ixp425-fw.README revision 1.4 
1$NetBSD: ixp425-fw.README,v 1.4 2017/02/10 23:11:30 tnn 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 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/13757/IXP400-Software-NPE-Microcode-v3-0-without-crypto
23
24SHA1 (IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-3_0.zip) = dda6b27265e6db3dfec68361644197c0f311a07b
25
26or the older version which is archived here:
27 https://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_4.zip
28
29SHA1 (IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_4.zip) = abf1562e750e16e6f9baf9892a59640f863a693e
30
31Select the "Download (without Crypto)" link in the "NPE Microcode"
32section. Note that there is no benefit in selecting the "with Cypto"
33microcode at this time since NetBSD does not support it.
34
35Note: At the time of writing (February 2017), the NPE Microcode is at
36version 3.0. However, the last known microcode version to work is 2.4.
37
38After clicking the link, you will be directed to a click-through license
39page. Assuming you agree to the terms of the license (and you are
40*strongly* advised to print it out and read it carefully) you will then
41be able to download a ZIP file containing the microcode.
42
43Extract the microcode under any decent Unix-like system using the "unzip"
44command provided with the OS, or with the version included in the pkgsrc
45collection under archivers/unzip:
46
47	$ unzip IPL_ixp400NpeLibrary-2_4.zip
48
49Next, you must generate a microcode image suitable for inclusion in the
50NetBSD kernel.
51
52	$ cd ixp400_xscale_sw/src/npeDl
53
54In this directory, create a file called IxNpeMicrocode.h, and populate
55it with the following two #defines:
56
57#define IX_NPEDL_NPEIMAGE_NPEB_ETH
58#define IX_NPEDL_NPEIMAGE_NPEC_ETH
59
60Note: If you know that you will only ever use Ethernet on NPE-B, you can
61omit the second line, and vice-versa.
62
63Now compile and run ixNpeDlImageConverter.c:
64
65	$ cc ixNpeDlImageConverter.c -o foo
66	$ ./foo
67
68Congratulations! You should now have a file called "IxNpeMicrocode.dat"
69in the current directory. Please take heed of the license you agreed to
70when you downloaded the Microcode. The license contains clauses which
71control the redistribution of this microcode object file.
72
73Now copy "IxNpeMicrocode.dat" to the sys/arch/arm/xscale directory in
74your NetBSD source tree. All you have to do now is run config(1) and
75build your kernel.
76
77If all went as planned, the Ethernet controller(s) will show up as npe0
78and npe1. That's all there is to it!
79
80It is planned that pkgsrc will, eventually, automate most of the above
81procedure.
82