= Gateworks Newport Family Support =
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#!html
}}}
[[PageOutline]]
The Gateworks Newport product family utilizes the Cavium ARM ThunderX CN80xx / CN81xx SoC (System On Chip) offering a large variety of peripherals with a focus on Networking, and Security. See here for a product comparison matrix.
= Links =
'''Please note: This is a subset of information for Newport, however, please visit our [wiki:WikiStart Main Wiki] for all other information'''
== Software ==
* [#firmware Firmware (up to and including the Bootloader)]
* [#bootloader U-Boot Bootloader]
* [#bsp Newport Board Support Packages and Operating Systems]
* [#linux Linux kernel support]
* [#third-party-linux Booting Third Party Linux Distro's on Newport]
* [#jtag Newport JTAG Programming]
== Peripheral Support ==
* [wiki:ventana/expansion Gateworks Expansion Modules - GW16081, GW16082, GW16083]
* [wiki:SPI SPI Support]
* [wiki:I2C I2C Support]
* [wiki:gpio/#gpiolib GPIO Control]
* [wiki:gpio/#led_class LED Control]
* [wiki:alternateconnectors Connector and Cable Information]
* [wiki:sata mSATA Information]
* [wiki:gps GPS Support]
* [wiki:canbus CAN Bus Support]
* [wiki:ventana/PCIe PCI/PCIe information]
* [wiki:minipciexpressmodules PCIe Accessory Cards]
* [wiki:ventana/simsd SIM and microSD Card Information]
* [wiki:gsc Gateworks System Controller (GSC)] - Temperature, voltage, RTC, GPIO, Digital IO, I/O, pushbutton, etc
* [wiki:enclosures Gateworks Enclosures]
== Performance / Processor / Memory / Power / Thermal ==
* [wiki:multicoreprocessing Multi Core Processing]
* [wiki:boot_speed Increasing Boot Speeds]
== Other Info ==
* [http://www.gateworks.com/product#newport Product Info]
* [http://shop.gateworks.com Where to Buy]
* [wiki:newport/errata Newport Board Errata]
* [wiki:linux/devicetree Linux Kernel Device-Tree info]
[=#jtag]
== JTAG Programming
The Gateworks JTAG dongle (GW16099) is available in the Newport Dev Kit as well as on the Gateworks web store [http://shop.gateworks.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=70_80 here]
All Newport boards have a 10-pin JTAG header which provides:
* JTAG Programming for embedded FLASH - see [wiki:jtag_instructions here] for instructions
* Serial Console access via UART0 (/dev/ttyAMA0)
Please Note:
* '''Linux software is supported for programming Newport (jtag_usbv4 required).''' Windows is not supported at this time.''' (serial console through Windows does work).
* '''JTAG Programming of eMMC has not been made available yet'''. You must boot from a microSD image to program or re-program eMMC flash
== User Manual ==
* [http://www.gateworks.com/usermanuals All Gateworks User Manuals]
== Processor Reference Manual / Datasheet / Errata ==
The [http://www.cavium.com/OCTEON-TX-CN80XX-81XX.html Cavium Website] contains details about the OCTEON TX Dual and Quad core 64bit ARM based SoC's.
Additional references:
* [http://www.cavium.com/pdfFiles/OCTEON-TX-CN80XX-CN81XX-Product-Brief-Rev1.pdf OCTEON TX CN80XX-CN81XX Product Brief]
[=#firmware]
= Firmware (Up to and including the Bootloader) =
The 'firmware-image' for Newport is defined as the combination of the First level 'boot stub' and the additional firmware stages through the bootloader. This can be broken down into the following stages:
* Boot ROM (internal on CN80XX/CN81XX SoC): fetch first level boot stub (192KB limit) from boot device (MMC or SPI FLASH)
* SPL (Secondary Program Loader)
* Bootloader (U-Boot)
For a Secondary Program Loader, or SPL, Gateworks currently uses the Cavium Board Development Kit (BDK) provided by their OCTEON-TX Software Development Kit (SDK). In this current implementation the Boot ROM loads and executes the BDK, the BDK loads and executes the ARM Trusted Firmware (ATF) and the ATF loads and executes the U-Boot bootloader in multiple stages as such:
* First level: Bootstub (firmware/bdk)
* Second level: ATF (firmware/atf)
* Third level: U-Boot (bootloader/u-boot)
Gateworks provides a pre-built firmware-image ready to flash onto boot devices as well as source for building and/or modifying the firmware yourself.
