MOST MediaLB DIM2 host controller interface
Host-side support for the DIM2 controller that bridges a CPU to a MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport) MediaLB ring, a fiber and coax network used since the 2000s mainly inside cars for infotainment audio and video and in some pro-audio gear. The DIM2 block appears on SoCs such as NXP i.MX6Q, Renesas R-Car Gen3, and certain Xilinx parts.
recommendation
Worth keeping but document its niche because MOST/MediaLB is a specialty automotive and pro-audio networking bus with a small but real install base. Microchip still markets INICnet with MediaLB and provides Linux support, and NXP's i.MX6Q (one of the SoCs whose MediaLB controller this code drives) was still listed as Active in 2025. There is no in-tree replacement, and recent commits show ongoing low-level maintenance rather than a removal effort, so it should remain in staging with a note that deployments are sparse.
repository signals
sources
- cateee.net
LKDDb shows CONFIG_MOST_DIM2 still present through 7.0-rc+HEAD and bound to MediaLB-related compatibles including fsl,imx6q-mlb150, renesas,rcar-gen3-mlp, and Xilinx OS62420 variants.
- microchip.com
Microchip still markets INICnet technology with MediaLB bus support and explicitly says a Linux driver is available, indicating the ecosystem is not fully obsolete.
- nxp.com
NXP lists i.MX6Q as Active, supporting that at least one SoC family matched by this driver was still sold new in 2025.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Real driver directory: contains module_platform_driver and OF matches for MediaLB hardware. Lore-first attempt was blocked: `lore-http` MCP unavailable, `lei` missing in shell, and web lore queries returned no hits. Fallback evidence: local shell `git -c safe.directory=... log -- drivers/staging/most/dim2` showed ongoing non-removal maintenance through 2026-01-23 with no evident removal series, so not `deprecate`/`remove`. URLs were obtained via web search/open: LKDDb for in-tree presence and supported compatibles, Microchip current INICnet pages for present-day MediaLB/Linux ecosystem, and NXP product page for current sale status of i.MX6Q. Conclusion: active but niche automotive/industrial MediaLB support, no natural upstream replacement, so keep it but annotate as low-deployment staging hardware.