RE: [PATCH v9 0/8] thunderbolt: Introducing Thunderbolt(TM) Networking

[Levy, Amir (Jer)]

On Wed, Nov 9 2016, 04:36 PM, Simon Guinot wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 09, 2016 at 04:20:00PM +0200, Amir Levy wrote:
> > This driver enables Thunderbolt Networking on non-Apple platforms 
> > running Linux.
> >
> > Thunderbolt Networking provides peer-to-peer connections to transfer 
> > files between computers, perform PC migrations, and/or set up small 
> > workgroups with shared storage.
> >
> > This is a virtual connection that emulates an Ethernet adapter that 
> > enables Ethernet networking with the benefit of Thunderbolt 
> > superfast medium capability.
> >
> > Thunderbolt Networking enables two hosts and several devices that 
> > have a Thunderbolt controller to be connected together in a linear 
> > (Daisy
> > chain) series from a single port.
> >
> > Thunderbolt Networking for Linux is compatible with Thunderbolt 
> > Networking on systems running macOS or Windows and also supports 
> > Thunderbolt generation 2 and 3 controllers.
> >
> > Note that all pre-existing Thunderbolt generation 3 features, such 
> > as USB, Display and other Thunderbolt device connectivity will 
> > continue to function exactly as they did prior to enabling Thunderbolt Networking.
> >
> > Code and Software Specifications:
> > This kernel code creates a virtual ethernet device for computer to 
> > computer communication over a Thunderbolt cable.
> > The new driver is a separate driver to the existing Thunderbolt driver.
> > It is designed to work on systems running Linux that interface with 
> > Intel Connection Manager (ICM) firmware based Thunderbolt 
> > controllers that support Thunderbolt Networking.
> > The kernel code operates in coordination with the Thunderbolt user- 
> > space daemon to implement full Thunderbolt networking functionality.
> >
> > Hardware Specifications:
> > Thunderbolt Hardware specs have not yet been published but are used 
> > where necessary for register definitions.
> 
> Hi Amir,
> 
> I have an ASUS "All Series/Z87-DELUXE/QUAD" motherboard with a 
> Thunderbolt 2 "Falcon Ridge" chipset (device ID 156d).
> 
> Is the thunderbolt-icm driver supposed to work with this chipset ?
> 

Yes, the thunderbolt-icm supports Falcon Ridge, device ID 156c.
156d is the bridge - http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/include/linux/pci_ids.h#L2619

> I have installed both a 4.8.6 Linux kernel (patched with your v9
> series) and the thunderbolt-software-daemon (27 october release) 
> inside a Debian system (Jessie).
> 
> If I connect the ASUS motherboard with a MacBook Pro (Thunderbolt 2, 
> device ID 156c), I can see that the thunderbolt-icm driver is loaded 
> and that the thunderbolt-software-daemon is well started. But the 
> Ethernet interface is not created.
> 
> I have attached to this email the syslog file. There is the logs from 
> both the kernel and the daemon inside. Note that the daemon logs are 
> everything but clear about what could be the issue. Maybe I missed 
> some kind of configuration ? But I failed to find any valuable 
> information about configuring the driver and/or the daemon in the various documentation files.
> 
> Please, can you provide some guidance ? I'd really like to test your 
> patch series.

First, thank you very much for willing to test it.
Thunderbolt Networking support was added during Falcon Ridge, in the latest FR images.
Do you know which Thunderbolt image version you have on your system?
Currently I submitted only Thunderbolt Networking feature in Linux, and we plan to add
more features like reading the image version and updating the image.
If you don't know the image version, the only thing I can suggest is to load windows, install thunderbolt SW
and check in the Thunderbolt application the image version.
To know if image update is needed, you can check - https://thunderbolttechnology.net/updates

> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Simon

Thanks,
Amir