Gateway Hardware Requirements (Windows CE 5.0)
Board Support Package (BSP) Considerations
Windows CE supports a list of BSPs out-of-the-box. For a list of the BSPs supported in Windows CE, see Supported Board Support Packages.
Third-party BSPs are also available for different versions of Windows CE. For more information, see Microsoft Web site.
Microsoft recommends that you follow the directions for each BSP. These BSPs are integrated into the integrated development environment (IDE) so you can choose them when you create a project.
For information about creating and using one of these BSPs with your hardware platform, see the specific topic for that BSP.
If you are creating your own BSP for your own Software Design Board or a custom hardware platform, see How to Create a Board Support Package.
When developing a gateway, make sure to consider all the requirements that are specific to your hardware platform and BSP and to base your development decisions on your specific target hardware.
Memory Requirements
When selecting hardware for a gateway device, you should choose Direct Memory Access (DMA)-capable hardware with a large hardware buffer capacity. For more information, see Direct Memory Access.
Hardware Reset Requirements
To return to the out-of-box screen that is first presented to gateway users, you must implement a customized hardware reset. The gateway UI provides a page that enables users to restore factory default options. You use this UI or customize it, and link it to your hardware reset mechanism.
Native Wi-Fi Hardware Support
Windows CE includes two Native Wi-Fi drivers, one for Native Wi-Fi STA support and one for Native Wi-Fi AP support. The following table shows the Native Wi-FI drivers that are supported in Windows CE.
| Catalog item | Catalog location |
|---|---|
| Realtek RTL8180 Native Wi-Fi STA Driver | Device Drivers\Networking\Local Area Networking (LAN) devices |
| Realtek RTL8180 Native Wi-Fi AP Driver | Device Drivers\Networking\Local Area Networking (LAN) devices |
Driver Support
Windows CE supports a list of networking drivers that can be added to your Gateway OS design out-of-the-box. For a list of networking drivers supported in Windows CE, see Driver Catalog Items.
The following table shows some of the supported network cards for the gateway and the interface names for each card.
| Network card | Interface name |
|---|---|
| NE2000 compatible PCI card | PCI\\NE2000x |
| NE2000 compatible ISA card | NE2000x |
| RealTek RTL8139 PCI card** | PCI\\RTL8139x |
| National Semiconductor DP83815** | DP83815x |
| Intel DEC 211x4** | DC21X4x |
| Microsoft Virtual Miniport driver | VMINIx |
**The non-Microsoft software and hardware referenced in these documents are included for illustrative purposes only. Illustrations that use such third-party software and hardware as examples are not intended to be an endorsement or recommendation of any of these products. We provide this information only as a convenience for our customers for purposes of explaining a practical application and do not provide warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.
The x is a placeholder for a whole number that Windows CE appends to the interface name. This number depends on how many of each type of network card the gateway has. For example, if you have three NE2000 compatible PCI cards, your interface names are PCI\NE20001, PCI\NE20002, and PCI\NE20003.
You can also create a customized networking driver. For more information on network driver development, see Network Drivers.
Hardware Performance Considerations
To increase the performance of your NDIS miniport driver, see Improving Performance of an NDIS Miniport Driver.
For information about using the Winsock Performance Test to test a gateway, see Testing a Gateway by Using the Winsock Performance Test.
See Also
Gateway Architecture | Gateway Best Practices
Send Feedback on this topic to the authors