Version History/Revision History

These are the main releases of Intel® TCC Tools:

Customer Support

Contact your Intel representative for support or submit an issue to Intel® Premier Support.

Introduction

Intel® TCC Tools is a collection of C language APIs, tools, sample applications, and supporting documentation that enable you to take advantage of real-time features on selected Intel® processors.

This document provides system requirements, installation instructions, issues and limitations, and legal information.

To learn more about this product, see:

• Features listed in the Features in This Release section below.

• Reference documentation listed in the Integrating Cache Reservation Library section below.

• Installation instructions are in the Get Started with Intel® TCC Tools 2022.1 for Ubuntu* Host and Yocto Project* + UEFI BIOS Target or the Get Started with Intel® TCC Tools 2022.1 for Slim Bootloader .

Features in This Release

New Features from 2021.3.0

• Real-Time communications demo:

  • Added Slim Bootloader (SBL) support.

  • Added option to launch SISO mode from single board.

  • Added remote plotting of results on the host system.

Changes to Existing Features from 2021.2.0

• Data streams optimizer: updated tuning configurations for better compatibility with software environments such as Microsoft Windows* OS.

Unsupported or Discontinued Features

Nothing to report.

Fixed Issues

The following issues reported in the previous release were fixed in this release:

• The Cache Reservation Library (CRL) in Maintenance Release 3 (MR3) for Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors Integrated Firmware Image (IFWI) will only be visible if Intel® TCC Authentication is set to “Disable”.

  NOTE:

  This issue is fixed in the MR4 of the Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors.

• PR1 and MR1 releases of the Yocto Project*-based Board Support Package (BSP) for Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors contain only SEP5 IFWI which does not allow disabling of Intel® TCC Authentication or enrollment of personal authentication keys. Due to this limitation, Intel® TCC Tools’ features that require authentication, such as data streams optimizer and cache configurator, cannot be used with SEP5 IFWI. To use these features, you should change the IFWI configuration to SEP0 and reflash IFWI onto the reference validation platform with the supported Intel Atom® x6000E Series processor.

  NOTE:

  This issue is fixed in the MR2 release of the Yocto Project*-based BSP for Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors. MR1 and PR1 releases are still affected.

• Cache allocation:

  • On Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors, the default single L3 cache way software SRAM buffer is not generated by the BIOS when the cache configurator is used to remove all existing software SRAM buffers and when the software SRAM option in BIOS is enabled.

  • On 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors with Slim Bootloader, the cache configurator creates software SRAM regions for the wrong cores when the preset is applied. Manual creation of software SRAM regions works correctly.

  • Cache configurator shows the incorrect maximum size for allocation of the software SRAM region. The actual maximum size is less than the reported by one cache way size.

• Real-time readiness checker always reports that the current boot is not RTCM for systems with BIOS.

• Time-Aware GPIO:

  • On 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors, and Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors with Intel® Programmable Services Engine (Intel® PSE) TGPIO device, the frequency discipline sample does not produce the expected output.

  • On Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors with Slim Bootloader, Time-Aware GPIO is unavailable.

• Real-time communication demo:

  • On 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors with BSP based on Linux* kernel 5.10, basic mode with XDP ZC optimization has high packet loss statistics. Also, SISO-single mode with XDP ZC optimization does not work.

Known Issues

• The system may hang when using the Write Cache (WRC) on 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors.

• The system may hang when Intel® TCC Mode and Real-Time Configuration Manager (RTCM) are disabled on Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors.

• After using the tcc_setup.py script to install files on the target system, the /usr/share/tcc_tools/tools directory has only write permissions for Group and Other owners. You can only access the files in this folder with the account that was used to run the tcc_setup.py script.

• The recent Yocto Project-based BSP upgrade to using Yocto Project 4.0 release (codename “kirkstone”) and Linux* kernel 5.15 may cause failure in all Intel® TCC Tools samples. Refer to the following table for a suitable Yocto Project-based BSP combination with Intel® TCC Tools. For more information, refer to the Cache Reservation Library (CRL) Integration for Intel® Platforms to Enable Intel® Time Coordinated Computing (Intel® TCC) (Public Document).

