IRC #olimex 2018-02-06

[12:28:22] <leon-anavi> hi
[18:28:49] <pablo_> Hi, We are considering using the A33 (R16) and we found your A33-OLinuXino board, which could fulfill our requirements. But we have some questions
[18:29:02] <pablo_> Have you tested the cedarx drivers for hw encoding/decoding of video?
[18:29:26] <braunr> pablo_: you should probably use email for these questions
[18:30:46] <pablo_> ok, I have already sent an email
[18:30:58] <pablo_> thanks
[18:31:15] <jo0nas> pablo_: also, you might want to consult software vendors for _their_ support level of the features you need
[18:33:11] <jo0nas> ...since Olimex offer only a snapshot of an OS, not a maintained software system - so you will quite likely want to use some distribution committed to providing security updates for production
[18:34:21] <jo0nas> e.g. https://www.armbian.com/olimex-lime-a33/
[18:40:00] <pablo_> Ok thanks for the link. As far as I know cedar is the video encoding/decoding module embedded inside the A33, and allwinner does provide the driver for it, but we have no experience with this feature and we haven´t seen it working
[18:40:29] <pablo_> therefor i was asking
[18:41:24] <lukas2511> there currently is a crowdfunding campaign ongoing for linux mainline video decoding support for allwinner vpus, see https://bootlin.com/blog/allwinner-vpu-crowdfunding/ for more information
[18:50:02] <jo0nas> pablo_: reason I mention distros is that Olimex offer SD cards with working OS preinstalled - but their OS offering is in my opinion misleading: Olimex are in my experinece great at making hardware but not in making software
[18:50:38] <jo0nas> full disclosure: I am a Debian developer for 16 years, and PureOS developer for 7 months
[18:53:34] <jo0nas> correct, the chip can do hardware-aided video encoding+decoding, but it is only working in custom forked Linux kernels which is not recommended for production use
[18:54:25] <jo0nas> ...but obviously I cannot say if old custom kernel is adequate for your needs :-)