FEC ethernet issues [Was: PL310 errata workarounds]

[Russell King - ARM Linux]

On Wed, Apr 02, 2014 at 03:19:58AM +0000, fugang.duan at freescale.com wrote:
> >	wmb();
> >
> >        /* Trigger transmission start */
> >        if (readl(fep->hwp + FEC_X_DES_ACTIVE) == 0)
> >                writel(0, fep->hwp + FEC_X_DES_ACTIVE);
> >
> >and see whether that helps your problem(s).
> >
> So far, I don't see wmb() bring any effort on FEC.  Some years ago, we
> want to add wmb() before set BD "Ready" bit, but we don't find any issue
> without wmb(), on the contrary, it introduce more System overhead special
> for Gbps networking.

I wonder whether you understand what is going on here, and why it is
required.  I doubt it somehow from your comments.  Maybe if you were
to read about the operation of the store buffer in the PL310, it may
open your eyes to why it would be necessary for reliable operation.

> And now, imx6sx sillicon (sigle core), add wmb() cause tx performance
> drop much since cpu loading is the bottleneck.

I don't find any measurable performance drop from adding it on either
iMX6Q or iMX6S with the L2 cache code fixed up.

The reality is, with the mainline ethernet driver with no changes, the
best it can do is around 300Mbps transmit and 400Mbps receive.  With
both my L2 and FEC changes, this has increased to 500Mbps transmit and
570Mbps receive.  Plus it now works reasonably (though with lots of
collisions) on half-duplex giving a 4 to 8 fold increase in speed there.

I really don't care how your private BSP kernels perform.  It's not
mainline, so it's not of any interest.

-- 
FTTC broadband for 0.8mile line: now at 9.7Mbps down 460kbps up... slowly
improving, and getting towards what was expected from it.