IMX233 with ethernet 10/100

[vudinhminh]

I am new for IMX233, but i has experiences with ARM9 of Atmel. I want design a board used IMX233 with Ethernet 10/100. But IMX233 not support Ethernet 10/100. I need some sugget for my design! thank!

[mikeasa]

Hi john;

Not through the forums.

but through the Freescale's Sales rep; I was told that Linux has such drivers,...

the only thing on the forums is that the speed will be very low.

So I may have to use ethernet.

m

[mikeasa]

Thanks for the reply.

For the Ethernet over Usb; are there any codes, drivers, ... for imx23/28?

most likely freescale have done that in the past; I just don't know how to get them to reply!

I am new to this.

I have designed with TI, NXP, ... in the past.

It appears that TI has a much more active Forum with many TI engineers anwer forums everyday!

thanks.

[AhmetYUCE]

I did not measure exact bandwidth of iMX233 EVK's ethernet connection. Mainly, i use ethernet for nfs mounting of RFS for SW devepoment purposes. All i can say both on board SPI ethernet chip and ethernet over USB is considarably slow in comparison to iMX28's integrated ethernet. And for me, it's not useful for SW development connection because of its speed. If your product needs an ethernet connection with relatively low date rates, it could work for you.

Regards

Ahmet

[mikeasa]

Hi Ahmet;

Would you please explain more on your findings of USB ethernet dongle?

I like to try it; but worried on how much bandwidth can I get out of it.

In other words using the Usb to carry ethernet data.

Thank you.

Ahmet YUCE said:

Regarding iMX233, if you are planning to use ethernet for NFS, don't expect comfort and speed of Atmel AT91's with DM9000. iMX233 EVK's on board SPI ethernet interface is pretty sluggish, not useful for NFS mounting of RFS. Using USB ethernet gadget is better than SPI ethernet, but still not as fast as DM9000 + AT91SAM9261 or SAM9G10, tried and gave up.

I thing it is not possible to add DM9000 support to iMX233, since iMX's ADR and DATA pins are exclusive for DDR interface. In Atmel case theese pins can be used for various memory types with separate chip selects.This pin multiplexing scheme lets usage of same pins both for SDRAM and ISA BUS interface of DM9000.

As Bruce said, if you really need ethernet iMX28 family is a better alternative (for some variants even have better pricing than iMX233)

Regards
Ahmet

[kamejoko80]

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion

Obviously, we can't use the EMI bus, because it's intend for DDR memory interfacing. I mean using GPMI bus for this purpose, IMX233 supports 4 chip select lines for NAND Flash memory. Take a brief look the DM9000AE datasheet and  I recognized that DM9000AE interface protocol has a little same with NAND Flash memory ( command, index, data ...). Of course we can use iMX28, this is just my idea intend for who have already designed imx233 and want to improve the ethernet connectivity.

[AhmetYUCE]

Regarding iMX233, if you are planning to use ethernet for NFS, don't expect comfort and speed of Atmel AT91's with DM9000. iMX233 EVK's on board SPI ethernet interface is pretty sluggish, not useful for NFS mounting of RFS. Using USB ethernet gadget is better than SPI ethernet, but still not as fast as DM9000 + AT91SAM9261 or SAM9G10, tried and gave up. I thing it is not possible to add DM9000 support to iMX233, since iMX's ADR and DATA pins are exclusive for DDR interface. In Atmel case theese pins can be used for various memory types with separate chip selects.This pin multiplexing scheme lets usage of same pins both for SDRAM and ISA BUS interface of DM9000. As Bruce said, if you really need ethernet iMX28 family is a better alternative (for some variants even have better pricing than iMX233) Regards Ahmet

[kamejoko80]

I'm considering hacking of the imx233 GPMI bus. DM9000 allow the host interface via SRAM style interface bus. Maybe we need to modify the Linux kernel driver for this purpose.

[Balaji_ng]

You can use IMX233 with Micron SPI - Ethernet Bridge (ENC28J60/ENC424J600).

Micrel also has one SPI Ethernet Bridges.

[RobertSchwebel]

Hi,

I'd also suggest that you have a look at the MX28! Note that we have recently started a mainlining program for MX28, in order to fully support that chip in Linus' kernel!

More details here: http://www.pengutronix.de/software/mx28/index_en.html

Robert

[BruceChristense]

Also check out the i.MX28 family.  It is almost the same as teh i.MX23 family, they just add ethernet and support for DDR2.  I believe they lost some audio capabilities also.  May be a better fit for you.

[vudinhminh]

Hi Bharathi Subramanian !

Thank for you sugges!

I am HW Designer, i think USB I/F is very simple and not risk! I will design my board used USB I/F!

[BharathiSubrama]

I am not a HW guy :) 

1. Is it not possible to use the USB i/f ?

2. EMIF (Like in SMC91x on OMAP)

3. SPI (Like in i.MX 233 EVK)