NAME
tlp —
DECchip 21x4x and clone Ethernet
interfaces device driver
SYNOPSIS
tlp* at eisa? slot ?
tlp* at pci? dev ? function ?
tlp* at cardbus? function ?
Configuration of PHYs may also be necessary. See
mii(4).
DESCRIPTION
The
tlp device driver supports Ethernet interfaces based on
the DECchip 21x4x “Tulip” (DEC fourth generation Ethernet
controller) and a variety of clone chips. The Tulip has several features
designed to make it flexible and reduce CPU usage:
- Flexible receive filter allowing for 16 perfect matches,
16 perfect inverse matches, 512-bit hash table plus 1 perfect match, or
512-bit hash table only.
- Uniform transmit descriptor architecture, configurable
as a ring (allowing 2 buffers per descriptor) or a chain (allowing 1
buffer per descriptor).
- Uniform receive descriptor architecture, configurable as
a ring (allowing 2 buffers per descriptor) or a chain (allowing 1 buffer
per descriptor).
- Interrupt pacing; host may choose whether or not
completion of processing of an individual descriptor causes an
interrupt.
- Support for jumbo packets (by disabling transmit and
receive watchdog timers).
- A patented transmit backoff algorithm which solves the
Ethernet capture effect problem.
- Flexible bus modes to optimize DMA cycles for various
cache sizes and bus implementations.
- Programmable transmit FIFO drain threshold to allow DMA
overlap and reduce time to transmit.
- Flexible media attachment facilities.
The
tlp driver supports the following chips:
- DECchip 21040 -- This is the original
Tulip Ethernet chip. It supports 10Mb/s speeds over a built-in serial
interface. The serial interface has support for 10BASE-T and AUI media.
The AUI port may be connected to 10BASE5 AUI or 10BASE2 BNC connectors, or
both, selected by a gang jumper on the board. Some boards connect the BNC
connector to an external serial interface. The driver has no way of
knowing this, but the external serial interface may be selected with the
“manual” media setting.
Boards that include this chip include the DEC DE-435, on-board Ethernet on
many DEC AlphaStation and AlphaServer systems, ZNYX ZX312, ZX312T, ZX314,
ZX315, SMC 8432, SMC 8434, ACCTON EN1203, and some Cogent multi-port
boards.
This chip also appears on the DEC DE-425 EISA Ethernet board. This board is
a DECchip 21040 and a PLX PCI glue chip, which provides the interface to
the EISA bus, and special address decoding so that the PCI configuration
space registers of the 21040 are accessible in normal EISA I/O space.
The very first versions of this chip were labeled “DC1003” and
“DC1003 Prototype”.
- DECchip 21041 -- This is the second
chip in the Tulip family, dubbed “Tulip Plus”. It supports
10Mb/s speeds over a built-in serial interface. The serial interface has
support for 10BASE-T, 10BASE5 AUI, and 10BASE2 BNC media. The serial
interface also includes support for IEEE 802.3u NWay over the 10BASE-T
interface, for negotiation of duplex mode with the link partner.
Boards that include this chip include the DEC DE-450 and some SMC
boards.
- DECchip 21140 and 21140A -- This is
the third chip in the Tulip family, dubbed “FasterNet”. It
supports 10Mb/s speeds with a built-in 10BASE-T encoder/decoder, and
100Mb/s speeds with a built-in 100BASE PCS function. Support for
100BASE-TX and 100BASE-T4 is provided by a built-in scrambler. Support for
100BASE-FX is possible with an appropriate PMD connected to the 100BASE
PCS. The 21140 and 21140A also support 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s speeds over an
MII interface connected to one or more PHYs.
The 21140 and 21140A include a general purpose I/O facility, which may be
used to toggle relays on the board. This facility is often used to reset
individual board modules (e.g. the MII bus), select the output path of the
chip (e.g. connect the UTP port on the board to the PHY, built-in 10BASE-T
ENDEC, or built-in 100BASE-T PMD), or detect link status (by reading an
output pin on the 100BASE-T magnetics).
The 21140 and 21140A use a standardized data structure located in the SROM
to describe how the chip should be programmed for various media settings,
including the internal chip pathway, and GPIO settings. If the SROM data
is not in the standardized format, the device driver must know specific
programming information for that particular board.
