Eric Seppanen wrote:
> Why would you want ethernet address stored there? The ethernet chip I
> use requires a serial EEPROM to be attached to it for the storage of
> address plus other design-specific details. Don't other chips work that
> way?
Sort of: most ethernet chips have an in-chip register for MAC address,
or they have a physical match list for one or more MAC addresses. No
EEPROM is required at all for this.
Kernel drivers or board POST will initialize the in-chip MAC addresses
from EEPROM/SROM.
Under Linux for example you can change your MAC address with
/sbin/ifconfig. This is pretty handy if you are a board programmer
because you can completely avoid an EEPROM, and do all the chip setup in
the driver. Cuts down a bit on embedded chip costs, and most Linux
drivers do 100% of the chip setup anyway, so the MAC address and default
media are all you need to initialize by hand.
So storing the MAC address elsewhere like in CMOS RAM is attractive...
Jeff
--
Jeff Garzik | Only so many songs can be sung
Building 1024 | with two lips, two lungs, and one tongue.
MandrakeSoft | - nomeansno
