uIP TCP/IP stack -- Implementing on a 32 bit soft-processor with no OS

Hi,

I need a way to communicate to a soft-processor (Altera's Nios), mostly for uploading new FPGA/Nios flash files. However, Im using a board that only has an RS-232... I thought I was destined to some cheap looking terminal type user interface with xmodem or the like... but then I ran into uIP and lwIP! (

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So Im thinking if I implement SLIP, I could then serve up a simple web-based flash utitlity to any PC thats connected to it via RS-232 (winxp should be able to connect via dial-up using SLIP). Does this seem plausible?

Looking at some of the documentation and some existing uIP ports, it looks like its meant for just an 8-bit processor running an RTOS of some variety (Contiki, Salvo, uC/OS-II, uCos, etc).

The fpga's Nios is 32-bits, but that shouldnt cause a problem.. the issue of running an RTOS might be a bigger problem since I have very few ram blocks allocated inside the FPGA.

Any thoughts why this may or may not work, or ideas of perhaps a different approach. My goal is just to allow the user to program the board without requiring any special programming software (other than a web browser).

Thanks!

Reply to
benn
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WinXP can use SLIP, although the configuration is fairly manual and somewhat involved (at least from the perspective of the average user). A quick Google turned up the following, which more-or-less coincides with my memories of doing this a few years ago:

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If you can do a PPP implementation instead, you'll have an easier time with the PC configuration. That's obviously a tradeoff you need to pick based on your user community. You will have to make some decisions regarding how dynamic some of the IP settings are, but again, if you can toss some complexity off to the PC users, you can simplify a number of things (like eliminating the need for DHCP by using a fixed IP address on the device).

But your idea of serving up web pages via a serial (SLIP or PPP) connection is sound, except perhaps for the Flash bit. Writing a small web server (assuming you don't have one already) is not a big deal, but I don't know what Flash support might require.

You may still want a limited terminal style interface, especially if you're using SLIP, so that some of the IP settings can be semi- conveniently changed on the device. Both SLIP and PPP more or less assume they're starting from a terminal type connection, and negotiate from there (perhaps that's overstating in the case of SLIP).

You might want to look at Betham's "TCP/IP Lean", where he implements a minimalist TCP/IP stack (including Ethernet and PPP) and web server on a PIC.

Reply to
robertwessel2

The first part of this is sort of correct - uIP is designed for very low RAM usage so 8biters are more than capable of running it, but its use if far from limited to 8bit architecture.

The second part is not really correct - there is no requirement to use an RTOS to run uIP. In fact, I think the WEB server demo in the uIP download runs without an RTOS. You just need a way of measuring time to call the periodic functions.

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Richard.
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Reply to
FreeRTOS.org

Thanks for the link.

My intent is that the interface is only going to be used for firmware upgrades, so it shouldnt be that frequent.. the user may just have to live with the cumbersome winxp slip configuration when upgrading :)

btw, when I mentioned flash, I meant uploading the firmware to flash memory not serving up Adobe Flash based web pages :)

Reply to
benn

I think the OP meant "Flash memory", not "Flash animation". It's to allow firmware updates.

--Gene

Reply to
Gene S. Berkowitz

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Reply to
benn

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