Re: [Gumstix-users] Gumstix hardware configuration

[Craig H. <cr...@gu...>]

On Jun 20, 2006, at 1:54 PM, Dave Hylands wrote:

> Hi Ben,
>
> On 6/20/06, Ben Firshman <be...@fi...> wrote:
>> Actually, the netMMC options sounds like quite a good idea. Is it
>> possible to completely turn off the network adaptor from software to
>> save power when it is not needed?
>
> The data sheet says it has enhanced power management features. I'm not
> sure if the driver does anything with it or not.
>
> I suspect that it doesn't draw all that much power when there isn't
> any ethernet cable plugged in.

It does actually draw quite a lot of power when not connected.  I  
think (haven't tested recently, but my memory makes me think so) that  
you can stop most power consumption by the controller by holding it  
in reset using the reset line, which is GPIO80 for eth0 and GPIO52  
for eth1.  You'll want to ifdown the interfaces first of course, and  
it's probably safest to "modprobe -r" the driver as well, so that it  
doesn't get confused.

>> Is it quite easy to disable the serial console on FFUART so I can  
>> use it
>> for a device?
>
> This can be done, although you'll need to search through the archives
> to find all of the details.

You'll need to stop u-boot from outputting anything on the port too  
probably, which is also covered in the archives.

C