The Tri-Mode Ethernet MAC (TEMAC) UltraController-II module is a minimal footprint,embedded network processing engine based on the PowerPC™ 405 (PPC405) processor coreand the TEMAC core embedded within a VIRTEX™-4 FX Platform FPGA. The TEMACUltraController-II module connects to an external PHY through Gigabit Media IndependentInterface (GMII) and Management Data Input/Output (MDIO) interfaces and supports tri-mode(10/100/1000 Mb/s) Ethernet. Software running from the processor cache reads and writesthrough an On-Chip Memory (OCM) interface to two FIFOs that act as buffers between thedifferent clock domains of the PPC405 OCM and the TEMAC.
This application note provides step-by-step instructions on how to recreate a Tri-Mode Ethernet(TEMAC) performance testing system using the ML405 board and MontaVista Linux 4.0. Thisapplication note shows how to set up a simple EDK Base System Builder system on the ML405Evaluation Platform and run performance tests. The network architecture for the test isdescribed. A system is built and downloaded into the FPGA. A MontaVista Linux kernel isconfigured, built, and downloaded into the ML405 Evaluation Platform. The instructions forobtaining and setting up the software used to perform the measurements, netperf, are given.
The use of the Wind River VxWorks Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) on VIRTEX™-4embedded PowerPC™ processors continues to be a popular choice for high performanceFPGA designs. The introduction of the Wind River Workbench design environment has enableda new and easier way for designers to control the configuration of the VxWorks kernel. Thisguide shows the steps required to build and configure a ML403 Embedded DevelopmentPlatform to boot and run the VxWorks RTOS. A VxWorks bootloader is created, programmedinto Flash, and used to boot the design. The concepts presented here can be scaled to anyPowerPC enabled development platform.