Installation Guide for Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform
The following topics are included in this Installation Guide:
What's in the Box?
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Item
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Description
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Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform CD
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CDs containing the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform software for the Development Host system. Includes tools and cross-compilers specific to a target board (one CD per target), along with binary versions of all packages. Each platform CD contains:
- Devicescape Linux Toolchain for the target board
- Reference Linux distribution and software development kit (SDK)
- RPMs and ipkgs (binaries)
(Install only after installing the Devicescape Studio. See How to Install the Development Platform.)
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Platform Source
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If you purchased a subscription license or project license with source code, a CD containing source packages is provided. See the README file on the CD for instructions on how to install these source packages.
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Documentation CD
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CD of all platform documentation. Not for install; simply insert CD and browse docs.
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Installation Guide
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This document in "booklet" form.
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What is the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform?
The Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform provides a foundation for quickly and easily building feature-rich, wireless access points and other WLAN infrastructure devices with value-added technologies.
The platform is comprised of an embedded Linux distribution and board support packages for target hardware from several leading vendors in the WLAN space, a number of kernel modules and user-space components that encapsulate WLAN functionality, configuration and management interfaces, a set of cross-development tools optimized for building WLAN networking devices, and wireless test and optimization tools.
A Linux distribution is included with the product, however the wireless software technology that surrounds Linux and the standard cross tools can be easily adapted to other Linux distributions.
A range of development solutions is supported. With the platform, you can quickly rebrand the supplied Reference AP into a complete firmware image, or make deeper modifications or additions to features and functionality. Development is accomplished on a Linux development host via command line tools.
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Note
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The GNU toolchain (gcc and binutils packages) is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). See the respective source packages for details on use and re-distribution of these tools.
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Supported Platforms
The Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform is designed to allow you to customize, build, and deploy embedded applications on wireless infrastructure devices like access points. Packages are provided as binary RPMs and source SRPMs (which can be modified and rebuilt for the purpose of modifying or adding features, or porting to a different driver or chipset).
The platform (C libraries, packages, toolchains for each target, and related utilities) is installed on a development host. A binary image (built on the platform with a cross-compiler) is loaded onto a target system. The target system is the wireless device which will run as an access point.
The development host is an Intel-based PC running a supported Linux distribution. Several target systems are supported. Development and target platforms are described in the following sections.
Development Host Platform
A "development host" is the computer on which you develop and build the wireless system before loading it onto the target system. The development host should be an Intel-based PC running a supported Linux distribution, as detailed below.
General System Requirements
The recommended system configuration for the development host is:
- Intel Pentium or compatible processor
- 512 MBytes RAM
- 2 GBytes available disk space
- Red Hat WS v.3 or 4 or Fedora Core 2 or 3 Linux (as described in the following sections)
Linux Requirements
Your development host should be set up with standard Linux tools and utilities available to the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform. Supported versions of Linux are:
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Vendor and Version
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Description
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS v.3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS v.4
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Productized, enterprise-level, Linux operating system from Red Hat Software designed for workstations (WS). (They provide a different O/S variant for servers).
See http://www.redhat.com/ for more information on Red Hat Linux.
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Red Hat Linux Fedora Core 2
Red Hat Linux Fedora Core 3
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The Fedora Project provides open source Linux distributions. It is sponsored by Red Hat and supported by the open source community.
See http://fedora.redhat.com/ for more information.
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Target System Platforms
A target system is the platform that functions as the wireless device. It is a combination of processor board and radio chipset. The low-level hardware drivers have been incorporated.
The Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform also supports standard PC hardware, Intel IA-32 (x86Pc), as a target. In this configuration, the PC acts as a wireless AP. The x86 PCs are more readily available than embedded boards (especially at the start of a project when embedded hardware may not be ready).
WLAN Chipsets
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Vendor
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Model
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Characteristics
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Atheros
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AR2313
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b/g MAC / BB / SoC
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AR2315/16
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b/g MAC / BB / RF / SoC
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AR5312
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a/b/g MAC / BB / SoC
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AR5213
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a/b/g MAC / BB
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AR2413/14
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b/g MAC /BB / RF
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AR5413/14
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a/b/g/ MAC / BB /RF
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Reference Boards
The following table shows the hardware platforms used by Devicescape for quality assurance testing. Many other platforms are supported. Please contact your Devicescape Sales Representative for a complete list.
