[hpsdr] OzyII status update

[Phil Harman]

> Phil Harman wrote (on the wiki):
>
> "...In order to use this initial software it will be necessary to
> program the MAC address of the PC you intend to use with OzyII into the
> board. We will provide a Flash memory chip on the PCB that will be
> programmed with the boards MAC address during manfacture..."
>
> Phil,
>
> Sounds like you are indeed making great progress on this.  Please excuse
> my ignorance but the terms 'initial' and 'during manufacture' sound
> mutually exclusive :)
>
> Some questions:
>
> 1) How 'permanent' will this 'initial' software be?
> 2) Possible to change the address later [with/without eprom flashing
> hardware]?
> 3) What if the ethernet connection is via a switch/hub/whatever, not
> direct to the PC's ethernet card?
>
> If this is just a temporary arrangement during development then that's
> not a problem but I would think this would be inconvenient for the long
> term due to likely change of PC and/or ethernet card.
>
> Pete, N3EVL
>

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the questions.  The FPGA code and all the EEPROM contents will be 
able to be updated via the USB connection. The boards MAC address will be 
programmed in an EEPROM during post manufacture testing. I guess there is an 
organisation that issues MAC addresses rather like VID and PID for USB 
devices.  If you wanted to change the original MAC address for some reason 
then you could.

Given the early stages of both the PC and FPGA code at the moment I have the 
source and destination MAC addresses hard coded.  By the time the production 
boards are ready I expect we will  have advanced beyond that port.

The suggestion at the moment is that when the PC code starts it does a 
broadcast asking if there are any OzyII boards on the network. Each board 
will then be able to capture the MAC address of the PC. Each board will 
reply with its own MAC address plus any other details we wish to send e.g. 
serial numbers, software revisions etc. This will enable you to change PCs, 
move to other networks etc.

If the PC finds more then one OzyII board then it could provide a menu 
option enabling the user to select which one(s).  Naturally if there is only 
one OzyII on the network, and it does not change, then that could be 
automatically selected.

I've been doing all the development so far through the Ethernet switch in my 
lab and this seems to get/send Ethernet packets to/from my PC without any 
issues.

Hope that helps and happy to answer any other questions you may have. Much 
easier to address these items when we are still in the design phase.

73's Phil...VK6APH



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