Two Ethernet MAC with AM335x

Oliver Schlenker

At the moment we are evaluating AM335x processor to use in a project where we have a requirement of two Ethernet MAC ports. To be more a little bit more precise, this project requires a Linux operating system with two ethernet interfaces, e.g. eth0 and eth1, working with different MAC addresses. Is this possbile with AM335x processor series ? If yes, which chip has to be used, one with PRU or without ?

over 13 years ago

0 Darrin Hansen over 13 years ago

Intellectual 810 points

Any of the AM335X devices would work: you don't need the PRU's (in fact, the PRU's currently can do this).

Here are some posts that you may find useful:

http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/sitara_arm174_microprocessors/f/791/p/176895/637112.aspx

http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/sitara_arm174_microprocessors/f/791/p/166595/607877.aspx

http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/sitara_arm174_microprocessors/f/791/t/203416.aspx

http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/sitara_arm174_microprocessors/f/791/t/199705.aspx

Or just search the forum for "dual MAC".

Darrin

0 Oliver Schlenker over 13 years ago in reply to Darrin Hansen

Prodigy 120 points

Thank you for the clarification.

According to your answer I understand that, in addtion to the Dual Mac feature of the CPSW, PRU's can be used as additional standard ethernet ports, running a standard TCP/IP-stack on it ?

Is there any special firmware for the PRU's necessary/available ?

Oliver

0 Darrin Hansen over 13 years ago in reply to Oliver Schlenker

Intellectual 810 points

No, the PRU's cannot be used for standard TCP/IP protocols at this time, but this is something that I know TI has been prodded to implement. The PRUs are currently only for real-time industrial protocols (like EtherCAT), at least as provided by TI. Users can create their own PRU code (if you search the forum you will find some that have done this for simple high-performance behaviors), but implementing a complete MAC (like the existing onboard MAC) would be far beyond the capabilities of most end-users.

Darrin

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Two Ethernet MAC with AM335x