Intel 82541xx Network Card User Manual


 
Software Developer’s Manual 393
Appendix (Changes From 82544EI/82544GC)
Appendix (Changes From 82544EI/82544GC) A
A.1 Introduction
This section describes the new features that have been added to the PCI/PCI-X Family of Gigabit
Ethernet Controllers from its predecessor, the 82544EI/82544GC and highlights its registers that
have been changed.
A.2 New Features
Following is a list of the new features in the Ethernet controller, along with sections in this manual
that describe these features in detail:
Integrated dual-port solution. The 82546GB/EB architecture includes two instances of both
the MAC and PHY. The Ethernet controller contains a single PCI/PCI-X interface so that each
of the logical LAN devices appear as a distinct PCI/PCI-X bus device (see Chapter 12).
IPv6 Support. The Ethernet controller supports IP/TCP/UDP receive checksum offload for
IPv6 packets, IPv6 wakeup filters, and IPv6 TCP segmentation (see Chapter 3).
Improved Interrupts. The Ethernet controller has the following new interrupt generation
features to enhance driver performance:
Packet timers and absolute delay timers for transmit and receive (see Section 3.2.7).
Short packet detection interrupts (see Section 3.2.7).
Transmit descriptor low interrupts (see Section 3.4.3).
Interrupt throttling control to limit maximum interrupt rate (see Section 13.4.8).
Acknowledge interrupts by writing 1b’s to the ICR (see Section 13.4.17).
EEPROM access. Because the 82546GB/EB has two MAC/PHY instances that could
potentially access the EEPROM at the same time, a semaphore has been added to gate access.
In addition, the EERD now allows easy EEPROM access (see Section 12.3.2).
Manageability. The Ethernet controller introduces manageability for ASF 1.0 and AOL 2.0.
Configurable LED. The Ethernet controller enables software to customize LED displays (see
Chapter 10).
Power Management. The internal copper PHY features 10/100/1000-BaseT signalling and is
capable of performing intelligent power-management based on both the system power-state
and LAN energy-detection (detection of unplugged cables). See Chapter 6.