Arch Linux User Repository

-Updated

-Patched to compile with current kernels (5.1 as of writing)

-Removed old and duplicate configuration files, some were referring to HAL for example which was deprecated by Arch almost a decade ago

-Added more documentation to PKGBUILD

-Dropped 32-bit support. Promethean stuff is finicky (e.g. weird binary dependencies) so it needs to be tested, and since Arch dropped 32-bit I don't have a test system.

disowned. thank you and good luck! jose

I can't guarantee that I'll get it to work, but I would give it a shot if no one else wants to (except activinspire-sk).

@ZZdrr thank you for your comment - i am no longer interested in maintaining this (and related) PKGBUILD (as i am not using it). it would be great if you're willing to adopt it. any interest?

There is a new version out, which is 5.18.12 [1], and just prior to that in 5.18.11 [2] support for kernels newer than 4.14 was added.

URL: http://activsoftware.co.uk/linux/repos/driver/ubuntu/pool/oss/a/activdriver/activdriver_5.18.12-0~Ubuntu~1804_amd64.deb

As-is, this version compiles cleanly with current linux-lts (4.19).

It doesn't compile on current 5.1.x however, because of the kernel function access_ok being changed [3]. I just removed those extra arguments from usbpromethean.c. Here is the patch:

@@ -1017,9 +1017,9 @@

     retval = 0;
     if (_IOC_DIR(cmd) & _IOC_READ)
-        retval = !access_ok(VERIFY_WRITE,(void __user *)arg, _IOC_SIZE(cmd));
+        retval = !access_ok((void __user *)arg, _IOC_SIZE(cmd));
     if (_IOC_DIR(cmd) & _IOC_WRITE)
-        retval = !access_ok(VERIFY_READ,(void __user *)arg, _IOC_SIZE(cmd));
+        retval = !access_ok((void __user *)arg, _IOC_SIZE(cmd));

     if (retval) return -EFAULT;

That makes the module compile cleanly and load on 5.1.x.

1: https://community.prometheanworld.com/forums/topic/release-notes-for-activdriver-v5-18-12-released-22nd-may-2019/

2: https://community.prometheanworld.com/forums/topic/release-notes-for-activdriver-v5-18-11-released-wednesday-8th-may-2019/

3: https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/1/4/418

@ZZdrr thank you, updated

Driver 5.17.14 still compiles and works with kernel 4.14 (for example linux-lts414 in AUR) for me, but not with any newer kernel. Downgrading to 4.4 is not needed.

i have bumped the version but for those wondering: lts is now (2019-01) 4.19.13 and even 5.17.4 does not compile so it's still broke. maybe someone wants to try this with linux-lts44 (aur).

Could ZZdrr solution be added to this so one can install directly when using lts kernel?

A summary of the state of this driver as this doesn't seem to be anywhere on the internet:

No activdriver compiles cleanly with the current kernel [1], 4.15 at the time of writing. The official latest version (5.16.7) compiles with the 4.14 LTS kernel, but if you actually connect an activboard, the driver crashes with a "unable to handle kernel paging request" error when it tries to "CheckForFirmwareUpgradeCommand" [2]. There is a beta version 5.16.8 that compiles with 4.14 LTS and actually works. You can't get it from the Promethean repository, they distribute it on box.com [3] in line with their usual highly professional behavior. You can use it with this PKGBUILD if you edit the source array. I found it in a German thread about the problem [4].

1: https://pastebin.com/UKs8kY54

2: https://pastebin.com/0gdkPpp8

3: https://promethean.app.box.com/s/lriqamrjf3p58roer9zas4yrxn295o7b

4: https://community.prometheanworld.com/de/forums/topic/activinspire-activdriver-fur-ubuntu-18-04/

Edit: 2019-01-12: Forum link updated, Promethean changed their forum software