diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/networking/z8530book.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/z8530book.rst | 256 |
1 files changed, 256 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/z8530book.rst b/Documentation/networking/z8530book.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..fea2c40e7973 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/z8530book.rst @@ -0,0 +1,256 @@ +======================= +Z8530 Programming Guide +======================= + +:Author: Alan Cox + +Introduction +============ + +The Z85x30 family synchronous/asynchronous controller chips are used on +a large number of cheap network interface cards. The kernel provides a +core interface layer that is designed to make it easy to provide WAN +services using this chip. + +The current driver only support synchronous operation. Merging the +asynchronous driver support into this code to allow any Z85x30 device to +be used as both a tty interface and as a synchronous controller is a +project for Linux post the 2.4 release + +Driver Modes +============ + +The Z85230 driver layer can drive Z8530, Z85C30 and Z85230 devices in +three different modes. Each mode can be applied to an individual channel +on the chip (each chip has two channels). + +The PIO synchronous mode supports the most common Z8530 wiring. Here the +chip is interface to the I/O and interrupt facilities of the host +machine but not to the DMA subsystem. When running PIO the Z8530 has +extremely tight timing requirements. Doing high speeds, even with a +Z85230 will be tricky. Typically you should expect to achieve at best +9600 baud with a Z8C530 and 64Kbits with a Z85230. + +The DMA mode supports the chip when it is configured to use dual DMA +channels on an ISA bus. The better cards tend to support this mode of +operation for a single channel. With DMA running the Z85230 tops out +when it starts to hit ISA DMA constraints at about 512Kbits. It is worth +noting here that many PC machines hang or crash when the chip is driven +fast enough to hold the ISA bus solid. + +Transmit DMA mode uses a single DMA channel. The DMA channel is used for +transmission as the transmit FIFO is smaller than the receive FIFO. it +gives better performance than pure PIO mode but is nowhere near as ideal +as pure DMA mode. + +Using the Z85230 driver +======================= + +The Z85230 driver provides the back end interface to your board. To +configure a Z8530 interface you need to detect the board and to identify +its ports and interrupt resources. It is also your problem to verify the +resources are available. + +Having identified the chip you need to fill in a struct z8530_dev, +which describes each chip. This object must exist until you finally +shutdown the board. Firstly zero the active field. This ensures nothing +goes off without you intending it. The irq field should be set to the +interrupt number of the chip. (Each chip has a single interrupt source +rather than each channel). You are responsible for allocating the +interrupt line. The interrupt handler should be set to +:c:func:`z8530_interrupt()`. The device id should be set to the +z8530_dev structure pointer. Whether the interrupt can be shared or not +is board dependent, and up to you to initialise. + +The structure holds two channel structures. Initialise chanA.ctrlio and +chanA.dataio with the address of the control and data ports. You can or +this with Z8530_PORT_SLEEP to indicate your interface needs the 5uS +delay for chip settling done in software. The PORT_SLEEP option is +architecture specific. Other flags may become available on future +platforms, eg for MMIO. Initialise the chanA.irqs to &z8530_nop to +start the chip up as disabled and discarding interrupt events. This +ensures that stray interrupts will be mopped up and not hang the bus. +Set chanA.dev to point to the device structure itself. The private and +name field you may use as you wish. The private field is unused by the +Z85230 layer. The name is used for error reporting and it may thus make +sense to make it match the network name. + +Repeat the same operation with the B channel if your chip has both +channels wired to something useful. This isn't always the case. If it is +not wired then the I/O values do not matter, but you must initialise +chanB.dev. + +If your board has DMA facilities then initialise the txdma and rxdma +fields for the relevant channels. You must also allocate the ISA DMA +channels and do any necessary board level initialisation to configure +them. The low level driver will do the Z8530 and DMA controller +programming but not board specific magic. + +Having initialised the device you can then call +:c:func:`z8530_init()`. This will probe the chip and reset it into +a known state. An identification sequence is then run to identify the +chip type. If the checks fail to pass the function returns a non zero +error code. Typically this indicates that the port given is not valid. +After this call the type field of the z8530_dev structure is +initialised to either Z8530, Z85C30 or Z85230 according to the chip +found. + +Once you have called z8530_init you can also make use of the utility +function :c:func:`z8530_describe()`. This provides a consistent +reporting format for the Z8530 devices, and allows all the drivers to +provide consistent reporting. + +Attaching Network Interfaces +============================ + +If you wish to use the network interface facilities of the driver, then +you need to attach a network device to each channel that is present and +in use. In addition to use the generic HDLC you need to follow some +additional plumbing rules. They may seem complex but a look at the +example hostess_sv11 driver should reassure you. + +The network device used for each channel should be pointed to by the +netdevice field of each channel. The hdlc-> priv field of the network +device points to your private data - you will need to be able to find +your private data from this. + +The way most drivers approach this particular problem is to create a +structure holding the Z8530 device definition and put that into the +private field of the network device. The network device fields of the +channels then point back to the network devices. + +If you wish to use the generic HDLC then you need to register the HDLC +device. + +Before you register your