d) Xilinx IP cores The Xilinx EDK toolchain ships with a set of IP cores (devices) for use in Xilinx Spartan and Virtex FPGAs. The devices cover the whole range of standard device types (network, serial, etc.) and miscellaneous devices (gpio, LCD, spi, etc). Also, since these devices are implemented within the fpga fabric every instance of the device can be synthesised with different options that change the behaviour. Each IP-core has a set of parameters which the FPGA designer can use to control how the core is synthesized. Historically, the EDK tool would extract the device parameters relevant to device drivers and copy them into an 'xparameters.h' in the form of #define symbols. This tells the device drivers how the IP cores are configured, but it requires the kernel to be recompiled every time the FPGA bitstream is resynthesized. The new approach is to export the parameters into the device tree and generate a new device tree each time the FPGA bitstream changes. The parameters which used to be exported as #defines will now become properties of the device node. In general, device nodes for IP-cores will take the following form: (name): (generic-name)@(base-address) { compatible = "xlnx,(ip-core-name)-(HW_VER)" [, (list of compatible devices), ...]; reg = <(baseaddr) (size)>; interrupt-parent = <&interrupt-controller-phandle>; interrupts = < ... >; xlnx,(parameter1) = "(string-value)"; xlnx,(parameter2) = <(int-value)>; }; (generic-name): an open firmware-style name that describes the generic class of device. Preferably, this is one word, such as 'serial' or 'ethernet'. (ip-core-name): the name of the ip block (given after the BEGIN directive in system.mhs). Should be in lowercase and all underscores '_' converted to dashes '-'. (name): is derived from the "PARAMETER INSTANCE" value. (parameter#): C_* parameters from system.mhs. The C_ prefix is dropped from the parameter name, the name is converted to lowercase and all underscore '_' characters are converted to dashes '-'. (baseaddr): the baseaddr parameter value (often named C_BASEADDR). (HW_VER): from the HW_VER parameter. (size): the address range size (often C_HIGHADDR - C_BASEADDR + 1). Typically, the compatible list will include the exact IP core version followed by an older IP core version which implements the same interface or any other device with the same interface. 'reg' and 'interrupts' are all optional properties. For example, the following block from system.mhs: BEGIN opb_uartlite PARAMETER INSTANCE = opb_uartlite_0 PARAMETER HW_VER = 1.00.b PARAMETER C_BAUDRATE = 115200 PARAMETER C_DATA_BITS = 8 PARAMETER C_ODD_PARITY = 0 PARAMETER C_USE_PARITY = 0 PARAMETER C_CLK_FREQ = 50000000 PARAMETER C_BASEADDR = 0xEC100000 PARAMETER C_HIGHADDR = 0xEC10FFFF BUS_INTERFACE SOPB = opb_7 PORT OPB_Clk = CLK_50MHz PORT Interrupt = opb_uartlite_0_Interrupt PORT RX = opb_uartlite_0_RX PORT TX = opb_uartlite_0_TX PORT OPB_Rst = sys_bus_reset_0 END becomes the following device tree node: opb_uartlite_0: serial@ec100000 { device_type = "serial"; compatible = "xlnx,opb-uartlite-1.00.b"; reg = ; interrupt-parent = <&opb_intc_0>; interrupts = <1 0>; // got this from the opb_intc parameters current-speed = ; // standard serial device prop clock-frequency = ; // standard serial device prop xlnx,data-bits = <8>; xlnx,odd-parity = <0>; xlnx,use-parity = <0>; }; That covers the general approach to binding xilinx IP cores into the device tree. The following are bindings for specific devices: i) Xilinx ML300 Framebuffer Simple framebuffer device from the ML300 reference design (also on the ML403 reference design as well as others). Optional properties: - resolution = : pixel resolution of framebuffer. Some implementations use a different resolution. Default is - virt-resolution = : Size of framebuffer in memory. Default is . - rotate-display (empty) : rotate display 180 degrees. ii) Xilinx SystemACE The Xilinx SystemACE device is used to program FPGAs from an FPGA bitstream stored on a CF card. It can also be used as a generic CF interface device. Optional properties: - 8-bit (empty) : Set this property for SystemACE in 8 bit mode iii) Xilinx EMAC and Xilinx TEMAC Xilinx Ethernet devices. In addition to general xilinx properties listed above, nodes for these devices should include a phy-handle property, and may include other common network device properties like local-mac-address. iv) Xilinx Uartlite Xilinx uartlite devices are simple fixed speed serial ports. Required properties: - current-speed : Baud rate of uartlite v) Xilinx hwicap Xilinx hwicap devices provide access to the configuration logic of the FPGA through the Internal Configuration Access Port (ICAP). The ICAP enables partial reconfiguration of the FPGA, readback of the configuration information, and some control over 'warm boots' of the FPGA fabric. Required properties: - xlnx,family : The family of the FPGA, necessary since the capabilities of the underlying ICAP hardware differ between different families. May be 'virtex2p', 'virtex4', or 'virtex5'. - compatible : should contain "xlnx,xps-hwicap-1.00.a" or "xlnx,opb-hwicap-1.00.b". vi) Xilinx Uart 16550 Xilinx UART 16550 devices are very similar to the NS16550 but with different register spacing and an offset from the base address. Required properties: - clock-frequency : Frequency of the clock input - reg-offset : A value of 3 is required - reg-shift : A value of 2 is required vii) Xilinx USB Host controller The Xilinx USB host controller is EHCI compatible but with a different base address for the EHCI registers, and it is always a big-endian USB Host controller. The hardware can be configured as high speed only, or high speed/full speed hybrid. Required properties: - xlnx,support-usb-fs: A value 0 means the core is built as high speed only. A value 1 means the core also supports full speed devices.