pps: add parallel port PPS signal generator

Add PPS signal generator which utilizes STROBE pin of a parallel port to
send PPS signals.  It uses parport abstraction layer and hrtimers to
precisely control the signal.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: fix build]
Signed-off-by: Alexander Gordeev <lasaine@lvk.cs.msu.su>
Acked-by: Rodolfo Giometti <giometti@linux.it>
Cc: john stultz <johnstul@us.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

1 files changed, 46 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/pps/pps.txt b/Documentation/pps/pps.txt
index 125f4ab48998..d35dcdd82ff6 100644
--- a/Documentation/pps/pps.txt
+++ b/Documentation/pps/pps.txt
@@ -170,3 +170,49 @@ and the run ppstest as follow:
 
 Please, note that to compile userland programs you need the file timepps.h
 (see Documentation/pps/).
+
+
+Generators
+----------
+
+Sometimes one needs to be able not only to catch PPS signals but to produce
+them also. For example, running a distributed simulation, which requires
+computers' clock to be synchronized very tightly. One way to do this is to
+invent some complicated hardware solutions but it may be neither necessary
+nor affordable. The cheap way is to load a PPS generator on one of the
+computers (master) and PPS clients on others (slaves), and use very simple
+cables to deliver signals using parallel ports, for example.
+
+Parallel port cable pinout:
+pin     name    master      slave
+1       STROBE    *------     *
+2       D0        *     |     *
+3       D1        *     |     *
+4       D2        *     |     *
+5       D3        *     |     *
+6       D4        *     |     *
+7       D5        *     |     *
+8       D6        *     |     *
+9       D7        *     |     *
+10      ACK       *     ------*
+11      BUSY      *           *
+12      PE        *           *
+13      SEL       *           *
+14      AUTOFD    *           *
+15      ERROR     *           *
+16      INIT      *           *
+17      SELIN     *           *
+18-25   GND       *-----------*
+
+Please note that parallel port interrupt occurs only on high->low transition,
+so it is used for PPS assert edge. PPS clear edge can be determined only
+using polling in the interrupt handler which actually can be done way more
+precisely because interrupt handling delays can be quite big and random. So
+current parport PPS generator implementation (pps_gen_parport module) is
+geared towards using the clear edge for time synchronization.
+
+Clear edge polling is done with disabled interrupts so it's better to select
+delay between assert and clear edge as small as possible to reduce system
+latencies. But if it is too small slave won't be able to capture clear edge
+transition. The default of 30us should be good enough in most situations.
+The delay can be selected using 'delay' pps_gen_parport module parameter.