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Ethernet Connection Options

With an Ethernet card, you can download and debug your OS image on a target device, such as a CEPC, through an Ethernet connection. If your SDB only has one Ethernet connection, and you are using it for download, debug, and KITL, then you may want to use the virtual network miniport (VMINI) Ethernet debug-to-NDIS bridge feature, which enables a miniport and product Ethernet connection. Platform Builder enables the VMINI Ethernet sharing library by default. The VMINI Ethernet sharing library is located in %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Common\Oak\Drivers\Ethdbg\VMINI. To disable the VMINI Ethernet sharing library, set the KERNELNOSHAREETH and BSP_NOSHAREETH environment variables to 1. If you disable the VMINI Ethernet sharing library, you will need one Ethernet card for downloading, and another Ethernet card for debugging.

The following table shows the types of Ethernet connections for your target device.

Type Description
Download The boot loader establishes this connection to the desktop and it is used for downloading an OS image to the target CEPC.
KITL and debug The OS image optionally establishes a KITL connection to Platform Builder. The KITL connection sets up a target-host communications channel for remote applications, remote tools, and so on. It also serves as the transport used by the kernel debugger, which enables Platform Builder to debug a running OS image on the target device. In addition, VMINI can run over this transport to support a product Ethernet connection over a single KITL and debug connection.
Product Ethernet Used for network connectivity and the Internet on consumer target devices. If you use product Ethernet on your target device, you can only use it for downloading an OS image, and then subsequently as a product Ethernet connection.

See Also

How to Set Up a CEPC | Choosing an Ethernet Card for a CEPC | Setting or Clearing an Environment Variable

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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