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This is the README file of the IgH EtherCAT Master.

$Id$

vim: spelllang=en spell tw=78

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Contents:
1) General Information
2) Requirements
3) Building and installing
4) Realtime & Tuning
5) License

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1) General Information
======================

This is an open-source EtherCAT master implementation for Linux 2.6.

See the FEATURES file for a list of features. For more information, see
http://etherlab.org/en/ethercat.

or contact

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Florian Pose <fp@igh-essen.com>
Ingenieurgemeinschaft IgH
Heinz-Baecker-Str. 34
D-45356 Essen
http://igh-essen.com

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2) Requirements
===============

1) Software requirements

Configured sources for the Linux 2.6 kernel are required to build the EtherCAT
master.

2) Hardware requirements

A table of supported hardware can be found at
http://etherlab.org/en/ethercat/hardware.php.

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3) Building and installing
==========================

See the INSTALL file.

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4) Realtime & Tuning
====================

Realtime patches for the Linux kernel are supported, but not required. The
realtime processing has to be done by the calling module (see API
documentation). The EtherCAT master code itself is passive (except for the idle
mode and EoE).

To avoid frame timeouts, deactivating DMA access for hard drives is
recommended (hdparm -d0 <DEV>).

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5) License
==========

Copyright (C) 2006-2009  Florian Pose, Ingenieurgemeinschaft IgH

This file is part of the IgH EtherCAT Master.

The IgH EtherCAT Master is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2, as
published by the Free Software Foundation.

The IgH EtherCAT Master is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
the IgH EtherCAT Master; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA

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The license mentioned above concerns the source code only. Using the EtherCAT
technology and brand is only permitted in compliance with the industrial
property and similar rights of Beckhoff Automation GmbH.

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