Mixed Connector Support#

This topic applies only to Linux builds running on Thor platforms.

Mixed connector support allows native DP connector and serializer connectors to work in parallel. For mixed connectors, use the following bind_partition command:

  • bind_partitions -b p3960-10-sw01 linux DISP_SER_MODULE=MAX96851

Modifying the device tree:

  • The DCB blob that describes display connectors on boards reports all four connectors as serializer DP connectors.

  • A connector is included in tegra264-p3960-disp-config.dtsi file as dpy-<> to define mode timings. Each dpy-<> subnode has a direct dependency on corresponding head-<> subnode, i.e., each additional dpy-<> subnode must have a corresponding head-<> subnode.

  • To enable Native DP connector along with all three serializers, add the connector-3 subnode in tegra264-p3960-disp-config.dtsi and the serializer-3 subnode in tegra264-p3960-disp-serializer.dtsi. The connector-id and serializer-data-id must also be updated to 3 as shown below.

connector-3 {
    connector-id = <3>;
    serializer-data-id = <3>;
};

serializer-3 {
   serializer-data-id = <3>;
   maxLinkBW = <0x1e>;
   maxLaneCount = <4>;
   supportsMST = <0>;
   supportsDSC = <0>;
   supportsFEC = <0>;
};

Note

The native DP connector is reported as the serializer DP connector.

The timings used to drive the panel out of the native DP connector are not dependent on EDID supported by DP monitor connected to this port. The timings information for the native DP connector are fixed timings information, such as DP serializer connector, and mentioned in the device tree file under dpy-0.

The timings associated with each connector are as follows:

  • The native DP port is treated as a serializer DP port and has timings from dpy-0 --> timing-id = <0>;.

  • Regular serializer DP ports are associated with timings from dpy-1, dpy-2, and dpy-3.

To Enable Mixed Connector Support#

  1. To support mixed connector output on customer boards, update the existing DCB blob for your board by following the DCB specification and tool usage guide.

  2. Note that there is one blob for native DP connectors and another for serializer DP connectors. Create a single DCB blob, which must have the following:

    • A Native DP connector treated as DP serializer connector.

    • Regular DP serializer connectors.

  3. Modify the device tree file (dtsi), which describes the timing information supported over serializer DP connectors. Update such dtsi file to contain timing information for all connectors, including native DP connectors. To modify the existing DCB, refer to Modifying Ferix DCB.

Serializer MST with mixed connector#

  1. To enable MST on serializer connector, refer to Serializer MST section in Serializer Connector Configurations.

Limitations#

  • Only four heads are supported currently in DriveOS™ 7.0 release, hence only one serializer connector can be configured in MST mode.

  • If any one of the serializer connectors is configured in MST mode, due to the above limitation, only one additional serializer connector would be available and only in SST mode; for example, if serializer connector - C is configued in MST mode, only serializer - B is available in SST mode.

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