[=#bootrom]
== Boot ROM ==
The OCTEON-TX Boot ROM code loads an image from the primary boot device which can be either MMC or SPI FLASH. For a description of available boot devices see [#bootdevice below].
[=#bootdevice]
== Boot Device ==
Some boards have multiple boot device and may allow selection of which one is the 'primary boot device':
||= board =||= Primary Boot Device =||= Alternate Boot Device =||
|| GW630x || on board eMMC || microSD ||
To boot from the alternate boot device manually you can press-and-release the user pushbutton 5 times in a row and the board will power cycle primary power (the 3.3V LED will go off, then on again) and the board will boot from the alternate boot device.
Boards with an Alternate boot device also have a boot watchdog such that if the current boot device fails to boot within 30 seconds, the board will power cycle primary power and attempt boot from the other boot device.
[=#bootloader]
== U-Boot Bootloader ==
Gateworks supports the U-Boot Bootloader for the Newport product family. We provide pre-built firmware images (see [#firmware above) as well as source for building and/or modifying it yourself.
One of the primary features of the Bootloader is to provide access to the {{{hwconfig}}} environment variable that the firmware uses for initial board configuration on power-up.
[=#hwconfig]
=== hwconfig ===
The U-Boot Bootloader by convention provides a {{{hwconfig}}} environment variable which is used by the firmware (before U-Boot is loaded and executed) to configure board options at power-up. These options can include things such as:
* miniPCIe socket functions (ie PCIe vs mSATA vs USB 3.0)
* serial configuration (ie RS232 vs RS485)
[=#socketconfig]
==== hwconfig: miniPCIe Socket Configuration ====
Newport board model socket options:
* GW630x:
- J9: PCIe
- J10: PCIe or SATA
- J11: PCIe or USB 3.0
You can get/set the {{{hwconfig}}} variable within the U-Boot bootloader but you must reboot the board for it to take effect as the variable is acted upon in the Secondary Program Loader (SPL).
Examples:
* GW630x:
- J10 PCIe, J11 PCIe (default)
{{{#!bash
setenv hwconfig 'j10:pcie;j11:pcie'; saveenv
}}}
- J10 mSATA, J11 USB 3.0
{{{#!bash
setenv hwconfig 'j10:sata;j11:usb'; saveenv
}}}
- J9/J10 disabled, J11 PCIe
{{{#!bash
setenv hwconfig 'j9:disabled;j10:disabled;j11:pcie'; saveenv
}}}
'''Note that {{{hwconfig}}} is also used for serial configuration so care should be taken to preserve that configuration if used'''
[=#serialconfig]
==== hwconfig: serial Configuration ====
Many boards in the Newport product family provide a 5-pin off-board serial connector that provides the following options:
- 1x RS485 FD (UART2)
- 1x RS485 HD (UART2)
- 1x RS232 w/ hardware flow control (UART2)
- 2x RS232 w/o hardware flow control (UART2/UART3)
By default 2x RS232 with no flow control is enabled. To configure a different option use the {{{hwconfig}}} U-Boot env variable. The {{{mode}}} property of the {{{serial}}} option defines the initial configuration of the serial port(s). If RS485 is selected by the {{{mode}}} property the {{{term}}} property will select whether or not on-board termination is enabled.
The {{{mode}}} property can have the following values:
* rs232 - 2x RS232 (UART2/UART3) without hardware flow control (default if not specified)
* rs232_dtr - RS232 (UART2) with hardware flow control
* rs485_hd - RS485 half-duplex
* rs485_fd - RS485 full-duplex
Examples:
* enable RS485 half duplex no on-board termination
{{{#!bash
setenv hwconfig "serial:mode=rs485_hd,term=no"; saveenv
}}}
* enable RS485 full duplex with on-board termination
{{{#!bash
setenv hwconfig "serial:mode=rs485_fd,term=yes"; saveenv
}}}
* enable RS232 with hardware flow-control:
{{{#!bash
setenv hwconfig "serial:mode=rs232_dtr"; saveenv
}}}
'''Note that {{{hwconfig}}} is also used for serial configuration so care should be taken to preserve that configuration if used'''
[=#bsp]
= Board Support Packages (BSP) Software =
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#!html
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== Choosing a BSP ==
Gateworks offers several Board Support Packages for the Newport Product family. Which one we recommend depends a bit upon what your goal is and what your experience level is
* [#OpenWrtBoardSupportPackageBSP OpenWrt] - '''Coming Soon for Newport''' - intended for wireless routers and access points (low flash and memory footprint)
- '''Recommended for networking users wanting to create a headless router, VPN, basestation, wireless access point and more. Produces by far the smallest storage and memory footprint but users new to Embedded Linux will have a bit of a learning curve'''
- Fairly up-to-date and/or vanilla kernel support
- Latest wireless drivers (via linux-backports)
- Custom application config and init system (nice for small footprint, but can make adding support for additional packages more work)
- Wide variety of packages (including a fairly nice web-admin)
- Console-based build system (expect 60mins to build BSP for a specific board family)
- Downloadable SDK and Toolchain available to build apps on a development host without building the entire BSP
- Pre-built images available
* [#Ubuntu Ubuntu]
- '''Recommended for developers trying to heavily leverage opensource software packages or libraries that are not supported by the other BSP's. This is the most user-friendly for developers new to Embedded Linux but will not produce a very trimmed down filesystem image.'''
