reseller page suggests some new-old-stock style 2025 availability. No credible evidence of an active upstream removal series was found in the retrieved lore results, so the old hardware profile is offset by ongoing bug-fix traffic; that supports `keep-annotate` rather than `deprecate` or `remove`.