  CRL Dependencies

  Intel® Platform	Release	Intel Firmware Image (IFWI) Kit Version	CRL Version	Intel® TCC Tools Version
  Intel Atom® x6000E Series Processors	MR3	v4122_00	v5.11	2022.1
  Intel Atom® x6000E Series Processors	MR2	v3471.01	v5.11	2021.3, 2022.1
  Intel Atom® x6000E Series Processors	MR1	v3312.01	v5.03	2021.2, 2021.3
  Intel Atom® x6000E Series Processors	PR1	v3165.02	v4.0	2021.1, 2021.2
  Intel Atom® x6000E Series Processors	PV	v3097.01a	v4.0	2021.1, 2021.2
  11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors	MR5	v5035_01	v5.07	2022.1
  11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors	MR4	v4415_01	v5.07	2021.3, 2022.1
  11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors	MR3	v4315_01	v5.07	2021.2, 2021.3
  11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors	MR2	v4225_01	v5.03	2021.2
  11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors	MR1	v4045_01	v2.0	2021.1
  Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series Processors	MR3	v5055_01	v5.07	2022.1
  Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series Processors	MR2	v4425_01	v5.07	2021.3, 2022.1
  Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series Processors	MR1	v4345_01	v5.07	2021.3
  Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series Processors	PV	v4285_02	v5.03	2021.2, 2021.3

• Data streams optimizer:

  • In rare cases, the tcc_data_streams_optimizer_preprod tool may not be able to write files into the output directory. Change the umask to 0755 or set the permission to the output directory manually.

  • On 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, a system hang may occur intermittently when running the reboot command. If the system detects hardware errors, the Functional Safety (FuSa) feature, PCIe* Interrupt Error Handling (IEH), may attempt an additional system reset that can get stuck at postcode 0x0b7f. Perform a hard reset to regain control of the system. Temporary resolution for system hang after reboot: Disable IEH in the BIOS menu: Intel Advanced Menu/PCH-IO Configuration/IEH Mode = Bypass Mode.

  • On the Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors, there are no support for Intel® Ethernet Controller I225, and root port for the producer on Bus:Device.Function (BDF) 02:00.0.

  • On the Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors SKU10, enabling Intel® TCC feature using SBL while booting Yocto Project*-based OS from the USB may cause the system being unable to boot. The temporary solution is to use the M.2 form factor for Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) hardware interface to boot up the Yocto Project-based OS to avoid timing issues.

• Measurement library: Applications using the measurement library may not read all collected values from the shared memory.

• Cache allocation:

  • The cache configurator and cache allocation library work incorrectly with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology enabled. The cache configurator may generate the wrong content for BIOS capsules. The resulting configuration may be different from expected or may cause unexpected system issues.

  • On 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors, VTune™ Profiler may cause a system hang during the cache allocation sample measurement when RTCM is enabled.

• Real-time communication demo:

  • Running in SISO-single or basic mode sometimes does not correctly configure IP addresses during the setup phase. Best-effort traffic is not generated.

  • At least one message is always lost.

• Certain features detect the processor model of the target system. These features may report errors when they detect processors that have CPUID 0000.

  • If the real-time readiness checker reports NON_RT_READY in this case, you can proceed with using Intel® TCC Tools.

  • If tcc_setup_ssram.sh reports an error, specify the platform in the command line.

  • If data streams optimizer reports an error, specify the platform in the environment file. Cache configurator is unsupported in this case.

• Time-Aware GPIO:

  • On Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors with Slim Bootloader, Software GPIO is unavailable, which blocks Advanced Time-Aware GPIO (TGPIO) Sample (comparison of SW GPIO vs Time-Aware GPIO).

Limitations

• The cache configurator requires binary compatibility with real-time configuration data (RTCD) at the BIOS level. If a BIOS update changes the RTCD binary structure, it may cause issues with the cache configurator. For a list of supported BIOS versions, see BIOS/Firmware Version.

