The RTnet project, an RTAI-based real-time networking stack with Ethernet support, has achieved another important milestone on its way towards a release 1.0. The version 0.8.0 published today includes many new features and improvements of as yet open issues. The new version is available at
http://www.rts.uni-hannover.de/rtnet/download.html
Most noticable is surely the specification and implementation of the revised TDMA media access control discipline. A MAC discipline is required for indeterministic Ethernet to avoid collisions and congestions. The new TDMA-V2 allows a more flexible transmission time slot assignment for every node, supports slave hot plugging as well as backup masters, and further improves the synchronisation of distributed clocks. Side note: TDMA-V2 now also enables stand-alone implementations of RTnet like the RT-EtherBoot patch (see below).
Another important step of this release is support for 2.6 kernels in combination with RTAI 3.1. Even better, thanks to Philippe Gerum's effort, RTnet can now also work with the RTAI skin of fusion 0.6.6 or 0.6.7.
Here is the full list of changes: - TDMA-V2 implementation * multiple slots * packet delay compensation * slave hot plugging * backup masters - new NIC device driver layer * atomic transmission time stamp * improved locking scheme * layer version tag - kernel 2.6 support - RTAI/fusion support (0.6.6 or better) - source tree reorganisation - added NoMAC module as skeleton for new disciplines - revised and extended rtnet start script - worst-case statistics for rtping - read stage 1 data for "rtcfg add" from stdin - fixed cleanup bug in RTmac's VNIC handling - bug fixes in RTcfg, /proc output, legacy tdma-v1, and some other parts
Notes: - Although the new tdma module is already useable and should be preferred, previous tdma-v1 will still be included in the 0.8 release series. - The drivers for the three PowerPC embedded controllers have not yet been updated to the latest changes. This will happen for the next release at the beginning of 2005. - RTAI/fusion support is limited to kernel space in this release. It is planned to fix this soon.
Also today a new version of the RT-EtherBoot patch was released. RT-EtherBoot enables disk-less RTnet nodes to retrieve their boot image over an RTnet-controlled network without violating timing requirements. Patch v0.2 now supports the TDMA delay calibration procedure in order to enhance the accuracy of packet transmission times, and it fixes a critical bug. See RTnet download page.
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