OPT3001: 8 bit output

Hi Fred,

I don't think this can work. All of the OPT3XXX and OPT4XXX devices have a word output which cannot be changed.

Thank you,

Brent Elliott

Fred - 

Can you double check with your customer which MCU they are using? I2C and 8 bit MCUs have existed for years, and I2C is only 8 bits at a time, as you indeed show above.  

Dear Fred - thanks - I'll just point out here that this processor (not an MCU and certainly not an 8 bit part) has 4 I2C modules built into it and I see nothing in the documentation for that device which limits the user as you suggest/request. https://www.nxp.com/part/MIMX8MN6DVTJZAA#/ 

You may want to assist this customer a bit more by understanding what they are asking and then helping them understand further that they do not have this limitation and also that the Linux driver for the OPT3001 is here: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/iio/light/opt3001.c  

Fred - 

AFAIK, Android OS is/has always been built on Linux kernel (except for first release in 2008).  The kernel driver I pointed to should work - the person who contributed that is still at TI, and in Sitara MPU apps. I will make him aware of this post (via E2E notification), as he is more of an expert on this detail than I am.  

Fred -

1. No, not necessarily - Brent can answer that. I am in a different product line (Temperature and Humidity Sensing, and we have a BoosterPack with the OPT3001 onboard, so I am somewhat familiar with that part) and saw this post, which attracted my attention because of your initial request, as it did not make any sense, which we have resolved at this point. 

2. In Linux, at a high level, devices/drivers are grouped and managed by a device manager, and treated the same as device "files" really. If the customer is using a processor, they already know (or should know) how to handle. 

3. Android has been Linux based since second release of that OS (~2009). The Java comment...a compiled Java program (Java is a programming language) could be compiled into Linux, and this would be more for the human interface I think in an OS like Android, not low level devices running on I2C.  

Fred - 

in Linux, which is an operating system (OS), the OS has file system, and the drivers are considered as files, which are added and included in a build intended to add a given device, protocol or feature. 

For example, below is an image of a list of types of devices in the folder where the I2C protocol and OPT3001 drivers are: 

Then here is a OSI model image i found from here: https://wiki.analog.com/software/linux/docs/iio/iio 

which explains graphically where/how these files fit in. 

Hope this helps you out.