• If an application accesses the L2 software SRAM buffer and is subsequently migrated to a different core which does not share the same L2 cache, and continues to access the L2 software SRAM buffer, the performance of the software SRAM may diminish.

Integrating Cache Reservation Library

Integrating the Cache Reservation Library (CRL) is necessary to enable Intel® TCC on your Intel® platform. For information on which version of the Cache Reservation Library (CRL) you need for your Intel® platform, see Cache Reservation Library (CRL) Integration for Intel® Platforms to Enable Intel® TCC.

Related Documentation

Online documentation:

• Get Started with Intel® TCC Tools 2022.1 for Ubuntu* Host and Yocto Project* + UEFI BIOS Target

• Get Started with Intel® TCC Tools 2022.1 for Slim Bootloader

• Developer Guide

The Intel® TCC Tools package also contains documentation in the following directories:

• API reference: /usr/share/tcc_tools/documentation/api/index.html

• Sample sources: /usr/share/tcc_tools/samples

• Sample binaries: /usr/bin

Where to Find the Release

You can find the release on the product page.

Release Content

The following table shows revision numbers of components of the Intel® TCC Tools release.

Hardware and Software Compatibility

This release is compatible with the following hardware:

• 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors DDR4 customer reference board with a supported processor:

  • 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1115GRE Processor

  • 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1145GRE Processor

  • 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1185GRE Processor

• Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors reference validation platform with a supported processor:

  • Intel Atom® x6200FE Processor

  • Intel Atom® x6212RE Processor

  • Intel Atom® x6414RE Processor

  • Intel Atom® x6425RE Processor

  • Intel Atom® x6427FE Processor

• Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors reference validation platform with a supported processor:

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11865MRE Processor

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11865MLE Processor

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11555MRE Processor

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11555MLE Processor

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11155MRE Processor

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11155MLE Processor

To acquire these boards, contact your Intel representative.

For additional requirements, see the following documentation:

• Get Started with Intel® TCC Tools 2022.1 for Ubuntu* Host and Yocto Project* + UEFI BIOS Target

• Get Started with Intel® TCC Tools 2022.1 for Slim Bootloader

BIOS/Firmware Version

• For 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, Intel has validated this release with version TGLIFUI1.R00.4391.A01.2110081311. IFWI version: v4415_01

• For Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors, Intel has validated this release with version EHLSFWI1.R00.3432.A03.2110250557. IFWI version: v3441.01

• For Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors, Intel has validated this release with version TGLIFUI1.R00.4391.A02.2110150627. IFWI version: v4425_01

SBL IFWI:

• For 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, Intel has validated this release with version SB_TGL.001.001.000.001.002.00048.D-BED435C135A97694-dirty.

• For Intel Atom® x6000E Series processors, Intel has validated this release with version SB_EHL.001.001.000.001.002.00015.D-3010534A6ED17CD3-dirty.

• For Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series processors, Intel has validated this release with version SB_TGL.001.001.000.001.002.00042.D-33BD371BB09C084F-dirty.

Supported Operating Systems

This release supports the Linux* operating systems.

Validated operating systems:

• Host: Ubuntu* 20.04 LTS

• Target: Yocto Project*-based board support package releases:

  • 11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors MR3 release

  • Intel Atom® x6000E Series Processors MR1 release

  • Intel® Xeon® W-11000E Series Processors MR1 release

• Target: Windows* 10 OS for Data Streams Optimizer (DSO) only.

Notices and Disclaimers

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The products described may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.

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Your costs and results may vary.

Code names are used by Intel to identify products, technologies, or services that are in development and not publicly available. These are not “commercial” names and not intended to function as trademarks.

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.

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This software and the related documents are Intel copyrighted materials, and your use of them is governed by the express license under which they were provided to you (License). Unless the License provides otherwise, you may not use, modify, copy, publish, distribute, disclose or transmit this software or the related documents without Intel’s prior written permission.

This software and the related documents are provided as is, with no express or implied warranties, other than those that are expressly stated in the License.