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Subject: Re: [PATCH 01/10] appletalk: remove localtalk and ppp support
From:   Rodolfo Zitellini <rwz@xhero.org>
In-Reply-To: <20231009141908.1767241-1-arnd@kernel.org>
Date:   Mon, 9 Oct 2023 18:49:43 +0200
Cc:     Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>, netdev@vger.kernel.org,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org,
        Johannes Berg <johannes@sipsolutions.net>,
        linux-wpan@vger.kernel.org,
        Michael Hennerich <michael.hennerich@analog.com>,
        Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>,
        Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>,
        "David S . Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Doug Brown <doug@schmorgal.com>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
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Message-Id: <790BA488-B6F6-41ED-96EF-2089EF1C043B@xhero.org>
References: <20231009141908.1767241-1-arnd@kernel.org>
To:     Arnd Bergmann <arnd@kernel.org>
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> From: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
>=20
> The last localtalk driver is gone now, and ppp support was never fully
> merged, so clean up the appletalk code by removing the obvious dead
> code paths.
>=20
> Notably, this removes one of the two callers of the old =
.ndo_do_ioctl()
> callback that was abused for getting device addresses and is now
> only used in the ieee802154 subsystem, which still uses the same =
trick.
>=20
> The include/uapi/linux/if_ltalk.h header might still be required
> for building userspace programs, but I made sure that debian code
> search and the netatalk upstream have no references it it, so it
> should be fine to remove.
>=20
> Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>

Hi!
I=E2=80=99ve been working on a new LocalTalk interface driver for the =
last couple months, do you think it would be possible to at least =
postpone the removal of LT a bit?

It is a driver for an open source device called TashTalk =
(https://github.com/lampmerchant/tashtalk), which runs on a PIC micro =
that does all the LT interfacing, and communicates back via serial to =
the host system. My driver is relatively simple and works very well with =
netatalk 2.2 (which is still maintained and still has support for =
AppleTalk). The driver is basically complete and trsted and I was =
preparing to submit a patch.

Still having LocalTalk in my view has many advantages for us enthusiasts =
that still want to bridge old machines to the current world without =
modifications, for example for printing on modern printers, netbooting, =
sharing files and even tcp/ip. All this basically works out of the box =
via the driver, Linux and available userspace tools (netatalk, macipgw).

The old ISA cards supported by COPS were basically unobtanium even 20 =
years ago, but the solution of using a PIC and a serial port is very =
robust and much more furure-proof. We also already have a device that =
can interface a modern machine directly via USB to LocalTalk.

The development of the TashTalk has been also extensively discussed on =
thr 68KMLA forum =
(https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/modtashtalk-lt0-driver-for-linux.=
45031/)

I hope the decision to remove LocalTalk can be reconsidered at least for =
the time being so there is a chance to submit a new, modern device =
making use of this stack.

Many Thanks,
Rodolfo Zitellini=