Unisoc Looking To Introduce A New DRM Display Driver For Mainline Linux

Unisoc, the Chinese SoC provider for smartphones that is part of the Tsinghua Unigroup, has published a new open-source DRM display driver that ultimately they are looking to get into the mainline kernel.

Out today is just the "request for comments" patches for this Unisoc "SPRD" Direct Rendering Manager display driver. The twelve thousand lines of driver code wire up their display controller, MIPI DSI, MIPI DPHY, and the Unisoc display subsystem. The patches were worked on by Unisoc with cooperation from Linaro. All of this driver work is on the display front as their SoCs for 3D/GPU capabilities rely upon Arm Mali and Imagination PowerVR IP.

The sprd-drm initially only supports MIPI DSI outputs but DisplayPort and HDMI outputs are said to be coming in the future. The code appears to support existing Unisoc SoCs. The patches are out there now for discussion. Unisoc SoCs are used in devices like the Cherry Mobile Flare A1, Samsung Galaxy J1, Lenovo K320T, Xolo Era 2, Archos Access 57, and other devices mostly targeting Chinese markets.

Presumably this Unisoc DRM driver is coming thanks to Google's efforts to get their smartphone hardware partners to mainline more of their open-source driver code.