Configuring Minicom
By now we hope that you've set up everything; the two PCs are up and running as well as connected to the hub, the ENP-2611 is powered on and is also connected to the hub. Login as "root" to your Linux machine and start a command prompt (or bash) terminal. You should now see a prompt similar to:
Now type the following command into your bash terminal and press <Enter>:
| [root@localhost ~]# minicom ixp2400 |
You should now see something similar to Figure 1, also known as "minicom". Minicom is a console-based application which allows users to interface with the serial port. In this case we will be using the serial port to talk to the RedBoot boot manager located on the ENP-2611. The RedBoot boot manager is discussed in our report.
Linux uses special files to represent devices (located in the "/dev" folder). The files "/dev/ttyS0" and "/dev/ttyS1" represent serial port's one and two of your PC, respectively. In the next few installation steps we will be assuming that your serial cable is attached to serial port two ("/dev/ttyS1") on your PC.
Press the keys <Ctrl>, 'A', 'O', sequentially on your keyboard. A new pane should appear in your minicom terminal similar to that shown in Figure 2. Now scroll down, using your keyboard, and select "Serial port setup" and press <Enter>. A new pane should now appear similar to Figure 3.
Notice how there are letters on the right-hand side of each field. These letters (i.e. Figure 4), when typed on your keyboard, select the field you wish to edit. For instance, if you wish to edit the "Serial Device" field, you would type 'A' and change it to "/dev/ttyS1" in my case.
Assuming your serial cable is attached to the second serial port now type 'E'. A new pane should appear in your minicom terminal similar to that shown in Figure 5. The ENP-2611 UART port requires us to operate 57600bps with eight data bits and one stop bit (also known as 8N1). This can be achieved by typing 'H' then 'Q'. You can verify that the changes took place by inspecting the "Current:" field at the top of the current pane. Press <Enter> to return to the previous menu.
The UART port does not support Hardware or Software flow control. If any of these settings are set to "Yes", type the letters ('F' or 'G') corresponding to these fields to turn them off. Your settings should now look similar to Figure 6.
Pressing <Enter> should now return us to the main menu (Figure 7). Now scroll down and select "Modem and dialing". A new pane should appear in your minicom terminal similar to that shown in Figure 8. This section specifies a set of strings that are used with standard dialup modems for communication. In our case we do not need these strings and to avoid any complications you should clear fields 'A' through 'L'. Your new configuration should look something like Figure 9.
Press <Enter> to return to the main screen and select "Save setup as ixp2400" (Figure 10). This should now save your settings permanently and you will be able to access this profile at any time by typing "minicom ixp2400", as you did before, in the shell prompt.
Sometimes, the settings don't take effect until you restart the minicom application. To quit minicom type <Ctrl>, 'A', 'Q' sequentially . A prompt should appear asking whether you are sure you want to quit minicom; select "Yes" to quit. Now start minicom the same way as above and press <Enter> a couple of times. You should now see the RedBoot prompt ("RedBoot>") as in Figure 11. In some cases the RadiSys boards boot directly to a diagnostics prompt which is something completely different. If you get nothing, try switching the serial cable to the other serial port. Also, make sure that the serial cable is properly connected to the ENP-2611 UART port.
We're nearly there. Now, the only thing left to do is setup the ENP v3.0 and IXA v3.51 SDKs as well as the MontaVista Preview Kit v3.0 (MVL 3.0).
Please note: the materials mentioned in the following sections are only available via the Intel, and RadiSys websites. (You should have a copy of the Intel IXA SDK v3.51 on CDs with your ENP-2611 kit). If you do not have any of the materials mentioned earlier you will not be able to perform the steps in the next section. The version numbers must be exactly the same, otherwise you will find yourself frustrated when trying to program the microengines via the Intel Workbench or booting MVL. Good to go? Open up another terminal! |
