miniPCI pci_mem only (no pci_IO)

[flameman]

hi
as the fact the routerstation/pro (by ubiquiti) has a (mini)pci implementation which does not work with pci_IO (the pci controller is missing of that feature, and perrforms only pci_mem), i need a list of mini pci_mem only boards

i need to add sata, uart, and a second usb port to the 3 miniPci slots

anyidea ? any catalog in where to choose pci_mem only hw ?

[roarinelk]

I doubt very much that except for WLAN hardware you're going to find a
SATA and USB PCI adapters in mini pci form factor, tailor made for the
crippled PCI implementation of the routerstation.
IO space is a PCI standard; the fact that the routerstation omits it should
be enough clue that they didn't intend it to be extended with any hardware
other than their own WLAN cards.

A quick survey on my own machines shows the following MMIO-only chips:
- NEC uPD720200 (USB3)
- Jmicron 363 (SATA/IDE)
- TI TSB43AB23 (Firewire)
- SAA7146 (media bridge [DVB, ATSC])
- Atheros AR9285 (wlan device)

Good luck finding mini-pci cards with those (except the last one, which is a mini-pcie afaik).

[flameman]

[flameman]

do you know if there ara miniPCI Prototype Boards around ?
i mean something with CPLD or FPGA in miniPCI factor, pretty compliant with electrical PCI specification ?
i know there is something similar for pci card: xilinx has a kit, for pci 32bit/5V, very easy

it's just an idea, in case i will not find anything useful
(i am able to write linux kernel modules, i am not so good about vhdl, but ... mybe it is the gread excuse i will have to really learn it)

[roarinelk]

sorry, no, but maybe you can find a prototype board with
a cable mini-PCI connector?

Good luck with your do-it-yourself approach :) You'll need a LOT of time
though. And slapping together a few OpenCores designs is unfortunately not
enought, as they're usually very buggy, often in very subtle ways.

[flameman]

i have never developed anything with pci
i have developed a tiny local bus controller for a motorola board using CPLD, and well, 3 weeks of works, fighting with xilinx ISE and a lot of issues

from what i hear from you, i imagine the project we are talking about is harder a lot
so, let me ask: any bad experience with fpga and opencore ? how buggy are them ?


p.s.
i have only found the xilinx pci dev kit, a pretty big board with fpga and pci 5V/32bit interface
dunno about how much it costs, and how buggy is it ...

[roarinelk]

in the end PCI is like any other bus system with address/data and strobe signals.
Get a development system which offers PCI as a hard IP to add to your custom
design Creating a PCI slave interface is a lot of work, trust me.


We used one of their PCI, UART, I2C and SPI controller designs, and they all required lots
of debugging in their wishbone interface (we glued them to a "standard"
32bit bus interface offered by the majority of SoC's out there). In the
end I wrote UART and SPI controller myself (they're simple enough) and a linux
driver for the SPI part.

The PCI core was debugged by a colleague who sent the bugfixes to the author
of the design. The reply he received was basically 'yes I know about those bugs
they're in there so companies using these cores can pay me to fix them'.

[flameman]

well, the story has begun when i needed to transfer sata data for an external hard drive, used as data logger, and 1Mbit/sec for 4 canbus lines, and other stuff for a total of about 20..25Mbyte/sec
routerstation already has an usb.gen2 port, usb.gen 2 is fast enought, but the only usb2 port is already used for other stuff, and i do not like usb-hub
so, as the fact i need a sata controller, to be plugget nto miniPCI, i start thinking that pci is fast and good enought to accomodate all also the 25Mbyte/sec i need to acquire
also, using pci should also be pretty enough good from the "design" point of view

but well, you are right, life is short, no time to spare

so i accept your suggestion, and i will add a miniPCI usb (1), and i will develop a un usb.gen2/urb-bulk device, designing a custom specific usb class device
I have already done similar job, "submitting bulk" usb request bus in both the endpoint, so it will be short and fun

I don't know how to add a sata controller using a pci_mem only: I have not found it =(
so, for the external hard drive data logger, I will use usb, too.

(1) I have ordered 2 miniPCI usb modules that should be miniPCI_mem only, i have payed just $50 each, and now i am waiting for my parcel, (I think they should already be on their way), so when they will be arrived, I will have only to verify if they are reallyis mem_only compliant: if it is, the story ends in happiness, while If it is not, well ... i also have rb532 atheros router station, which is pci_IO&pci_mem compliant while it is missing of the usb

(no money trash =P, happy short story, in any case =P )


that's all folks

[legacy]

Hi
i have the same problem

i have seen this board running on a linux box
and this log is what the linux sees in PCI space:

[roarinelk]

Look at lspci -v info.
For example the 2 USB host controllers on ICH7.

The UHCI one uses IO ports, while the EHCI one uses IO memory.

[legacy]

thank you
i am becoming crazy because i can't find any mini pci USB adaptor which is pci-mem only
i have contacted a seller asking him to perform the "lspci -v info" test