PCMCIA support...

Hello All

I have a TI DSP TMS320C6415 device on a PCI compatible

board.
Also, I have a TI DSP TMS320C6415 device driver on
Windows 2000/XP for this
chip.

I plan to buy a PCMCIA to PCI bridge to connect my
device to a laptop with
PCMCIA interface.

I would like to know whether the same device driver
code will work on a
laptop with PCMCIA interface?
If not, what are the kind of changes I would need to
do the driver code?

Thanks in advance.

Regards
Anks


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Anks,

Here’s a vague and general answer to your question.

If you look in the DDK you’ll see a section on support for PCMCIA bus. You
will notice that its quite limited in scope, relating only to alternative
ways of accessing the hardware resources. That is because it only covers the
differences between PCI and PCMCIA.

There are differences in the options available for accessing card memory,
but the principles that apply for PCI usually also apply to PCMCIA. So yes,
the driver should be the least of your worries. You’ll definitely have more
to do on the hardware and firmware side.

I’m not familiar with your hardware so I can’t say for sure if there are any
special difficulties you might encounter there. If you set up the CIS to
correclty indicate the resource needs and characteristics of the card, then
the rest should be smooth running. Famous last words…

If you need to create alternative configurations or set specific resource
address ranges etc, then you’ll need to do some work in the INF file. That
is not, I freely admit, my strong point. Yuk. Can’t even say for sure if
would be different from PCI.

Also your PCMCIA card is hot pluggable. So the PnP and Power management
support in your PCI driver can be stressed in ways that weren’t really
testable before. That might jump up and bite you, depending on its quality
and providence.

There are a few other things to think about. If your card has a volatile
internal state, then removal and replacement will become a new situation for
which you might not have a ready solution in your existing code. As an
illustration of what I mean, a crypto card that destroys its cipher keys
upon device removal or power down, would need to be reinitialized and
reloaded with keys on replacement and/or power up.

If you need to do more esoteric PCMCIA things, like manipulate the voltage
on the card (for programming flash memory?) then that would also need
changes.

Lastly, I’m currently experiencing a problem with XP SP1 and a PCMCIA card.
I have heard it rumoured that PCMCIA support on XP is not as general as it
was on 2000. Others on this newsgroup mentioned difficulties with SP2. So it
could be that there are glitches, problems, or maybe just differences,
lurking in the operating system support. So you would be well advised to
test with 2000, XP, SP1 and SP2. Of course you would do that anyway, right?

Hope this helps,

Jack.

“an na” wrote in message news:xxxxx@ntdev…
> Hello All
>
> I have a TI DSP TMS320C6415 device on a PCI compatible
>
> board.
> Also, I have a TI DSP TMS320C6415 device driver on
> Windows 2000/XP for this
> chip.
>
> I plan to buy a PCMCIA to PCI bridge to connect my
> device to a laptop with
> PCMCIA interface.
>
> I would like to know whether the same device driver
> code will work on a
> laptop with PCMCIA interface?
> If not, what are the kind of changes I would need to
> do the driver code?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards
> Anks
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
> http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
>

hi Jack,
thanks a lot for ur reply. i hope there wont be any
problem for PCMCIA.

regards
Anks
xxxxx@lists.osr.com
wrote:
> Anks,
>
> Here’s a vague and general answer to your question.
>
> If you look in the DDK you’ll see a section on
support for PCMCIA bus. You
> will notice that its quite limited in scope,
relating only to alternative
> ways of accessing the hardware resources. That is
because it only covers the
> differences between PCI and PCMCIA.
>
> There are differences in the options available for
accessing card memory,
> but the principles that apply for PCI usually also
apply to PCMCIA. So yes,
> the driver should be the least of your worries.
You’ll definitely have more
> to do on the hardware and firmware side.
>
> I’m not familiar with your hardware so I can’t say
for sure if there are any
> special difficulties you might encounter there. If
you set up the CIS to
> correclty indicate the resource needs and
characteristics of the card, then
> the rest should be smooth running. Famous last
words…
>
> If you need to create alternative configurations or
set specific resource
> address ranges etc, then you’ll need to do some work
in the INF file. That
> is not, I freely admit, my strong point. Yuk. Can’t
even say for sure if
> would be different from PCI.
>
> Also your PCMCIA card is hot pluggable. So the PnP
and Power management
> support in your PCI driver can be stressed in ways
that weren’t really
> testable before. That might jump up and bite you,
depending on its quality
> and providence.
>
> There are a few other things to think about. If your
card has a volatile
> internal state, then removal and replacement will
become a new situation for
> which you might not have a ready solution in your
existing code. As an
> illustration of what I mean, a crypto card that
destroys its cipher keys
> upon device removal or power down, would need to be
reinitialized and
> reloaded with keys on replacement and/or power up.
>
> If you need to do more esoteric PCMCIA things, like
manipulate the voltage
> on the card (for programming flash memory?) then
that would also need
> changes.
>
> Lastly, I’m currently experiencing a problem with XP
SP1 and a PCMCIA card.
> I have heard it rumoured that PCMCIA support on XP
is not as general as it
> was on 2000. Others on this newsgroup mentioned
difficulties with SP2. So it
> could be that there are glitches, problems, or maybe
just differences,
> lurking in the operating system support. So you
would be well advised to
> test with 2000, XP, SP1 and SP2. Of course you would
do that anyway, right?
>
> Hope this helps,
>
>
> Jack.
>
>
> “an na” wrote in message
news:xxxxx@ntdev…
> > Hello All
> >
> > I have a TI DSP TMS320C6415 device on a PCI
compatible
> >
> > board.
> > Also, I have a TI DSP TMS320C6415 device driver on
> > Windows 2000/XP for this
> > chip.
> >
> > I plan to buy a PCMCIA to PCI bridge to connect my
> > device to a laptop with
> > PCMCIA interface.
> >
> > I would like to know whether the same device
driver
> > code will work on a
> > laptop with PCMCIA interface?
> > If not, what are the kind of changes I would need
to
> > do the driver code?
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Regards
> > Anks
> >
> >
> >
=== Message Truncated ===

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