Frequently Asked Questions
about the White Rabbit Starting Kit
Starting Kit Hardware
Does the USB cable to the mini-B connector on the spec board have to be connected all the time? Or is it only required at some point during the installation?
We strongly suggest you to keep the USB cable to the mini-B connector at
this moment, because it is the easiest way to configure the SPEC (wrpc
shell).
Some other solutions exists but we would not recommend them for
starting.
Do I need to connect the external power supply connector when used in a PCIe slot?
No the power supply is not necessary while connecting through the PCIe slot. The board gets its power from the PCIe card edge connector. This exernal connector is only used in stand-alone applications where the card is not plugged into a PCIe slot.
Starting Kit Software
I don't see the interface using ifconfig
Please check if you see them using :
ifconfig -a
if you see them by using the `-a` option you just need to bring them up as it is explained in wr-starting-kit.pdf.
Which kernel version is supported
To compile you must have at least the 2.6.36 kernel. We recommend you to
use the latest version of your distribution.
It is possible to use the 2.6.34 version but by modifying the includes
as follow
-#include <linux/atomic.h>
+#include <asm/atomic.h>
I am stuck in calibration!
You have run
wrc# calibration force
Enabling ptracker channel: 0
LNK:
PLL: SPLL_Init: running as Slave, 1 ref channels, 2 out channels
And the calibration is doing an infinite loop.
Calibration is only available for slave and you need to be connected to
a working PTP master master (SPEC in master mode or the
switch) to be completed.
To configure your SPEC as a working PTP master, just execute in
the wrpc shell of the other board:
wrc# sfp match
wrc# mode master
wrc# ptp start
If you have blocked your two boards in calibration mode and they stay in this mode even after rebooting and reloading firmware/gateware you might need to format the EEPROM.
The starting kit is based on Ubuntu. How can I use it with Scientific Linux?
The commands to execute in order to update the kernel using scientific linux (you need at least the 2.6.36 to compile the starting kit) are:
rpm --import http://elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
rpm -Uvh http://elrepo.org/elrepo-release-6-5.el6.elrepo.noarch.rpm
sudo yum --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel --skip-broken install kernel-lt kernel-lt-devel kernel-lt-headers
You can have more information on how to do this by browsing the ELRepo Project
After this you should reboot your PC with the new kernel source and start from section 3.4 in wr-starting-kit-v1.0.pdf
Is it possible to use the DIO without being connected to WR?
Actually the dio core capabilities needs to be synced to a WR master to
work. You will not be able to use the wr-dio-pps
nor the wr-dio-cmd pulse
without a White Rabbit Master.
How can I run starting kit in grandmaster:
In basic configuration your Master SPEC can use its internal
free-running oscillator as a time
reference. However, you can also discipline your Master SPEC with
external 10 MHz and 1-PPS
signal by connecting them to the appropriate LEMO connectors of FMC-DIO
board:
Then in the wrc console just execute the following commands:
wrc# mode gm
wrc# ptp start
For more information about grandmaster mode you can take a look at: wr_external_reference.pdf. This document has been written for the WR switch, but timing/accuracy/stability requirements are same for the SPECs.
??Author: Benoit Rat, Seven Solutions
15 April 2013