RGMII mode on V4 Hard Tri-EMAC core

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone used RGMII on the V4 hard TEMAC? The reason I am asking is because this mode is not supported if the core instantiated in the EDK, but nothing seems to prevent from using it if the core is instantiated with the VHDL wrapper found in the Core Generator...

Thanks, /Mikhail

Reply to
MM
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I have a webcase open on this issue right now. I want to use PLB_TEMAC with RGMII, but that combination is currently not supported. I will update the group when I get an answer.

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Joe Samson
Pixel Velocity
Reply to
Joseph Samson

I have a webcase open as well :) The answer I got so far reads:

"The developers are currently working on this matter. Both the hard_temac and the plb_temac cores must have RGMII support included before the interface can be used. There is no set timeline on when this feature will be available. At the earliest however it will be EDK 8.2.02i. This will be towards the end of this year. In the meantime I cannot offer you a workaround to this matter."

However, I wonder what can prevent me from instantiating the core in the top level design and connecting to the PLB bus through a custom IP interface? Or connecting it in the way shown in the XAPP807...

I have designed a board with RGMII in mind and now it would be very hard to redesign it for GMII...

/Mikhail

Reply to
MM

I just got off the phone with my webcase CAE. He says that the next version of PLB_TEMAC (v3) will be released with 8.1 SP2, which was actually supposed to be today. It has RGMII and other features.

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Joe Samson
Pixel Velocity
Reply to
Joseph Samson

Great news! Thanks.

/Mikhail

Reply to
MM

Hi Mikhail,

you have 2 ways:

Xilinx application about an GMII to RGMII interface. (XAPP 692 ?)

Change the PLB_TEMAC core: Copy the Xilinx cores plb_temac_v2_00_a, ipic_to_temac_v2_00_a and hard_temac_v1_00_a in a EDK local pcores directory. In plb_temac change the EMAC_CONFIG_VECTOR. Look in the TEMAC documentation. You have to change also the GMII signals to RGMII signals thru all entities down to hard_temac.

Both ways are running on my costumer board.

Have fun Florian

MM wrote:

Reply to
Florian

Hi Florian,

Thanks a lot for pointing out these 2 methods. With regards to the second method, will EDK pick up the cores from the local pcores directory instead of its main repository automatically or will I have to import them as custom peripherals after the change? Also, could you please comment on the software side of the things? Just how much of the support is there and how much needs to be written/modified?

Thanks, /Mikhail

Reply to
MM

Hi Mikhail,

The local pcores directory is prefered. So you can copy the core 1:1 from the main repository.

I didn't write the software. As I know no modifications are needed. A few bits in the TEMAC hardware can have changed.

Have fun Florian

Reply to
Florian

I managed to get my webcase CAE to look at MM's webcase answer. They all seem to be in agreement now that RGMII will be included in PLB_TEMAC in the EDK 8.2 SP2 release, which is expected in September 2006.

--
Joe Samson
Pixel Velocity
Reply to
Joseph Samson

Hi Florian,

Do I understand correctly that I need to implement DDR registers missing in the TEMAC core even if I choose the second method (modifying the core)? If that is true then there is actually not much difference between using the design in XAPP692 and modifying the core...

Thanks, /Mikhail

Reply to
MM

Hi Mikhail,

yes, you have to implement the DDR registers. The PLB_TEMAC core includes a PLB to TEMAC interface (PLB-IPIF with FIFO etc and IPIF to TEMAC) and the embedded TEMAC. Now you have to route the signals from the TEMAC to the external PHY by yourself. For this you should read the Virtex4-TEMAC documentation (UG074). Use the PLB_TEMAC to connect the hard TEMAC to the PPC and do the rest yourself.

In the UG074 are BUFG used for some CLIENT_TX and CLIENT_RX signals. The BUFGs are not used in the hard_temac core !!

Have fun Florian

Reply to
Florian

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