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Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
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14 years ago

Cyclone II Ethernet

Hello everyone,

I want to interface my cyclone ii fpga with 10/100BASE-TX/FX Tranceiver which performs all of the physical layer interface functions for 10/100Base-T Ethernet. Is it possible to use Triple-Speed Ethernet MegaCore for this purpose? I'm a bit confused by all the documents offered by Altera and I'm not sure if that is possible to achieve. If it is possible, do I need the operating system to run ethernet or not?

Thanks,

Nikola

6 Replies

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    You can connect the TSE to a PHY chip using the MII interface, so check if MII is supported by your transceiver.

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    I've checked, it supports both MII and RMII. But I see that it is not easy to make an interface towards a phy chip on one side, and towards nios on the other side. I'm reading Triple Speed Ethernet User Guide and it says that for User Application (which I suppose is Nios) Avalon-ST is used, and for Management Application Avalon-MM is used. What is actually Management Application? Do I need to use RTOS to run the application using ethernet?

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    Try to use the Simple socket server example....after a period of studying and test...you will be able to modifying it for your aims....It's not an hard work...trust me ;)

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
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    14 years ago

    Thanks for the replies. Using Ethernet doesn't seem straightforward at all. Firstly, there are no detailed explanations on how to make it work in SOPC builder and, secondly, I thought that I could avoid MicroC/OS-II but apparently it needs to be used. Simple socket server example is based on it.