The Freescale i.MX515 projects program is open for proposal submissions.

In the interest of getting some high quality project proposals, this article hopes to provide some simple guidelines with regards to writing project proposals for the best chance of being accepted into the program.

We will be approving Projects in March, and at this time the number of systems available may be low to start with, so it is important to submit project ideas which adequately explain the goals, tools and resources required, and the methods expected to complete the project, so that we can prioritize shipments.

So, here are the hints;

• Be verbose! A 2-line project proposal will not be accepted. Detail your project, why the chosen processor will be suitable, which ports and peripherals you will need to be exposed to complete the project.
• Be serious! Projects will not be accepted to "run Linux on the i.MX515" or "evaluate systems" without exposition. Neither will projects to "port U-Boot". A special dispensation will be given to developers who have proven such work on other Programs - for example, employees of Red Hat, Novell, Canonical, who wish to bring up comprehensive distribution support for the platforms, or individual developers who have relevant experience (Linux driver authors, kernel maintainers, but please detail which drivers/modules you will work on)
• Be sure! If your project has a deadline for start of semester for a thesis or requiring grant application from a University or funding internally in a company, Genesi will do it's best to accomodate you, but please do not bet your education on a board being provided. Genesi makes no guarantees on approving projects, and once approved, no guarantees will be given on shipping dates for boards.
• Make sure you have the resources you need. Genesi cannot provide thousands of dollars of support hardware for every project developer. If you require 8 disks in RAID6 configuration to test a NAS, be prepared to buy them yourself. Genesi will, however, donate resources and hardware where we deem appropriate, and fund projects where relevant.
• Check the documentation of the chip the Program focuses on to make sure you CAN actually acheive the results you are looking for. For instance requiring more GPIO or peripheral performance than is in the SoC. If you could not achieve your project given these limitations, do not submit a proposal..
• Genesi and Freescale will be responsible for the Firmware (Aura) and Linux BSP. Please do not submit Projects which rely on the release of NetBSD, FreeBSD, QNX or any other operating system being ported before you can start unless you're porting it!. AROS is an exception to this rule since Genesi is supporting the port. Please do not submit projects to port U-Boot or maintain U-Boot - Freescale handle this themselves.
• Operating System ports such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, eCos will be considered on the basis of previous work. Projects should detail the work required to bring the port up on the platform. The port should have a purpose - just running a new OS is cool, but it has to do something other than boot. Linux distributions are an exception as noted above.
• Please make sure you select the correct project category when you're proposing. We can tell because it defaults to Industrial which is by far the LEAST common application.
• Use images, links and the BBCode tags to make your project description prettier and more descriptive. Show links to previous work related to the project.
• Preview your project proposal before you submit. You have to do this at least once, but please make sure you are happy with the formatting, and content of your proposal. You will not be able to edit it later (especially once approved).
• Update your Profile! To successfully get a board we need to know your real, full name and address for shipping. You can enter these details either from the "Profile" link on the left of the main/projects site (where it details your name and email address) or at the top of the Forums pages. Your "Full Name" will be used on the Forums and Project blogs when posting. If you do not like this idea, don't submit a project. We feel it adds some accountability. We will not approve projects for "smileygirl23".

Have fun! If you have any comments about the project guidelines or the hardware itself before you create a proposal, this thread is the place to discuss it.

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Matt Sealey

The program is now open for all interested developers. An update on the date for acceptance and distribution on hardware will be forthcoming..

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Matt Sealey

Here, have 3 proposals :)

Thanks Konstantinos, you're a star. 3 great worthwile proposals :)

• I just updated the Guidelines with a link to another Forum thread which details documentation that developers can freely access.
• I also removed the guideline about posting projects from other programs into the i.MX515 program, as it was not really fair (it was a guideline we put in to the Efika 5121e program to stop people asking for a 5121e when they were not proposing using any new features of the chip and already had an Efika or Pegasos).
• There is a small clarification about project funding. Genesi is happy to provide extra funds to projects, but the expectation should be that you must be able to do it on your own, first and foremost, or at least proceed with it until you get it (i.e. don't put the i.MX515 in a closet while you wait for approval). Projects which require significant investment may not be approved right away, or at all.

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Matt Sealey

Submitted :-)

Konstantinos, if you need help at some point with Ogre (should the project be approved), let me know. Sounds like fun!



Johan.

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Johan Dams, Genesi USA Inc.
Director, Software Engineering

Yep, I have a blog... PurpleAlienPlanet

well, are joint proposals permitted? We could work on it together, it would be fun indeed :D

You can only submit a project as a single user but it's possible to add developers to a project once approved (see project #723 as an example of 3 developers posting blogs etc. :)

It's best to pick a project leader and then note down your companion developers in your proposal. When it's approved they'll be added to the proposal as above.

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Matt Sealey

Konstantinos,
I can't resist the temptation to work with a 3D engine for this beauty. Is there any room for one more developer?

Sure :)

Neko,

Would be good to post info about the Freescale i.MX515 projects program in www.linuxdevices.com, this is the best place for new open embedded projects.

Check it out.. I added you as an extra developer to the project.

I have to fiddle with some code here and there so I may add a small UI for the main developer (that proposed..) to add the extra developers..

For now, could developers proposing projects with multiple participants do so at the bottom of their proposal (please use BBcode to link their profile by number or mention a username) or do so in a blog entry?

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Matt Sealey

I'm in, Wohoo! :)

Thnx.

Note that since the posting of Michal Schultz's Project on the subject, you may submit projects which rely on an AROS port.

That is to say that we are giving Michal a little more support by allowing an initial port based on the Toshiba TMPA910 board (which has the Aura firmware), and hope Michal will be done before or pretty soon after other developers are prepped to receive their boards.

i.MX515 projects are therefore open for Linux and AROS developers, developers who want to port operating systems to the i.MX515 using the Aura firmware (the restriction on past experience still stands - Michal qualifies with flying colours), and developers who wish to engage in interesting hardware development projects (industrial control etc.) with the i.MX515 platform.

Many other project types will be considered, please do not be afraid to make a proposal, it is simply that we will follow these guidelines for project approvals and qualify your need for hardware and support based on whether it can actually be done or not (for instance, porting FreeNAS to i.MX515 requires FreeBSD, so we will not be approving projects that do not have or show significant progress in porting FreeBSD to the platform)

I hope that clears things up.

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Matt Sealey

Feel free to do this yourself.. anyone who wants to spread the word, can. I make no bones about this - I don't have a huge list of websites that I should be spamming about the program. I'm surprised the Projects program didn't hit the front page of OSNews yet, but AmigaOS 4.1 on Pegasos did. Maybe Thom needs a pinch :)

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Matt Sealey

Sure, I will do it.