Re: [RFC][PATCH] bcmai: introduce AI driver

[George Kashperko <george@znau.edu.ua>]

> W dniu 7 kwietnia 2011 09:54 użytkownik Michael Büsch <mb@bu3sch.de> napisał:
> > On Thu, 2011-04-07 at 02:54 +0200, Rafał Miłecki wrote:
> >> W dniu 7 kwietnia 2011 02:00 użytkownik George Kashperko
> >> <george@znau.edu.ua> napisał:
> >> > For PCI function description take a look at PCI specs or PCI
> >> > configuration space description (e. g.
> >> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_configuration_space)
> >> >
> >> > Sorry for missleading short-ups, w11 - bcm80211 core, under two-head I
> >> > mean ssb/axi with two functional cores on same interconnect (like w11
> >> > +w11, not a lot of these exists I guess). Also there were some b43+b44
> >> > on single PCI ssb host and those where implemented as ssb interconnect
> >> > on multifunctional PCI host therefore providing separate access windows
> >> > for each function.
> >> >
> >> > Might I mussunderstood something (its late night here at my place) when
> >> > you where talking about using coreswitching involved for two drivers
> >> > therefore I remembered about those functions. Seems now you were talking
> >> > about chipcommon+b43 access sharing same window.
> >> >
> >> > As for core switching requirments for earlier SSB interconnects on PCI
> >> > hosts where there were no direct chipcommon access, that one can be
> >> > accomplished without spin_lock/mutex for b43 or b44 cores with proper
> >> > bus design.
> >> >
> >> > AXI doesn't need spinlocks/mutexes as both chipcommon and pci bridge are
> >> > available directly and b43 will be the only one requiring window access.
> >>
> >> Ahh, so while talking about 4 windows, I guess you counted fixes
> >> windows as well. That would be right, matching my knowledge.
> >>
> >> When asking question about amount of cores we may want to use
> >> simultaneously I didn't think about ChipCommon or PCIe. The real
> >> problem would be to support for example two 802.11 cores and one
> >> ethernet core at the same time. That gives us 3 cores while we have
> >> only 2 sliding windows.
> >
> > Would that really be a problem? Think of it. This combination
> > will only be available on embedded devices. But do we have windows
> > on embedded devices? I guess not. If AXI is similar to SSB, the MMIO
> > of all cores will always be mapped. So accesses can be done
> > without switch or lock.
> >
> > I do really think that engineers at broadcom are clever enough
> > to design a hardware that does not require expensive window sliding
> > all the time while operating.
Yes they are. As I've already mentioned earlier ssb/axi interconnects on
multifunctional pci bridges provide each function with separate sliding
windows, up to 4 functions on single pci bridge.

> 
> I also think so. When asking about amount of cores (non PCIe, non
> ChipCommon) which has to work simultaneously. I'm not sure if we will
> meet AI board with 2 cores (non PCIe, non ChipCommon) on PCIe host. I
> don't think we will see more than 2 cores (non PCIe, non ChipCommon)
> on PCIe host.
> 

Have nice day,
George