Boards that include the 21140 and 21140A include the DEC EB140, DE-500XA,
DE-500AA, Asante EtherFast, DaynaPORT BlueStreak, Cogent EM100TX, EM110TX,
EM440T4 multi-port, Kingston KNE100TX, older versions of the NetGear
FA-310TX, SMC 9332, SMC 9334, ZNYX ZX34x multi-port, and Adaptec
ANA-6944A/TX multi-port.
- DECchip 21142 and 21143 -- These are
the fourth and fifth chips in the Tulip family. While they have two
different chip numbers, the 21142 and 21143 are essentially identical,
with only minor differences related to available technology at time of
manufacture. Both chips include support for 10Mb/s speeds over a built-in
serial interface, and support for 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s speeds over an MII
interface connected to one or more PHYs. The serial interface includes
support for 10BASE-T, 10BASE5 AUI, and 10BASE2 BNC media, as well as
support for IEEE 802.3u NWay over the 10BASE-T interface, for negotiation
of duplex mode and link speed with the link partner.
The 21143 adds support for 100Mb/s speeds with a built-in PCS function.
Support for 100BASE-TX and 100BASE-T4 is provided by a built-in scrambler.
Support for 100BASE-FX is possible with an appropriate PMD connected to
the 100BASE PCS.
The 21142 and 21143 include a general purpose I/O facility, which may be
used to toggle relays on the board. This facility is often used to reset
individual board modules (e.g. the MII bus), select the output path of the
chip (e.g. connect the UTP port on the board to the PHY, built-in serial
interface, or built-in 100BASE-T PMD), or detect link status (by reading
an output pin on the 100BASE-T magnetics).
The 21142 and 21143 use a standardized data structure located in the SROM to
describe how the chip should be programmed for various media settings,
including the internal chip pathway, and GPIO settings. If the SROM data
is not in the standardized format, the device driver must know specific
programming information for that particular board.
Boards that include the 21142 include the DEC EB142, and on-board Ethernet
on the Digital Personal Workstation (Alpha “Miata” and x86
models) and several Digital PCs.
Boards that include the 21143 include the DEC EB143, DE-500BA, several
commonly-available 100BASE-FX boards, the NetGear FA-510c CardBus card,
and the Compu-Shack FASTline-II PCI boards.
- Lite-On 82C168 and 82C169 -- These
chips, dubbed “PNIC”, were some of the first
commonly-available Tulip clones, appearing on low-cost boards when it
became difficult for board vendors to obtain DECchip 21140A parts. They
include support for 10Mb/s speeds over a built-in 10BASE-T
encoder/decoder, and 100Mb/s speeds over a built-in PCS function. Support
for 100BASE-TX and 100BASE-T4 is provided by a built-in scrambler and
transceiver module. The transceiver module also includes support for NWay,
for negotiating duplex mode and link speed with the link partner. These
chips also include support for 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s speeds over and MII
interface connected to one or more PHYs.
These chips also include a GPIO facility, although it is programmed
differently than the 21140's.
Unfortunately, these chips seem to be plagued by two unfortunate hardware
bugs: in some situations, the receive logic incorrectly dumps the entire
transmit FIFO into the receive chain, rather than a single Ethernet frame,
and the DMA engines appear to be substandard; they must be run in
store-and-forward mode, and occasionally fail to upload the filter setup
frame.
Boards that include the 82C168 and 82C169 include the newer NetGear
FA-310TX, the Kingston KNE110TX, and some older LinkSys LNE100TX
boards.
- Macronix 98713, 98713A, 98715, 98715A, and
98725 -- Of all the clones, these chips, dubbed “PMAC”,
are the best. They are very close clones of their respective originals,
with the exception of some slight programming magic necessary to work
around an apparent hardware bug.
The 98713 is a DECchip 21140A clone. It includes all of the 21140A's
features, and uses the same SROM data format.
The 98713A is a half-clone of the DECchip 21143. It has support for serial,
PCS, and MII media. The serial interface has a built-in NWay function.
However, the 98713A does not have a GPIO facility, and, as a result,
usually does not use the same SROM format as the 21143 (no need for GPIO
programming information).
The 98715, 98715A, and 98725 are more 21143-like, but lack the GPIO facility
and MII. These chips also support ACPI power management.
