While it might be a pain, but there is no need to throw away everything and start from scratch just because you want linux.
Those code calls the existing framework and low level signal processing onto of the existing environment to customize the firmware to the liking. There is no denying that the application code is lacking and that was why there are these alternate run time firmware patches.
Surely you can replace the os with linux, figure out and write your own the low level device drivers by reverse engineering the existing code. There is the low level device driver that deals with the devices, the signal processing code that has the Canon’s special sauce for noise reduction, calibration etc and then the upper level of application code that does the stuff etc. I think of the camera firmware as multiple levels. Posted in digital cameras hacks, Linux Hacks Tagged canon, Canon EOS, firmware, linux, magic lantern Post navigation Here’s your chance to polish those kernel porting skills you’ve been holding in reserve. Currently it’s just a proof that you can boot Linux, it’s not actually functional yet. We’re excited to see where this one goes. Now that the Linux kernel is in the picture, ground-up features can be built without dealing with the stock firmware in any way (and without overwriting it). Commanding the LCD was the last part of the hardware that had previously not been driven directly from Magic Lantern.
It’s long been a way of hacking more features in but has always been complicated by the fact that you must figure out how to play nicely with the existing firmware. In case you don’t recognize the name, Magic Lantern is an Open Source project that adds features to these high-end cameras by utilizing the bootloader with binary files on the SD card. The hack was facilitated by a recent discovery that the LCD screen on the camera can be accessed from the bootloader.
Because of the date of the post we’ve poured over this one and are confident it’s no joke. On April 1st the Magic Lantern team announced a proof of concept that lets you run Linux on a Canon EOS camera.