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$Id$

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General Information

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===================

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This is an Open-Source EtherCAT master implementation for Linux 2.6.

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For more information, see

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http://etherlab.org

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or contact

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Florian Pose <fp@igh-essen.com>

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Ingenieurgemeinschaft IgH

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Heinz-Baecker-Str. 34

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D-45356 Essen

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http://igh-essen.com

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Requirements

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============

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1) Software requirements

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Configured sources for the Linux 2.6 kernel are required to build the EtherCAT

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master.

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2) Hardware requirements

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The EtherCAT master needs a RTL8139 (or compatible) network interface card to

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run. Drivers for other widespread devices (i. e. Intel PRO/100) will be

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implemented soon.

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Building and installing

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=======================

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1) Create a copy of the configuration template:

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  $ cp ethercat.conf.tmpl ethercat.conf

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2) Adjust the Variables in the configuration file to your needs.

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3) Build the EtherCAT master and network device driver modules:

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  $ make

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4) Install the the EtherCAT master (as root):

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  # make install

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  This will create the following files and directories:

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    - /etc/sysconfig/ethercat (configuration file)

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    - /etc/init.d/ethercat    (startup script)

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    - /usr/sbin/rcethercat    (link to startup script)

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  The modules will be placed in /lib/modules/<KERNEL>/kernel/drivers/net

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  (where <KERNEL> is the Linux kernel version configured in ethercat.conf).

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Realtime & Tuning

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=================

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Realtime patches for the Linux kernel are supported, but not required. The

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realtime processing has to be done by the calling module (see API

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documentation). The EtherCAT master code itself is (except for the free-run

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mode) completely passive.

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To avoid frame timeouts, deactivating DMA access for hard drives is

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recommented (hdparm -d0 <DEV>).

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