Boards that include the Macronix chips include some SVEC boards, some
SOHOWare boards, and the Compex RL100TX.
- Lite-On/Macronix 82C115 -- This chip,
dubbed the “PNIC-II”, was co-designed by Lite-On and Macronix.
It is almost identical to the Macronix 98725, with a few exceptions: it
has Wake-On-LAN support, uses a 128-bit receive filter hash table, and
supports IEEE 802.3x flow control.
Boards that include the 82C115 include the newer LinkSys (Version 2)
LNE100TX boards.
- Winbond 89C840F -- This chip is a very
low-end barely-a-clone of the 21140. It supports 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s speeds
over an MII interface only, and has several programming differences from
the 21140.
The receive filter is completely different: it supports only a single
perfect match, and has only a 64-bit multicast filter hash table. The
receive filter is programmed using special registers rather than the
standard Tulip setup frame.
This chip is also plagued by a terrible DMA engine. The chip must be run in
store-and-forward mode or it will often transmit garbage onto the wire.
Interrupt pacing is also less flexible on the chip.
Boards that include the 89C940F include the Complex RL100ATX, some Unicom
10/100 boards, and several no-name 10/100 boards.
- ADMtek AL981 -- This chip is a low
cost, single-chip (sans magnetics) 10/100 Ethernet implementation. It
supports 10Mb/s and 100Mb/s speeds over an internal PHY. There is no
generic MII bus; instead the IEEE 802.3u-compliant PHY is accessed via
special registers on the chip. This chip also supports Wake-On-LAN and
IEEE 802.3x flow control.
The receive filter on the AL981 is completely different: it supports only a
single perfect match, and has only a 64-bit multicast filter hash table.
The receive filter is programmed using special registers rather than the
standard Tulip setup frame.
This chip also supports ACPI power management.
A list of boards which include the AL981 is not yet available.
Support for the AL981 has not yet been tested. If you have a board which
uses this chip, please contact the author (listed below).
- Xircom X3201-3 -- This chip is a
CardBus 21143 clone with a loosely-coupled modem function (the modem is on
a separate CardBus function, but the MAC portion includes a shadow of its
interrupt status). Media is provided by an IEEE 802.3u-compliant PHY
connected to an MII interface. These chips have no SROM; instead, the MAC
address must be obtained from the card's CIS information. Unlike most
other Tulip-like chips, the X3201-3 requires that transmit buffers be
aligned to a 4-byte boundary. This virtually ensures that each outgoing
packet must be copied into an aligned buffer, since the Ethernet header is
14 bytes long.
This chip also supports ACPI power management.
This chip is found in Xircom RealPort(tm) 10/100 CardBus Ethernet/Modem
cards, as well as some Intel OEM'd RealPort(tm) and IBM Etherjet
cards.
- Davicom DM9102 and DM9102A -- These
chips are 21104A-like with a few minor exceptions. Media is provided by an
internal IEEE 802.3u-compliant PHY accessed as if it were connected to a
normal MII interface. The DM9102A also provides an external MII interface,
to which a HomePNA 1 PHY is typically connected. The DM9102A also includes
support for CardBus.
This chip also supports ACPI power management and Wake-On-LAN.
A complete list of boards with the DM9102 and DM9102A is not available.
However, the DM9102 is often found on PC motherboards that include a
built-in Ethernet interface.
- ASIX AX88140A and AX88141 -- These
chips are 21143-like with some exceptions. Media is proved by an internal
IEEE 802.3u-compliant PHY connected to an MII interface. Unlike most other
Tulip-like chips, AX88140A and AX88141 both require that the transmit
buffers be aligned to a 4-byte boundary.
It has a specific broadcast bit.
This chip also supports ACPI power management.
A list of boards which include the AX88140A or the AX88141 is not yet
available.
- Conexant RS7112 (LANfinity) -- These
chips are 21143 clones with coupled modem function. Media is provided by
an IEEE 802.3u-compliant PHY connected to an MII interface.
A list of boards which include the RS7112 is not yet available.
Media selection done using
ifconfig(8) using the standard
ifmedia(4) mechanism. Refer to
those manual pages for more information.
