December 24, 2012 @ 15:34 EST

Pre-Holiday Hackery

It's been a busy few days, and my vacation hasn't even started yet.

I accomplished two major tasks this weekend. First, I finally kicked off new attempt to mainline a Linux driver for the ST-E CW1100/CW1200 WLAN chipsets. The first post to linux-wireless went over fairly well, and the suggestions (many of which were already on the pending list) kicked off a flurry of updates culminating in a second revision posted later that day.

Those submissions have spawned a fair amount of commentary and some patches; I've spent most of the day so far incorporating a massive code drop from Sony, for example. That's undergoing some testing now, and I'm hoping other interested parties will step up and get some wider test coverage in so we can get this driver into the next Linux release cycle (3.9). I created a public git repo of my working tree, which will live on until the driver is accepted upstream:

git://git.shaftnet.org/compat-wireless-cw1200.git

I'm going to hold off on submitting a v3 patch until I get more feedback and testing, which means it probably won't happen until after the new year. Apparently most folks take it easy this time of year.

Thankfully, I've had another project to keep me busy. I've spent a fair amount of time working on the Gutenprint printer driver package too, fixing support for the Kiosk-scale Sony UPP-DR150 photo printer (~8 seconds for a 4x6 print!) and adding support for the larger-format (8x10/8x12) Kodak Professional 1400 printer. I don't own either printer; instead I reverse-engineeried the raw data generated by the printers' Win32 drivers.

Not bad for two and a half days' work, eh?

Meanwhile, there are now twelve Canon SELPHY photo printers on my desk. The entire line is supported except for the CP-790, CP-530, and CP-520 -- and then only because we don't know what their USB PIDs are. The only one with known problems is the positively-ancient CP10, which locks up after the first (successful!) print. All other models JustWork(tm) now. I should start getting rid of most of these.

If I find myself with more time on my hands I may try to add support to Gutenprint for another Dye Sublimation printer. Ideally it would be one still commercially available, not too expensive, and a larger format (eg 8x10) because I can put that to use. We shall see..

If I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I'll continue with my fumbling efforts to implement dock detection for Rockbox on the Sansa Fuze v2. I haven't made much headway on that gargantuan reverse-engineering effort; it's mainly an exercise in learning a new set of skills.

I've also started reworking my website's CSS to improve its curb appeal. Like any other software undertaking, days when you delete more than you add fill me with joy. If I'm feeling particularly ambitions, I'll try doing the same to my photo archive; it could use some sprucing up too, but its underlying plumbing is what could use some real hardcore loving. It's been neglected for far too long, but even that's beginning to pick up, as I've begun to experiment with different workflows.

I'm really enjoying this burst of coding. It's especially nice when you have something to show for it!


Posted by Solomon Peachy | Permanent link & Comments | File under: Free Software