Hi, Thank you very much for your help. I read some documents about NetBind of Columbia and Vera of Princeton. It seems NetBind has a RTOS(Linux) configured on IXP1200 but we have to write the microengine code with microcode following some special rules. Also no optimization is allowed. I think it is very boring to program this way after read something about micro C compiler. For Vera configuration, I have to remove the ixp12eb board from the box , which is shipped with the box from Intel, to one of the PCI slots of the Linux PC. Ajust several jumpers. The mini-kernel can handle the communication between strongArm and Pentium, like accessing the file system on the harddisk. The mini-kernel is pre-burned into flash already. The advantage is we don't need to change the way to write the microengine program. I am really not sure my understanding is right or not. It's very kind if you can give me some comments and recommend some helpful documents. Thanks again! Fei Tan Chee-Wei writes:
Hi Fei Chen,
but I didn't find any document telling me what kind of linux can be used on ixp1200, how to run strongArm and microengine code on the ethernet evaluation board. Can anyone help me with this?
Vera does not use a RTOS such as Bluecat Linux. It uses a mini-kernel that acts as a bridge between an external processor such as a Pentium and the micoengines, similar to something described in section 2.7.1 in Intel Hardware Reference Manual, Dec 2001, Page 31. There is a need to erase the Intel firmware first before using Vera. StrongARM and Microengine codes are compiled into Motorola Hex Format files on Pentium and are then downloaded via the PCI bus onto IXP1200. Princeton also provide the necessary toolchains to compile StrongARM and microengine codes so there is no need to use the Developer Workbench to download the microengine codes as Micro Object files onto IXP1200.
regards, cheewei
-- --------------------------------------------------------- - Fei Chen - - Computer Architecture & Parallel System Lab - - Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering - - University of Delaware - --------------------------------------------------------- - In theory there is no difference between theory and - - practice. In practice there is. - - Unknown - ---------------------------------------------------------