SEE ALSO
arp(4),
eisa(4),
ifmedia(4),
mii(4),
netintro(4),
pci(4),
ifconfig(8)
Digital Equipment Corporation,
DECchip 21040 Ethernet LAN Controller for PCI Hardware
Reference Manual, May 1994,
Order Number EC-N0752-72.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
DECchip 21041 PCI Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware Reference
Manual, Preliminary, April
1995, Order Number EC-QAWXA-TE.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
DECchip 21041 DC1017-BA Errata,
Revision 1.0, April 27,
1995, Order Number EC-QD2MA-TE.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
DECchip 21140 PCI Fast Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware
Reference Manual, Supersedes EC-Q0CA-TE,
May 1995, Order Number
EC-Q0CB-TE.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
DECchip 21140A PCI Fast Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware
Reference Manual, Supersedes EC-QN7NA-TE,
EC-QN7NB-TE, January 1996,
Order Number EC-QN7NC-TE.
Intel Corporation,
21143 PCI/CardBus 10/100Mb/s Ethernet LAN Controller
Hardware Reference Manual, Revision 1.0,
October 1998, Document Number
278074-001.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
Ethernet Address ROM Programming: An Application
Note, April 1994, Order
Number EC-N3214-72.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
Using the DECchip 21041 with Boot ROM, Serial ROM, and
External Register: An Application Note, April
1995, Order Number EC-QJLGA-TE.
Digital Equipment Corporation,
Connecting the DECchip 21140 PCI Fast Ethernet LAN
Controller to the Network: An Application Note,
Preliminary, December 1994,
Order Number EC-QAR2A-TE.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98713 PMAC 100/10BASE PCI MAC Controller,
Revision 1.1, November 8,
1996, Part Number: PM0386.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98713A Fast Ethernet MAC Controller,
Revision 1.0, August 28,
1997, Part Number: PM0489.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98715A Single Chip Fast Ethernet NIC
Controller, Revision 1.2,
February 24, 1999, Part Number:
PM0537.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98725 Single Chip Fast Ethernet NIC
Controller, Revision 1.7,
September 15, 1998, Part Number:
PM0468.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98715 Application Note,
Revision 1.5, October 9,
1998, Part Number: PM0498.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98715A Application Note,
Revision 1.2, October 9,
1998, Part Number: PM0541.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC MX98725 Application Note,
Revision 1.1, July 10, 1998,
Part Number: PM0525.
Macronix International Co., Ltd.,
MXIC LC82C115 Single Chip Fast Ethernet NIC
Controller, Revision 0.2,
February 12, 1999, Part Number:
PM0572.
LITE ON, Inc., PNIC
Hardware Specification, Revision 1.0,
December 1, 1994.
ADMtek Incorporated,
Comet: AL981 PCI 10/100 Fast Ethernet Controller with
Integrated PHY, Revision 0.93,
January, 1999.
Winbond Electronics Corporation,
Winbond LAN W89C840F 100/10Mbps Ethernet Controller,
Revision A1, April
1997.
Xircom X3201-3 CardBus 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
Controller Software Developer's Specification,
Revision B, April 7, 1999,
Reference number: 103-0548-001.
Davicom DM9102 10/100 Mbps Single Chip LAN
Controller, Version DM9102-DS-F01,
July 22, 1999.
Davicom DM9102A Single Chip Fast Ethernet NIC
Controller, Version DM9102A-DS-F01,
January 20, 2000.
ASIX Electronics Co.,
ASIX AX88140A 100BaseTX/FX PCI Bus Fast Ethernet MAC
Controller, Preliminary,
March 11, 1997, Document Number
AX140D2.DOC.
Conexant Systems, Inc.,
LANfinity - Home Networking Physical Layer Device with
Integrated Analog Front End Circuitry, Revision
A, March 12, 1999.
HISTORY
The
tlp driver first appeared in
NetBSD
1.5.
AUTHORS
The
tlp driver was written by
Jason R.
Thorpe while employed at the Numerical Aerospace Simulation Facility,
NASA Ames Research Center. The author may be contacted at
⟨thorpej@NetBSD.org⟩.
ASIX AX88140A and AX881401 support was added by
Rui
Paulo ⟨rpaulo@NetBSD.org⟩.
Conexant RS7112 support was contributed by
Frank Wille
⟨frank@phoenix.owl.de⟩.
BUGS
Media autosense is not yet supported for any serial or PCS function media. It
is, however, supported for IEEE 802.3u-compliant PHY media.