EDK on Virtex4 FX using embedded ethernet MAC
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From: David Hand on 24 Oct 2005 17:15 Pete, My advice is to not used the embedded MAC at all (soft or hard). You are far better of just using an external MAC+PHY chip. We used the soft EMAC core and have never stopped regretting it. You've already discovered the lack of proper tools, poor documentation, and long compile times, but even if you ignore that, just look at the cost. Example: According to the Temac datasheet, it can take up to 2800 slices. Let's say 2000. If you have an FPGA with 19000 slices for about $1000, that means your "FREE" MAC is costing you $105. This does not include any TCP offload. An example external chip is the AX88780 non-PCI MAC+PHY with TCP offload. You need an external PHY no matter what you do; for about the same board space and a couple dollars more cost, you can have the full MAC+PHY. Just my two cents. Thanks Pete wrote: > Hello > > I want to do a little EDK design that uses the embeded Tri-mode Ethernet MAC > (TEMAC) of the Virtex4 FX parts. EDK offers several options for Ethernet MAC > type but they are all soft MACs. The embedded MAC is a major selling point > for me because of the logic saved and because compiling the soft MACs takes > a long time. I will be connecting to a 10/100 switch using the MII port. > > Is there a convenient way to incorporate the embedded MAC into an EDK > project? > > Thank you for any suggestions. > > Pete Dudley > > |