TMS470 and gigabit ethernet controller

Good luck. I haven't heard of any non-PCI gig-E controllers. It's hard enough to find 100Mb non-PCI (there are only 4).

Maybe you can use a non-PCI bus to a 32-bit MCU that has integrated Gig-E MAC. It'd seem silly to have the required TMS470 MCU at that point, but if it's the spec and they're the "customer"... To prove a point, you could use I2C for the bus. :-) After all, if the only requirement is to make the "1000" light on the switch come on...

Richard

It's funny how customers make our lives challenging :) We are quoting a test system for a server manufacturer, and there is to be a module, which as it looks sends about 10-15 commands over serial to tested unit. The requirement stands that this module must use Cypress uC and must connect to host PC controller over Ethernet. I am currently working with Lantronix' Xport and we suggested this device (is off shelf, has Ethernet, has serial and can easily run custom firmware), but they did not like additional $50 per module (total quantity will be several 100s).

Roman

I had a similar experience, but moved away from the Xport to one of the low-end Rabbits (RCM2210 in my case). Lower-cost, far more programmable, and generally less of a hassle. (It's a 10Mb Ethernet port, but it sounds plenty for your app.)

Re the OP: again I had a similar experience researching a future project. I basically failed to find any suitable non-PCI Gigabit parts - at those speeds, the thing needs to be DMA. So I cast the net a bit wider, figuring I could maybe squeeze in a PCI SBC - quantities were modest. But my requirement for Gigabit was driven by a high sustained throughput requirement, and I've yet to find *any* architecture that can really support anything like 1Gb/s as measured in raw Ethernet terms, let alone in terms of data (+ Ethernet and TCP/IP packeting overheads). If there's an architecture out there (PCI or not) that can keep a Gigabit port 50% busy or better, I'd like to hear of it. (I also need to do some - not much - data processing, so I need some spare horsepower on top of the DMA - cycle-stealing DMA would be nice. Or - possibly - dual CPUs. Eep.)

Not asking for much, am I? ;)

Steve

Have you considered FPGA + phy? Could be fast enough even one of the "low cost" FPGAs (cyclone or spartan).

Ricardo

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Dear friends,

Thanks for all your useful responses. I was able to convince my customer the difficulty with usage of TMS470 to which he has very much agreed. I' using a coldifre series MCF5481 which has 2 ethernet ports(10/100Mbps) an PCI interface for future upgradation. i'm using a realtek etherne controller for PCI interface. Hey dudes i found a non-pci ethernet MAC PMC-sierra makePM8336, dua gigabit Ethernet controller (only MAC) with Non-PCI Microprocesso Interface pins and supports dual IEEE 802.3-1998 GMII/TBI interface to th copper gigabit Ethernet physical layer devices.GMII interface gigabit PH can be found in Realtek.

cheers, scooby

Hi, Scooby.

I suspect you are talking about the PM3386:

This part is not quite what you might think... the microcontroller interface is for control only, not data.

This seems to be an Ethernet controller to interface between a front-panel port and a high-speed backplane, for example in a large network switch. It's also a 352-pin micro-BGA, and I can't imagine what the price would be (if it's even still available after 3+ years without updates).

Richard

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Hi Richard, Yes u r right its PM3386. it was a typo error . Thank you very much fo the useful information. Luckily i'd not submitted it for review, since i was in selection process. I'd submitted MCF5481 and RTL8139D.I'l thoroughly go through it.

Thanks, :) scooby