- Uses mainline kernel.
- Supports all Newport features.
- Documentation provided to use Ubuntu pre-built packages and debootstrap to create a root filesystem in minutes
- Native compilation: no SDK or cross-toolchain needed
The following table may also help in choosing what BSP is right for you:
||= Feature =||= OpenWrt =||= Ubuntu =||= Notes =||
|| Pre-built images || Yes || Yes || ||
|| Storage Needed || <256MB || 2GB or larger || ||
|| Build-System || Yes || No || 1 ||
|| Toolchain || SDK || Native || 2 ||
|| Web-Admin || Yes || No || 3 ||
1. The OpenWrt BSP contain an integrated build-system. Ubuntu has step-by-step instructions on how to build an bootable system in 10 or so steps.
2. The OpenWrt BSP provides a downloadable SDK for cross-compiling applications on a development hosts. For Ubuntu native development and compilation is supported.
3. The OpenWrt BSP is designed to be a wireless router and has an integrated web-admin for configuration and control.
[=#openwrt]
== OpenWrt Board Support Package (BSP) ==
'''Coming Soon'''
Newport OpenWrt BSP:
* [wiki:newport/openwrt#Step2.InstallingFirmware Pre-Built Binaries]
* [wiki:newport/openwrt Building/Installing OpenWrt w/ Gateworks Patches for the Newport Family]
* [wiki:OpenWrt Main OpenWrt Wiki Page]
* [wiki:OpenWrt/SDK#NewportNotes OpenWrt SDK Toolchain]
* join the [http://www.gateworks.com/mailman/listinfo maillist] to follow activity
* [wiki:OpenWrt/gpio GPIO and LED Configuration]
The Newport OpenWrt BSP provides the following:
* Linux 4.x kernel (fairly vanilla)
* latest wireless drivers (compat-wireless)
* tuned for minimal FLASH/memory footprint (entire distro fits on embedded 16MB FLASH)
[=#ubuntu]
== Ubuntu ==
Gateworks offers a pre-built Ubuntu distribution using the latest Gateworks kernel as well as instructions on how to build your own Ubuntu based distribution.
* [wiki:ventana/ubuntu Ubuntu Wiki and Software]
[=#third_party_linux]
= Third Party Linux Distros =
While Gateworks cannot fully support all Linux distros, it is relatively simple to overlay a Gateworks Newport kernel onto any non-Gateworks third party Linux distro rootfs image.
The following links will describe what is needed:
1. Linux kernel supporting Newport: [wiki:linux/kernel]
2. Root Filesystem: [#rootfs see below]
3. Bootable media: [wiki:linux/blockdev]
[=#rootfs]
=== Root filesystem Sources ===
There are several sources of pre-built root filesystems that are compatible with Newport. As Newport uses an ARM 64bit based SoC, you need to use something that is compatible with an ARMv8 instruction set. Many pre-built distributions will reference 'arm64' which means 'ARM 64-bit' which is appropriate for the CN80XX / CN81XX SoC.
Some popular third-party sources:
* [http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/releases/ Ubuntu Core] - this is a minimal filesystem that you can build off of at runtime by adding packages from various repositories.
* [https://releases.linaro.org/ Linaro] - Linaro has several root filesystems including server, nano, developer, core, and ALIP. Each root filesystem will have different things installed for different purposes. Choose carefully which will work for you.
