[ixp1200] Re: Some queries on VERA and the IXP1200EB in general.

[Scott C. Karlin]

On Thu, Jan 24, 2002 at 12:12:41PM +0800, Chong Poh Kit wrote:
> 
> ... I have some
> questions regarding the VERA software from Princeton and also the
> IXP12EB (revision B) in general...
> 
> The IXP12EB (Rev. B) that was supplied by Intel currently boots
> either VxWorks or Angel/UCOS.  Currently, we're booting the hardware
> with the VxWorks_Gig binary image found in the IXP SDK 1.3.  My
> university does not have the Tornado IDE for VxWorks or the VxWorks
> RTOS itself.  Are these software absolutely necessary for me if I'm
> using the VxWorks OS?

Yes, I believe so.

> If I use the libixprouter package with the VERA software on the
> IX12EB, would that be like substituting VxWorks and Tornado with
> Linux and VERA?

Yes.

> What's the difference between developing microcodes for the
> stand-alone IXP12EB with the original Intel VxWorks image and the
> IX12EB with VERA?

Because the StrongARM would be running libixprouter, the interface
between the microengines and the StrongARM will be different.

> Will it work with microcodes compiled on the IXP SDK ver. 2.0 Linux
> Edition?

In general, no.  I think an analogy would be writing x86 assembly 
language for Windows and for Linux.  The code runs on the same 
processor and some subroutines would port with no changes; however, 
code which interfaces with the OS (the StrongARM) would have to 
change.

> I hope you can help answer some of my questions or direct me to
> some resources which maybe of some help.

The ixp1200 mailing list is a good place to start for ixp1200/VERA
questions.

Scott