While I began a project to help Maxternal, apparently revisionist history states I did not;-). This thread should be closed for being antiquated and irrelevant. Also, this is something I am not affiliated with.
powerpc
Most systems use this kernel flavour, which supports the PowerPC 601, 603, 604, 740, 750, and 7400 processors. All Apple PowerMac machines up to and including the one marketed as G4 use one of these processors."
Multiprocessor support — also called “symmetric multiprocessing” or SMP — is available for this architecture. However, the standard Ubuntu 12.04 kernel image does not support SMP. This should not prevent installation, since the standard, non-SMP kernel should boot on SMP systems; the kernel will simply use the first CPU.
In order to take advantage of multiple processors, you'll have to replace the standard Ubuntu kernel. You can find a discussion of how to do this in the section called “Compiling a New Kernel”. At this time (kernel version 3.0) the way you enable SMP is to select “Symmetric multi-processing support” in the “Platform support” section of the kernel config.
radeon - ATI RADEON video driver
radeonhd - AMD GPG (ATI) R5xx/R6xx/R7xx video driver
Can Linux output A/V data from multiple sources? I.E. have HDMI for video but output audio via RCA cables? Surely, the OS can allocate drivers to do that. If so, then it could do what Nintendo couldn't, because not all users have access to SPDIF/optical cable inputs on their TVs or have receivers.
Video on HDMI is supported by both the -intel and -ati driver.
HDMI sound is a different matter. The sound data is carried over the same wire as video in the various video blanking intervals. So the video driver has to communicate with the audio driver about the current video mode and so on.
Wrong againYoinked this conclusive hardware list from an external site:
Credit where due - http://outdatedpenanguncle.blogspot.com/2012/11/nintendo-wii-u-teardown.html
And what are the stuffs hiding inside the Nintendo Wii U controller?
- IBM Power®-based multi-core processor
- AMD Radeon-based High Definition GPU
- 8 GB or 32 GB internal storage with external USB storage and external USB hard drive support
- 6.2 inch, 854 x 480 pixels LCD touch-screen with motion control and front-facing camera
- Near-Field Communication (NFC) functionality
- Broadcom BCM43237KMLG Wireless LAN module
- Broadcom BCM43362KUB6 802.11n Wireless Module—the same one used in the Roku 2 XS
- Broadcom BCM20702 Bluetooth 4.0 module
- Panasonic MN864718 HDMI Controller
- Samsung KLM8G2FE3B eMMC 8 GB NAND Flash/Memory Controller
- Micron 2LEI2 D9PXV [part number MT41K256M16HA-125] 4 Gb DDR3L SDRAM (4 x 4 Gb for a total of 16 Gb or 2 GB RAM)
- DRH-WUP 811309G31
- Fairchild DC4AY
- SMC 1224EE402
- Samsung K9K8G08U1D 4 Gb (512 MB) NAND Flash
- Broadcom 20792 KMLG NFC controller
- T130 MsEu
- Broadcom BCM4319XKUBG
- STMicroelectronics UIC-WUP MCE GH226
- STMicroelectronics MSA3D 01F
- Texas Instruments TSC 2046I Low Voltage I/O Touch Screen Controller
- InvenSense ITG-3280 Gyroscope
- Micron 25Q256A 256 Mb Serial Flash
- DRC-WUP 811309J31 1217LU603
- Texas Instruments AIC3012 Audio Converter
- Texas Instruments 1010007
Awesome Ninja, this is the stuff that makes me smile. One thing to note is that in vWii mode, only PART of the Wii U GPU is used. I want to say the Wii hardware is basically IN the Wii U, then for Wii U "mode" it is like 3x the Wii. This seems to be the GENERAL view that I have read. I know the gamepad (screen) will not work in vWii mode. Never considered if this could get just the PAD without the screen to work, interesting....
So, although using 3 cores it seems that not all the Wii U hardware will be accessible. MARCAN MAY REVEAL more workarounds and did hint at some in his blog.
WITHOUT bluetooth, and needing a wiimote to control anything in vWii mode, THIS is a snag for sure:-(
It seems the bluetooth is going to be the largest snag. Then to be clear, this is strictly from Ubuntu I see. Does the PenguinPPC angle have anything to use;-) I did not dive into that in detail as I am at work. I can take a few minutes for breaks here/there. Might look at this later. It is basic but seriously, a great start. "Here is our hardware, here is what we need drivers for...here is what we see...here is what we will need...."
So, unless I am missing something, aside from the 3 core stuff Maxternal is working on, it appears the bluetooth is a huge hurdle. NOW, I wonder if something may "Appear" to use the gamepad without the Wiimote to navigate this Linux. Comex or somebody else would need to answer this. I will check around because I am WILLING TO BET this bluetooth driver would be out there for Linux and could be "incorporated" by us here (or whoever actually gets it ready for end users to run with). Am I off my rocker Ninja?
--I bet the wireless signal/auth routine from gamepad to Wii U tuns off in vWii mode. This is something Marcan or the gamepad "people' Marcan said are working on it would know. I know the SCREEN on the gamepad needs Wii U mode to work as in vWii mode the GPU basically does not work for it. However, IF the wireless hardware to connect to the gamepad/screen could be accessed, then why not be able to use it without needing the screen active? Curious, but again, somebody more TECHNICAL would need to answer this. Marcan hates my guts, guaranteed. He has pictures of me and throws darts at it (joking). IF somebody who is on Marcan's good side would ask him about this (gamepad in vWii mode without screen on, accessing wireless hardware gamepad uses), that would be awesome.
EDIT: sound...should be detected but is it different for Wii and vWii also, or runs through the same hardware? It may be something Linux just "has" but need to find out if vWii sound is controlled by same hardware. Good point Ninja, the HDMI.
Ray- In regards to the Bluetooth driver, its a Broadcom device. The nature of Broadcom is to modify their hardware ever so slightly in each revision or application. That said, I don't see an out-of-the-box working driver for the Broadcom BCM20702 Bluetooth 4.0 module, but that doesn't mean that an earlier driver can't be tweaked just slightly to work... However that's passing the border on my abilities, I'm not ASM/Programmer guy by any means
At work I run a dual-display setting from both DVI and VGA sources.
As far as audio goes, Yes, you can choose to output your audio over something other than HDMI. Driver support is the key there.
So in theory, its possible, whether it will work out of the box or not? Who knows, we'll have to wait and see...