Notes:
* some root filesystems may require you to manually add a user before booting (ie Ubuntu Core)
* the default Newport bootloader expects to find the Image in the /boot directory on the 2nd partition of type ext2/3/4
[=#mainline-linux]
= Mainline Linux Kernel support =
Gateworks actively participates in the development of the Linux kernel.
Cavium licenses CPU core IP from ARM and the name they give the CPU core within the OCTEON-TX CN80XX / CN81XX is the Cavium 'ThunderX'. Therefore many of the peripheral drivers within the Linux kernel have 'thunderx' in their name and more often then not the 'OCTEON' name refers to the older OCTEON MIP64 core.
The following table shows what OCTEON-TX CN80XX / CN81XX peripherals support is available in the mainline kernel starting from 4.13:
||= Feature =||= Support =||= Notes =||
|| [wiki:multicoreprocessing SMP] || Yes || ARCH_THUNDER ||
|| [wiki:serial] UART (SBSA) || Yes || SERIAL_AMBA_PL011 drivers/tty/serial/amba-pl011.c ||
|| [wiki:watchdog] Watchdog (SBSA) || Yes || ARM_SBSA_WATCHDOG drivers/watchdog/sbsa_gwdt.c ||
|| [wiki:I2C I2C] || Yes (4.9+) || I2C_THUNDERX drivers/i2c/busses/i2c-{octeon-core,thunderx-pcidrv}.c ||
|| Networking BGX (SGMII) || Yes (4.2+) || THUNDER_NIC_BGX drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/thunder_bgx.c ||
|| Networking RGX (RGMII) || Yes (4.9+) || THUNDER_NIC_RGX drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/thunder_xcv.c ||
|| PCI || Yes (4.6+) || PCI drivers/pci/host/pci-thunder-{ecam,pem}.c ||
|| [wiki:SPI SPI] || Yes (4.9+) || SPI_THUNDERX drivers/spi/spi-thunderx.c ||
|| [wiki:MultiMediaCard MultiMediaCard] eMMC / microSD || Yes (4.12+) || MMC_CAVIUM_THUNDERX drivers/mmc/host/thunderx-mmc.c ||
|| HW RNG (Hardware Random Number Generator) || Yes (4.9+) || HW_RANDOM_CAVIUM drivers/char/hw_random/cavium-rng*.c ||
|| HW Compressions offload || Yes (4.12+) || DEV_CAVIUM_ZIP drivers/crypto/cavium/zip.c ||
|| Crypto || Yes (4.11+) || DEV_CAVIUM_CPT drivers/crypto/cavium ||
|| [wiki:gsc#rtc RTC] || Yes || RTC_DRV_DS1672 drivers/rtc/rtc-ds1672.c ||
|| [wiki:gpio LED/GPIO] || Yes (4.14+) || GPIO_THUNDERX drivers/gpio/gpio-thunderx.c ||
|| [wiki:USB USB 3.0] || Yes || USB_XHCI_PCI ||
|| [wiki:sata mSATA] || Yes || SATA_AHCI ||
The following kernel configs should be enabled for the OCTEON-TX CN80XX / CN81XX:
* SERIAL_AMBA_PL011 - ARM SBSA UART
* MMC_CAVIUM_THUNDERX - MMC
* EDAC_THUNDERX - Error Detection and Correction (works with 'edac-util' app from 'edac-utils' package)
* GPIO_THUNDERX - General Purpose I/O
* SPI_THUNDERX - SPI Controller
* I2C_THUNDERX - I2C Controller
* THUNDERX_NIC_VF - NIC virtual function
* THUNDERX_NIC_PF - NIC physical function
* THUNDERX_NIC_BGX - Network Controller (selects MDIO_CAVIUM/MDIO_THUNDERX)
* THUNDERX_NIC_RGX - RGMII Network Controller (selects MDIO_CAVIUM/MDIO_THUNDERX)
* PCI_HOST_THUNDER_PEM - PCI host controller
* PCI_HOST_THUNDER_ECAM - Enhanced Configuration Access Mechanism for PCIe memory mapped I/O
* ARM_SBSA_WATCHDOG - ARMv8 Watchdog
* CRYPTO_DEV_CAVIUM_ZIP - Hardware Compression / Decompression off-load
* HW_RANDOM_CAVIUM - Hardware accelerated random number generator
Note that there are many kernel drivers using the name 'Octeon' but they typically refer to a different chipset and the CN80XX / CN81XX have more in common with the Cavium 'ThunderX' architecture as that is the SoC core.
For details on building a Linux kernel see [wiki:linux/kernel here]