Finding an Ethernet Address for Embedded Targets

Find an x86 Ethernet Address

To find an Ethernet address for an x 86 target (if the address is not on a sticker on the target board), use Tom's Single Floppy Linux distribution.

1. Get the distribution from the http://www.toms.net/rb/ site. Click on the "1.7.185 install from Linux" link to find a download.
2. Save the tomsrtbt-1.7.185.tar.gz file to /tmp.
3. Log in as root.
4. Run the following commands in your shell window.

     cd /tmp tar -xzvf tomsrtbt-1.7.185.tar.gz
     cd tomsrtbt-1.7.185
     ./install.s

   Your system will then provide the following output:

     Insert a blank writable 3.5" floppy diskette then strike ENTER.
5. Put a floppy disk in the host system's floppy drive. Press Enter. Your system will then provide the following output:

     About to fdformat /dev/fd0u1722
     Double-sided, 82 tracks, 21 sec/track. Total capacity 1722 kB.
     Formatting ... done
     ...
     About to verify floppy image
     Succeeded!

   Remove the floppy disk from the floppy drive.

6. Ensure that all your connections have power to the x86 target. Insert the floppy disk before powering up the target. Power up the target and get a prompt:
     boot:
7. Press Enter and wait. The Linux kernel will boot and information about the target will display. You should now see a prompt like:
   tty1 tomsrtbt login:
8. Re-log in as root user with "xxxx" as your password. Type:
     dmesg | grep eth0

   You should see something like the following output¹.

     eth0: 3Com 3c589, io 0x300, irq 3, hw_addr 00:00:86:1B:AA:9A

   Following the "hw_addr" output is the Ethernet address (in ##:##:##:##:##:## format), which is the value for target-ethernet-address  in Network information.

   Write down the Ethernet address. You may also want to write down the io address and the irq number, in case you need them to create a bootROM.

Find a PowerPC Ethernet Address

To find an Ethernet address for accessing a PowerPC target if the address is not on the target board (see MBX board for location), use the following procedure.

MBX board

If you don't have the Ethernet address for Setting up the PowerPC Target, use the NIOT command; see Troubleshooting boot problems with a PowerPC target.