[comp.realtime] VME Ethernet card selection

ghfeil@white.toronto.edu (Georg Feil) (02/27/90)

We are in the process of selecting an ethernet card for a 68020-based 
VME target system. We plan to develop using either VxWorks or Ready Systems'
VRTX32/Hyperlink tool set. 

For ethernet cards, we are considering the CMC ENP-10L and the Excelan
EXOS 202. The problem is that while the CMC card is quite a bit cheaper,
Ready Systems supports only the EXOS 202. I'd like to find out if anyone
out there has used a different ethernet card with the Ready Systems development
package. The Ready technical rep claims that it shouldn't be too hard
to convert their board support package to work with other ethernet cards,
but I don't want to take any chances.

Also, any other recommendations regarding VME ethernet cards would be
appreciated.

Thanks a lot,

Georg.
--
Georg Feil                                 Internet: ghfeil@white.toronto.edu
                                             -or-  : georg@sgl.ists.ca
..if all else fails, try:
{uunet,pyramid,watmath,utzoo}!utcsri!white!ghfeil      (UUCP)
ghfeil%white.toronto.edu@relay.cs.net                  (ARPA)

biocca@bevb.bev.lbl.gov (Alan Biocca) (03/01/90)

In article <1990Feb26.124855.16142@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> georg@sgl.ists.ca (Georg Feil) writes:
>We are in the process of selecting an ethernet card for a 68020-based 
>VME target system. We plan to develop using either VxWorks or Ready Systems'
>VRTX32/Hyperlink tool set. 
>
>For ethernet cards, we are considering the CMC ENP-10L and the Excelan
>EXOS 202. The problem is that while the CMC card is quite a bit cheaper,
>Ready Systems supports only the EXOS 202. I'd like to find out if anyone
>out there has used a different ethernet card with the Ready Systems development
>package. The Ready technical rep claims that it shouldn't be too hard
>to convert their board support package to work with other ethernet cards,
>but I don't want to take any chances.
>
>Also, any other recommendations regarding VME ethernet cards would be
>appreciated.

We have used Ready Systems products as well as VxWorks.  While they have each
had their problems we have chosen to discontinue Ready Systems and obtained
a site license for VxWorks.  Corporate indifference to support for older
versions has made support for Ready Systems developed products nearly
impossible.  Perhaps they won't do this again.  Having had direct experience
with ethernet interface software I'd be reluctant to accept 'shouldn't be
too hard' as an accurate estimate of the job.  Estimate 0.5-2 man months of
significantly talented hacking, and be prepared to double the estimate if
things go awry.  Network code can be difficult to debug.  With the number
of already supported network interfaces and software combinations it seems
unreasonable to select a combination that isn't already supported.  Our
experience with Excelan vs CMC was they both worked but the CMC worked
a bit better and generated fewer VME BUS anomalies.  Remarks apply to cards
of 2 years ago, probably changed now.  Currently we use Motorola 147 68030
CPUs with onboard ethernet interfaces.  They work quite well, save a bunch
of money and bus traffic versus 2-3 boards (cpu, crate controller, ethernet).

We found VRTX to be well documented but lower in performance and 
functionality than other real-time kernels (pSOS, WIND).  VRTX-32 is
supposed to be better, but was too late for our last project.
The relations between Ready Systems and Wind River Systems apparently
broke down and VxWorks doesn't support new VRTX kernels, (though they
support pSOS and WIND kernels).

Alan K Biocca
WB6ZQZ