Книга: Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical, Real-World Approach

3.2.2. AMCC PowerPC

3.2.2. AMCC PowerPC

Some of the examples later in this book are based on the AMCC PowerPC 440EP Embedded Processor. The 440EP is a popular integrated processor found in many networking and communications products. The following list highlights some of the features of the 440EP:

• On-chip dual-data-rate (DDR) SDRAM controller

• Integrated NAND Flash controller

• PCI bus interface

• Dual 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports

• On-chip USB 2.0 interface

• Up to four user-configurable serial ports

• Dual I ² C controllers

• Programmable Interrupt Controller

• Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) controller

• Programmable timers

• JTAG interface for debugging

This is indeed a complete system on chip (SOC). Figure 3-2 is a block diagram of the AMCC PowerPC 440EP Embedded Processor. With the addition of memory chips and physical I/O hardware, a complete high-end embedded system can be built around this integrated microprocessor with minimal interface circuitry required.

Figure 3-2. AMCC PPC 440EP Embedded Processor (Courtesy AMCC Corporation)

Many manufacturers offer reference hardware platforms to enable a developer to explore the capabilities of the processor or other hardware. The examples later in this book (Chapters 14, "Kernel Debugging Techniques"; and 15, "Debugging Embedded Linux Applications") were executed on the AMCC Yosemite board, which is the company's reference platform containing the 440EP shown in Figure 3-2.

Numerous product configurations are available with PowerPC processors. As demonstrated in Figure 3-2, the AMCC 440EP contains sufficient I/O interfaces for many common products, with very little additional circuitry. Because this processor contains an integrated floating-point unit (FPU), it is ideally suited for products such as network-attached imaging systems, general industrial control, and networking equipment.

AMCC's PowerPC product lineup includes several configurations powered by two proven cores. Their 405 core products are available in configurations with and without Ethernet controllers. All 405 core configurations include integrated SDRAM controllers, dual UARTs for serial ports, I ² C for low-level onboard management communications, general-purpose I/O pins, and integral timers. The AMCC 405 core integrated processors provide economical performance on a proven core for a wide range of applications that do not require a hardware FPU.

The AMCC 440-based core products raise the performance level and add peripherals. The 440EP featured in some of our examples includes a hardware FPU. The 440GX adds two triple-speed 10/100/1000MB Ethernet interfaces (in addition to the two 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports) and TCP/IP hardware acceleration for high-performance networking applications. The 440SP adds hardware acceleration for RAID 5/6 applications. All these processors have mature Linux support. Table 3-1 summarizes the highlights of the AMCC 405xx family.

Table 3-1. AMCC PowerPC 405xx Highlights Summary

See the AMCC website, at www.amcc.com/embedded, for complete details.

Table 3-2 summarizes the features of the AMCC 440xx family of processors.

Table 3-2. AMCC PowerPC 440xx Highlights Summary

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