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Vendor
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Reference Board
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Memory
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WLAN
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Intel IXP-42x
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Monte Jade
ADI IXP425
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16MB Flash
32MB RAM
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Mini PCI
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Novatec NTNP425C with IXP425
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16MB Flash
64MB RAM
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Mini PCI
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MIPS 4Kc
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D-Link DWL-2110 AP with Atheros AR2313 SoC
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4 MB Flash
16 MB RAM
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802.11 b/g
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Intel IA-32
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Any Pentium-class PC (for simulation purposes)
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N/A
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Cardbus or MiniPCI
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Allied Telesyn
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AT-WA7400
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8MB Flash
32 MB Flash
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802.11a/b/g
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How to Install the Development Platform
Follow these steps to install the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform on your development host.
To re-install another version of the product, first uninstall per How to Uninstall/Remove the Platform Software.
Each Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform CD contains the following components:
- Reference Linux distribution and software development kit (SDK or LDK)
- RPMs and ipkgs (binaries)
- Source RPMs for all runtime packages
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Notes
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- Platform CDs include tools and cross-compilers specific to the target architecture for which you are building. If you are installing toolchains for more than one target architecture, the order of installation among these is not important.
- On Linux systems, you must have root user permissions to execute the commands to install the IDE. In the examples below, we assume you will use "sudo" to get permissions per command.
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To install the platform:
- Insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive on your development host. (If your system is not set up to automount the CD-ROM, please mount it manually on Linux systems.)
- Bring up a terminal command line shell.
- Run the install script by type the following at the command line:
Linux: sudo /mnt/cdrom/install.sh
Follow the prompts. Some key points are described here for the rest of the steps.
- Select the components to install or update by entering the selection numbers separated by commas. For example:
1. Linux-hosted uclibc Toolchain for armv5bf...127295K
2. Minimal RFS based on busybox and uclibc.......4506K
3. Extra Linux-hosted tools......................3786K
We recommend installing the toolchain for your platform (choice 1) and Extra Linux-hosted tools (choice 3). To do this, enter '1,3' at the prompt.
The first component (toolchain for target) is a requirement. It is always target board specific. The choices shown above are examples. If you install for a different target, the first selection will differ from that shown.
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Note
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The platform software for each board will install as follows:
IXP CD for (Monte Jade IXDPG425) and Novatec NTNP425C (NovatecNEO) boards will install toolchains in /opt/devicescape/toolchains/armv5bf-linux/ and packages in /opt/devicescape/linux/2.0/armv5bf-bbdyn-uclibc/packages/
Atheros MIPS CD for AR531x (D-Link DWL2210) and Allied Telesyn AT-WA7400 boards will install toolchains in /opt/devicescape/toolchains/mipsf-linux/ and packages in /opt/devicescape/linux/2.0/mipsf-bbdyn-uclibc/packages/
X86PC CD will install toolchains in /opt/devicescape/toolchains/i686-linux/ and packages in /opt/devicescape/linux/2.0/i686-bbdyn-uclibc/packages/
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The second option (Minimal RFS) is not needed.
The third component (Extra Linux-hosted tools) provides extra tools not provided with the standard GNU toolchain. The extra tools are required for full development platform functionality. This option provides tsrpm (for extracting source RPMs or building binary RPMs), IPKG (for building IPKGs), mkfs.jffs2 and mkcramfs for creating root file systems (RFS), and other handy tools.
- The component list is then displayed again with asterisks next to the ones you chose. Verify or change your selections as instructed by the prompts (enter A or Accept to accept the current selections).
The script shows the default directories where components will be installed, and asks if you want to relocate any of these components.
- Enter N to accept the default directory locations for all components. (Or enter Y to choose different paths in which to install, and follow the prompts. When you are satisfied with the install locations, enter N to indicate you do not want to make any more modifications.)