network device you will also need to provide +suitable handlers for most of the network device callbacks. See the +network device documentation for more details on this. + +Configuring And Activating The Port +=================================== + +The Z85230 driver provides helper functions and tables to load the port +registers on the Z8530 chips. When programming the register settings for +a channel be aware that the documentation recommends initialisation +orders. Strange things happen when these are not followed. + +:c:func:`z8530_channel_load()` takes an array of pairs of +initialisation values in an array of u8 type. The first value is the +Z8530 register number. Add 16 to indicate the alternate register bank on +the later chips. The array is terminated by a 255. + +The driver provides a pair of public tables. The z8530_hdlc_kilostream +table is for the UK 'Kilostream' service and also happens to cover most +other end host configurations. The z8530_hdlc_kilostream_85230 table +is the same configuration using the enhancements of the 85230 chip. The +configuration loaded is standard NRZ encoded synchronous data with HDLC +bitstuffing. All of the timing is taken from the other end of the link. + +When writing your own tables be aware that the driver internally tracks +register values. It may need to reload values. You should therefore be +sure to set registers 1-7, 9-11, 14 and 15 in all configurations. Where +the register settings depend on DMA selection the driver will update the +bits itself when you open or close. Loading a new table with the +interface open is not recommended. + +There are three standard configurations supported by the core code. In +PIO mode the interface is programmed up to use interrupt driven PIO. +This places high demands on the host processor to avoid latency. The +driver is written to take account of latency issues but it cannot avoid +latencies caused by other drivers, notably IDE in PIO mode. Because the +drivers allocate buffers you must also prevent MTU changes while the +port is open. + +Once the port is open it will call the rx_function of each channel +whenever a completed packet arrived. This is invoked from interrupt +context and passes you the channel and a network buffer (struct +sk_buff) holding the data. The data includes the CRC bytes so most +users will want to trim the last two bytes before processing the data. +This function is very timing critical. When you wish to simply discard +data the support code provides the function +:c:func:`z8530_null_rx()` to discard the data. + +To active PIO mode sending and receiving the ``z8530_sync_open`` is called. +This expects to be passed the network device and the channel. Typically +this is called from your network device open callback. On a failure a +non zero error status is returned. +The :c:func:`z8530_sync_close()` function shuts down a PIO +channel. This must be done before the channel is opened again and before +the driver shuts down and unloads. + +The ideal mode of operation is dual channel DMA mode. Here the kernel +driver will configure the board for DMA in both directions. The driver +also handles ISA DMA issues such as controller programming and the +memory range limit for you. This mode is activated by calling the +:c:func:`z8530_sync_dma_open()` function. On failure a non zero +error value is returned. Once this mode is activated it can be shut down +by calling the :c:func:`z8530_sync_dma_close()`. You must call +the close function matching the open mode you used. + +The final supported mode uses a single DMA channel to drive the transmit +side. As the Z85C30 has a larger FIFO on the receive channel this tends +to increase the maximum speed a little. This is activated by calling the +``z8530_sync_txdma_open``. This returns a non zero error code on failure. The +:c:func:`z8530_sync_txdma_close()` function closes down the Z8530 +interface from this mode. + +Network Layer Functions +======================= + +The Z8530 layer provides functions to queue packets for transmission. +The driver internally buffers the frame currently being transmitted and +one further frame (in order to keep back to back transmission running). +Any further buffering is up to the caller. + +The function :c:func:`z8530_queue_xmit()` takes a network buffer +in sk_buff format and queues it for transmission. The caller must +provide the entire packet with the exception of the bitstuffing and CRC. +This is normally done by the caller via the generic HDLC interface +layer. It returns 0 if the buffer has been queued and non zero values +for queue full. If the function accepts the buffer it becomes property +of the Z8530 layer and the caller should not free it. + +The function :c:func:`z8530_get_stats()` returns a pointer to an +internally maintained per interface statistics block. This provides most +of the interface code needed to implement the network layer get_stats +callback. + +Porting The Z8530 Driver +======================== + +The Z8530 driver is written to be portable. In DMA mode it makes +assumptions about the use of ISA DMA. These are probably warranted in +most cases as the Z85230 in particular was designed to glue to PC type +machines. The PIO mode makes no real assumptions. + +Should you need to retarget the Z8530 driver to another architecture the +only code that should need changing are the port I/O functions. At the +moment these assume PC I/O port accesses. This may not be appropriate +for all platforms. Replacing :c:func:`z8530_read_port()` and +``z8530_write_port`` is intended to be all that is required to port +this driver layer. + +Known Bugs And Assumptions +========================== + +Interrupt Locking + The locking in the driver is done via the global cli/sti lock. This + makes for relatively poor SMP performance. Switching this to use a + per device spin lock would probably materially improve performance. + +Occasional Failures + We have reports of occasional failures when run for very long + periods of time and the driver starts to receive junk frames. At the + moment the cause of this is not clear. + +Public Functions Provided +========================= + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/net/wan/z85230.c + :export: + +Internal Functions +================== + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/net/wan/z85230.c + :internal: |