1$NetBSD: ixp425-fw.README,v 1.1 2006/12/10 10:01:49 scw Exp $ 2 3IXP425 NPE Microcode 4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5 6The IXP425 contains up to three network co-processors called NPEs, 7"Network Processing Engines". These control all the networking features 8of the IXP425 and are usually supported by Access Library (AL) software 9and NPE microcode obtained from Intel. 10 11The AL source code and compiled object files are encumbered by a license 12which precludes its distribution with NetBSD. 13 14However, NetBSD includes source for a native driver for NPE Ethernet 15written by Sam Leffler. The driver requires that Intel's microcode is 16loaded onto the NPE, but since we cannot distribute the microcode, it 17must be downloaded from Intel's website after agreeing to their click- 18through license. 19 20You must grab the NPE microcode from here: 21 22 http://www.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixp400_current.htm 23 24Select the "Download (without Crypto)" link in the "NPE Microcode" 25section. Note that there is no benefit in selecting the "with Cypto" 26microcode at this time since NetBSD does not support it. 27 28Note: At the time of writing (December 2006), the NPE Microcode is at 29version 2.3. Newer versions may not work with NetBSD's native Ethernet 30driver. If this is the case, let us know via send-pr(1). 31 32After clicking the link, you will be directed to a click-through license 33page. Assuming you agree to the terms of the license (and you are 34*strongly* advised to print it out and read it carefully) you will then 35be able to download a ZIP file containing the microcode. 36 37Extract the microcode under any decent Unix-like system using the "unzip" 38command provided with the OS, or with the version included in the pkgsrc 39collection under archivers/unzip: 40 41 $ unzip IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_3.zip 42 43Next, you must generate a microcode image suitable for inclusion in the 44NetBSD kernel. 45 46 $ cd ixp400_xscale_sw/src/npeDl 47 48In this directory, create a file called IxNpeMicrocode.h, and populate 49it with the following two #defines: 50 51#define IX_NPEDL_NPEIMAGE_NPEB_ETH 52#define IX_NPEDL_NPEIMAGE_NPEC_ETH 53 54Note: If you know that you will only ever use Ethernet on NPE-B, you can 55omit the second line, and vice-versa. 56 57Now compile and run ixNpeDlImageConverter.c: 58 59 $ cc ixNpeDlImageConverter.c -o foo 60 $ ./foo 61 62Congratulations! You should now have a file called "IxNpeMicrocode.dat" 63in the current directory. Please take heed of the license you agreed to 64when you downloaded the Microcode. The license contains clauses which 65control the redistribution of this microcode object file. 66 67Now copy "IxNpeMicrocode.dat" to the sys/arch/arm/xscale directory in 68your NetBSD source tree. All you have to do now is run config(1) and 69build your kernel. 70 71If all went as planned, the Ethernet controller(s) will show up as npe0 72and npe1. That's all there is to it! 73 74It is planned that pkgsrc will, eventually, automate most of the above 75procedure. 76