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Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001
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3Release Notes for Linux on Intel's IXP4xx Network Processor
4
5Maintained by Deepak Saxena <dsaxena@plexity.net>
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81. Overview
9
10Intel's IXP4xx network processor is a highly integrated SOC that
11is targeted for network applications, though it has become popular
12in industrial control and other areas due to low cost and power
13consumption. The IXP4xx family currently consists of several processors
14that support different network offload functions such as encryption,
15routing, firewalling, etc. The IXP46x family is an updated version which
16supports faster speeds, new memory and flash configurations, and more
17integration such as an on-chip I2C controller.
18
19For more information on the various versions of the CPU, see:
20
21 http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixp4xx.htm
22
23Intel also made the IXCP1100 CPU for sometime which is an IXP4xx
24stripped of much of the network intelligence.
25
262. Linux Support
27
28Linux currently supports the following features on the IXP4xx chips:
29
30- Dual serial ports
31- PCI interface
32- Flash access (MTD/JFFS)
33- I2C through GPIO on IXP42x
34- GPIO for input/output/interrupts
35 See include/asm-arm/arch-ixp4xx/platform.h for access functions.
36- Timers (watchdog, OS)
37
38The following components of the chips are not supported by Linux and
39require the use of Intel's propietary CSR softare:
40
41- USB device interface
42- Network interfaces (HSS, Utopia, NPEs, etc)
43- Network offload functionality
44
45If you need to use any of the above, you need to download Intel's
46software from:
47
48 http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixp425swr1.htm
49
50DO NOT POST QUESTIONS TO THE LINUX MAILING LISTS REGARDING THE PROPIETARY
51SOFTWARE.
52
53There are several websites that provide directions/pointers on using
54Intel's software:
55
56http://ixp4xx-osdg.sourceforge.net/
57 Open Source Developer's Guide for using uClinux and the Intel libraries
58
59http://gatewaymaker.sourceforge.net/
60 Simple one page summary of building a gateway using an IXP425 and Linux
61
62http://ixp425.sourceforge.net/
63 ATM device driver for IXP425 that relies on Intel's libraries
64
653. Known Issues/Limitations
66
673a. Limited inbound PCI window
68
69The IXP4xx family allows for up to 256MB of memory but the PCI interface
70can only expose 64MB of that memory to the PCI bus. This means that if
71you are running with > 64MB, all PCI buffers outside of the accessible
72range will be bounced using the routines in arch/arm/common/dmabounce.c.
73
743b. Limited outbound PCI window
75
76IXP4xx provides two methods of accessing PCI memory space:
77
781) A direct mapped window from 0x48000000 to 0x4bffffff (64MB).
79 To access PCI via this space, we simply ioremap() the BAR
80 into the kernel and we can use the standard read[bwl]/write[bwl]
81 macros. This is the preffered method due to speed but it
82 limits the system to just 64MB of PCI memory. This can be
83 problamatic if using video cards and other memory-heavy devices.
84
852) If > 64MB of memory space is required, the IXP4xx can be
86 configured to use indirect registers to access PCI This allows
87 for up to 128MB (0x48000000 to 0x4fffffff) of memory on the bus.
88 The disadvantadge of this is that every PCI access requires
89 three local register accesses plus a spinlock, but in some
90 cases the performance hit is acceptable. In addition, you cannot
91 mmap() PCI devices in this case due to the indirect nature
92 of the PCI window.
93
94By default, the direct method is used for performance reasons. If
95you need more PCI memory, enable the IXP4XX_INDIRECT_PCI config option.
96
973c. GPIO as Interrupts
98
99Currently the code only handles level-sensitive GPIO interrupts
100
1014. Supported platforms
102
103ADI Engineering Coyote Gateway Reference Platform
104http://www.adiengineering.com/productsCoyote.html
105
106 The ADI Coyote platform is reference design for those building
107 small residential/office gateways. One NPE is connected to a 10/100
108 interface, one to 4-port 10/100 switch, and the third to and ADSL
109 interface. In addition, it also supports to POTs interfaces connected
110 via SLICs. Note that those are not supported by Linux ATM. Finally,
111 the platform has two mini-PCI slots used for 802.11[bga] cards.
112 Finally, there is an IDE port hanging off the expansion bus.
113
114Gateworks Avila Network Platform
115http://www.gateworks.com/avila_sbc.htm
116
117 The Avila platform is basically and IXDP425 with the 4 PCI slots
118 replaced with mini-PCI slots and a CF IDE interface hanging off
119 the expansion bus.
120
121Intel IXDP425 Development Platform
122http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixdp425.htm
123
124 This is Intel's standard reference platform for the IXDP425 and is
125 also known as the Richfield board. It contains 4 PCI slots, 16MB
126 of flash, two 10/100 ports and one ADSL port.
127
128Intel IXDP465 Development Platform
129http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixdp465.htm
130
131 This is basically an IXDP425 with an IXP465 and 32M of flash instead
132 of just 16.
133
134Intel IXDPG425 Development Platform
135
136 This is basically and ADI Coyote board with a NEC EHCI controller
137 added. One issue with this board is that the mini-PCI slots only
138 have the 3.3v line connected, so you can't use a PCI to mini-PCI
139 adapter with an E100 card. So to NFS root you need to use either
140 the CSR or a WiFi card and a ramdisk that BOOTPs and then does
141 a pivot_root to NFS.
142
143Motorola PrPMC1100 Processor Mezanine Card
144http://www.fountainsys.com/datasheet/PrPMC1100.pdf
145
146 The PrPMC1100 is based on the IXCP1100 and is meant to plug into
147 and IXP2400/2800 system to act as the system controller. It simply
148 contains a CPU and 16MB of flash on the board and needs to be
149 plugged into a carrier board to function. Currently Linux only
150 supports the Motorola PrPMC carrier board for this platform.
151 See https://mcg.motorola.com/us/ds/pdf/ds0144.pdf for info
152 on the carrier board.
153
1545. TODO LIST
155
156- Add support for Coyote IDE
157- Add support for edge-based GPIO interrupts
158- Add support for CF IDE on expansion bus
159
1606. Thanks
161
162The IXP4xx work has been funded by Intel Corp. and MontaVista Software, Inc.
163
164The following people have contributed patches/comments/etc:
165
166Lennerty Buytenhek
167Lutz Jaenicke
168Justin Mayfield
169Robert E. Ranslam
170[I know I've forgotten others, please email me to be added]
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174Last Update: 01/04/2005