[En-Nut-Discussion] Recommended compiler?

[Harald Kipp]

Hi Austin,


>         I saw the supported compilers in the software section of the website.
>Any comments on what folks prefer (gcc/icc)? From the website it looks like
>icc is easier to debug using the existing tools.

This depends on your background, I think. If you
are a full time C programmer and more familiar
with command line tools, you may prefer GCC. If
you want an easy start, ICC may be the better choice.


>         Also, I note the 8019AS is connected on all 16 address lines. Is is
>possible to read/write the sram buffer directly? It _looks_ like it's possible
>from reading the 8019AS pdf, but it's a little vague. I'd like to be able to
>inspect the contents of the buffer to know how many packets of a certain type
>are waiting to be read without having to wait for them to get copied into
>memory using dma. The 8019AS makes note of an 'IOMS' bit that needs to be
>set via the optional bootrom. Since it hasn't arrived yet I haven't had
>a chance to play with it.

The 8019AS has its own internal 16 bit address decoder.
So all ATmega address lines are connected and the
controller occupies address space 0x8300 to 0x831F only.

The Realtek is NE2000 compatible. Refer to the DP8390
datasheet for a much better explanation of the internal
ring buffer structure.

Harald