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

[Tan Chee Wei]

Dear Poh Kit,


>What's the difference between setting up the system with libixprouter
>and VERA and plugging it into the PCI slot of a motherboard with a host
>processor and just flashing the boot ROM with Cygmon and booting a Linux
>kernel image on the original Intel chassis as shown at
>http://www.netwinder.org/~urnaik/ixp1200_howto.html ?

The main difference is that Princeton's Vera allows a programmer to have
more computing power at his disposal if said, one is using the PC+SA+UE
configuration. Note that Vera, being a multi-processors design, does not
restrict itself to PC+SA+UE configuration. In the IXP1200 hardware reference
manual Pg.31,2.7.1, Intel suggests that the SA core may be used in different
ways, depending on the application. If the system contains a higher end
processor like Pentium, SA can leave system maintenance to Pentium and runs
a mini-kernel whilst the Pentium and IXP1200 communicate via PCI bus. Vera
accomplishes exactly that. In design where no host processor like Pentium is
available such as that described in netwinder, SA is seen as the main
processor and runs an RTOS. Vera's router infrastructure and the router in
Intel reference designs use different data structures. In short, we have 2
different routers using the IXP1200 board.

>Also, are there any archives of the IXP1200 mailing list which I can go
>through. This would give me a clearer view of the picture much faster
>and maybe avoid asking questions which may have already been asked
before.:)

do  "index ixp1200" to retrieve the archive.
do  "get ixp1200 filename" to get the specified file in the archive.

kind regards,
cheewei