BELCARRA TECHNOLOGIES

USB TestDrive Windows Setup

This document is part of series about Belcarra’s USB Testdrive, a quick and easy system for setting up and testing USB solutions between a Windows host and a Gumstix Overo.

The TestDrive system can be used to test and evaluate various USB networking solutions. This document describes

How to prepare a Windows test machine
How to obtain Belcarra’s USBLAN Windows driver which transparently supports CDC-ECM, CDC-EEM, CDC-NCM.
How to run definitive tests to determine reliability, endurance and speed of network links, using industry standard tools.

A USB system consists of a host and one or more peripherals, also known as targets. The TestDrive system uses Windows (all recent versions) as the host environment, and the Gumstix Overo as the target.

Windows Setup and Testing

... read on ....

Belcarra USB TestDrive

Belcarra supports an environment for testing USB Networking protocols. This paper, is the first in a series and will provide an overview of this environment which includes both USB Host and USB Device side software components.

Belcarra’s Overo USB TestDrive is a Linux based test system based on the Gumstix Overo board. The Overo board is a low cost hardware development system using a Texas Instruments OMAP series of System On Chip (SOC) technology. It supports USB 2.0 for both host and client implementations.

Introduction

The TestDrive system can be used to test and evaluate various USB Networking protocols and implementations:

Gadget based network and filestorage function drivers
Belcarra based network and mass storage function drivers
Belcarra Windows USBLAN class driver

The USB TestDrive kit contains:

Overo ROOTFS
Compiled Linux kernel and modules
script to create an SD card to boot an Overo

Network test tools included:

wget / wput
iperf
apache
ping and pingall script

Updated USB MSC Function

Belcarra’s USB Device stack includes a Mass Storage (MSC) function. This allows an embedded device using the USB Framework to emulate a Mass Storage device either as a standalone function or as part of a composite configuration.

The Belcarra MSC solution was updated to increase performance and extend its feature set:

More efficient use of the Block IO system for higher throughput
Support for mulitple LUN’s (storage volumes)
Management (API) allowing things like detecting individual LUN changes
Virtual CDROM support (map an ISO image)
Read-only volume support -- (Management API allows dynamic change)

CDC-EEM Streaming Mode

Support for networking over USB using the Ethernet Emulation Model was originally implemented in 2006 on both the device (Composite Device Framework) and host (USBLAN) drivers. Current versions of our drivers now include streaming mode providing for significantly faster data transfer, "EEM throughput is about 50% higher than ECM in an optimal configuration". For more information, contact us today.

USBLAN Driver available in Windows Update

Year end review of the Windows Update program that enabled end users to simply and silently install Belcarra USBLAN deemed it as a success.
New Belcarra USBLAN customer kits are required to pass Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing review as well as the previous regime of stress tests.
Microsoft signed USBLAN driver from Windows Update no longer requires system restart or user input during installation.
For more information a fairly comprehensive deployment guide is available here.

[UPDATE - July 20,2011 USBLAN Version 2.4 Released Download OEM Manual]

See also: Linux Gadget VID/PID Patch for USBLAN Evaluation
These patches (download here) modify the Linux Ethernet Gadget default CDC Vendor and Product ID to match the Belcarra USBLAN Evaluation kits available from Windows Update.

USB Client Support for Gumstix Verdex Pro COM's

Belcarra’s USB Composite Device Framework for Gumstix Verdex.

The USB Device Framework supports Composite configurations using a Composite Function Driver which selects and configures various Interface Function Drivers.

Composite function selects the desired interface functions
Selected interface functions combine into the configuration
External management tools to control software deployment

NOTE: This offering compliments the Overo support that has been available since 2009-06-15

Testimonials

Belcarra's products are recognized for their completeness and ease of use. A common remark after initial evaluation from prospective clients is "it just works!".

The compliments don't just stop there; we work hard to maintain our customers trust and confidence. Here's a sample of their comments:

- "Appreciate the great help I have had from your team" 3/14/13 G.J.

- "We tested the demo driver and it worked quite well ......... thanks for your cooperation" 7/10/2011 P.J.

-"I do mean it when I say that your support to us is first class" 10/22/2010 S.L.

- "Just finished the install seemed to go OK it was quick".7/28/2010 Jwc…

- "Thank you again for providing such clear explanations. ...I continue to be pleased and impressed with the support you guys provide. It is a real pleasure to work with you."7/23/2010 A. DT.

- "It was a pleasure doing business with you. The SW worked tip-top and I've never heard any complaints from our R&D department." 12/4/2008 KdC

- "Regarding performance of the new driver, as is reported below, it seems to function without failure in all conditions." "...your efforts were more significant than you may have realized." 7/24/2008 P.B.