OMAP2/OMAP3 framebuffer panel and encoder drivers
Display panels, connectors, and encoder chips that hang off the Display Subsystem on Texas Instruments OMAP2 and OMAP3 SoCs, including DSI command-mode LCD panels (such as the one in the Nokia N900), DPI panels, the TFP410 DVI transmitter, and the TPD12S015 HDMI companion chip. These were used in late-2000s and early-2010s smartphones, handhelds, and TI evaluation boards.
recommendation
Worth keeping but documenting its niche: this is the older fbdev-style display stack for OMAP2/3, and the modern path is omapdrm together with DRM panel and bridge drivers (the directory's own Kconfig already disables entries when their DRM equivalents are enabled). Real-world use today is mostly hobbyist, notably postmarketOS on the Nokia N900, but some of the companion silicon (TFP410, TPD12S015) is still marked active by TI, and the code was still receiving cleanup and API-fix patches in late 2024. Removal would strand legacy boards before the DRM migration is complete.
repository signals
sources
- lore.kernel.org
This directory was still receiving upstream-maintenance changes in late 2024; panel-dsi-cm.c was touched by a treewide fbdev/platform_driver cleanup patch on 2024-10-07.
- lore.kernel.org
omapfb display code in this area also received API-fix work in 2024 ('Use backlight power constants'), indicating active bug-fix/maintenance rather than abandonment.
- wiki.postmarketos.org
At least one board using these panel drivers (Nokia N900 / TI OMAP3430) still has hobbyist/community deployment on current kernels, but as a community-maintained legacy device rather than a new mainstream product.
- ti.com
One companion chip covered here, the TFP410 DVI transmitter, is still listed by TI as ACTIVE, so the directory is not composed entirely of vanished silicon.
- ti.com
Another companion chip covered here, the TPD12S015 HDMI companion device, is also still listed by TI as ACTIVE.
- git.kernel.org
The Kconfig for this directory explicitly blocks several fbdev panel drivers when corresponding DRM panel drivers are enabled, showing a natural upstream migration path toward omapdrm plus DRM panel/bridge drivers.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: per-file omap_dss/module driver registrations and panel/encoder Kconfig entries. lore_file_timeline on panel-dsi-cm.c showed 131 matches from 2021-11-05 through 2024-10-07, with recent touches from Uwe Kleine-König and Thomas Zimmermann; that argues against deprecate/remove. Web search found current postmarketOS use on Nokia N900, so deployments still exist but are niche legacy/hobbyist. Web search also found TI product pages marking TFP410 and TPD12S015 ACTIVE, so some companion hardware remains sold new even though most named end products here are old. Replacement path comes from canonical-recall kernel.org Kconfig URL showing DRM_PANEL_* conflicts; that supports keep-annotate rather than deprecate.