Accepting the install locations launches the installer. Status messages are displayed in the command window during the install. You are also asked to confirm install of host-side tools.
As the installation progresses, message similar to the following is displayed:
Please make sure to add
/opt/devicescape/toolchains/armv5bf-linux/bin
to your PATH.
Installing packages...
Installation complete
- When the installation process is complete, eject the CD from the CD-ROM drive by typing the following at the command line:
$ sudo umount /mnt/cdrom
$ eject
How to Uninstall/Remove the Platform Software
To uninstall Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform (toolchains and packages), do type the following at the command line:
$ sudo rm -rf /opt/devicescape/
$ sudo rm -rf /etc/timesys
$ sudo rm -rf /etc/timesys.conf
Where to Go Next
Documentation and Online Help
A complete set of documentation for the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform is included on the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform Documentation CD that ships with the product, and is also available online at the Devicescape Product Documentation Web site at http://www.devicescape.com/docs/wip/.
The documentation available is as follows:
- Installation Guide - This document.
- Linux Release Notes - Prerequisite information for the boards; one per target architecture. These are installed as part of the platform install:
/opt/devicescape/linux/2.0/<arch>-bbdyn-uclibc/docs/release_notes.txt
- Getting Started Guides for the Boards- Setup, configuration, and boot information specific to targets; one per target architecture. In addition to being included on the Documentation CD, these Guides are installed on your development host with the Devicescape Studio install. They are available at:
/opt/devicescape/linux/2.0/<arch>-bbdyn-uclibc/docs/getting_started.pdf
Where <arch> is the name for the target architecture. For example, the Getting Started Guide for an Atheros board is installed in: /opt/devicescape/linux/2.0/armv5b-bbdyn-uclibc/docs/getting_started.pdf
- Developer Guide - Provides overview of target architecture and development process. Includes example walk-throughs of building the Reference Design for the AP. Explains how to modify and build packages. Includes information on the device management agent, Web UI framework, clustering, and board porting.
- Package Reference - Package reference information on usage, configuration, building, APIs, debugging, and licensing.
- Administrator Guide and Online Help - Describes features of the Devicescape Reference AP for an Administrator audience (configuration, monitoring, and maintenance). The Online Help (available from the Web UI of the AP an live network) is a subset of the full Administrator Guide. As a starting point for your product Administrator Guide, the Administrator Guide is available as Adobe FrameMaker source files from the Devicescape customer support Web site:
http://www.devicescape.com/support/
Information on how to customize and rebrand the Web UI and associated Online Help is available in the Developer Guide.
FAQs on Development Tasks
For information on key development tasks, refer to the platform document topics or Web sites referenced below.
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Question
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Where to Find Information
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How do I get a target system ready for use?
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See the Getting Started Guide for the target board. Target-specific board guides are included on the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform CD for each board/architecture and on the documentation CD and Web site.
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How do I get an image loaded and running on a target system (TFTP, NFS, and so on)?
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See the Getting Started Guide for the target board. Target-specific board guides are included on the Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform CD for each board/architecture and on the documentation CD and Web site.
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How do I build an image for a target specifying the binary packages?
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See Devicescape Developer Guide (Creating Root File System Images for the Reference Design AP)
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How do I modify an existing package and rebuild it?
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See Devicescape Developer Guide (Modifying and Building the Packages)
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Where can I find information on debugging?
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See Devicescape Package Guide and the Target Configuraton Guide.
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How do I configure runtime packages?
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See Devicescape Package Guide.
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How do I start and stop packages (services) on the runtime target system?
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See Devicescape Package Guide, especially the device-management-agent packages.
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Where can I find a list of all packages?
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See the "Package Overview" in the Devicescape Package Guide.
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Where can I find information on each package?
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See topics on individual packages in the Devicescape Package Guide.
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Where to Get Support
For support on Devicescape Wireless Infrastructure Platform, contact Devicescape Customer Support or your Devicescape Sales representative.
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Customer Support
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Telephone Number: +1 650 829 2600 option 3
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Sales
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Telephone Number: +1 650 829 2600 option 2
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