Some design issues on changing from PCI->PCI-Express?

[Sebastian]

Hi,

we search for the fastest way to make our board PCI-Express capable. Up
to now we use a Freescale 56301 DSP with integrated PCI bridge. We
don't stick to that particular IC so much, because of RoHS. But it
would be nice if we could reuse the code.

We have mainly two ideas:
- use another DSP that is RoHS compliant and some IC that converts
PCI-Express (this would be good because of the code reusage, but which
interface would be inbetween the DSP and the PCIe Bridge?)
or
- use a FPGA that includes the functionality of the DSP and a
PCI-Express implementation.

So my question:
1.) which design would you prefere (or any other ideas on the design)?
2.) is there a free implementation of the PCI-Express bridge in VHDL?

I hope this group is the right place for asking that questions...

Sebastian

 

[Eric]

I haven't seen a free PCI-Express core.... Usually free cores of that
size are made by hobbyists or university students/ professors. Since
PCI-Express is so new I wouldn't expect a free core any time soon. And
"usually" they are free for a reason. If you want something reliable
you usually have to pay for it. But check www.opencores.org and see if
anybody has one.

Xilinx and "I think" Freescale partnered up and have a two-chip
solution available. I'd check out Xilinx's website.

http://www.xilinx.com/xlnx/xebiz/designResources/ip_product_details.jsp?key=DO-DI-PCIEXP

Eric