Any idea what /dev/bcmfpga is?

[ABMorley]

Fiddling around with the Hummy in mantenance mode, I notice something that's no doubt ben there right form the start:

humax3# ls /dev
bcmfpga              mtdblock1            nexus_transport      sdb4                 sdf7
brcm0                mtdblock10           nexus_uart           sdb5                 sdf8
...

Any idea what the bcmfpga device is? Did Humax really put an FPGA somewhere in there?

 

[Black Hole]

Likely it's something inside the Broadcom SoC, used to customise the data routing or even implement some of the functionality - such as codec support. "BCM" is a common abbreviation for Broadcom. As such, no Humax didn't put it in there explicitly, it came as part of the package.

 

[/df]

The /dev/bcmfpga device doesn't appear to be referenced in the Humax blob.

No FPGA is explicitly mentioned in the BCM7405 product information, although the "Broadcom Security Processor" subsystem features a "One-Time Programmable Non-Volatile Memory".

In this schematic for the "BCM97405 AVC/MPEG/VC-1 HD/SD, Graphics, Digital PVR, IP/Satellite/DVB-C,T Set Top Box" reference design, there's a Transport Test FPGA (p28), that connects to the PKT5 digital video input of the SoC. All in all, probably not part of the shipped Humax designs.