TI Sitara PRU-ICSSM Industrial Ethernet
Ethernet controllers built into Texas Instruments Sitara AM335x, AM437x, and AM57x system-on-chip processors, where a programmable real-time co-processor (the PRU-ICSSM block) implements the Ethernet MAC. These are aimed at industrial gear such as PLCs, motor drives, and factory automation gateways that need deterministic, real-time networking, and the silicon is still shipping in 2025.
recommendation
It should stay because the code is brand new upstream (landed in September 2025) and is still gaining features such as switchdev and rapid spanning tree as of January 2026, with TI continuing to publish supported SDKs for the AM335x, AM437x, and AM57x families through late 2025. The newer ICSSG driver targets different silicon and is not a substitute for these older Sitara parts, so this remains the only upstream option for a niche but actively sold class of industrial hardware.
repository signals
sources
- spinics.net
The driver was still under active upstream bring-up in August 2025 as a net-next patch series adding the ICSSM Ethernet driver.
- spinics.net
A January 2026 net-next patch series added switchdev/RSTP support, showing ongoing feature development rather than retirement.
- ti.com
TI still published a Processor SDK for AM335x in late 2025, indicating continued supported software presence for AM335x devices.
- ti.com
TI listed AM4376/AM4377/AM4378/AM4379 as supported products on a Processor SDK page updated in November 2025.
- ti.com
TI listed AM57x family parts on a Processor SDK page with an October 31, 2025 release, showing ongoing supported deployment for that family.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local source inspection via shell showed a real platform_driver with DT compatibles ti,am57-prueth / ti,am4376-prueth / ti,am3359-prueth, so this is a hardware driver for legacy-industrial Sitara PRU-ICSSM Ethernet blocks. Local git log via shell shows the directory first landed in September 2025 and then gained switchdev/RSTP support in January 2026, which matches the web-searched spinics patch threads above; I also searched for removal/deprecation and found no removal discussion. TI SDK pages were obtained with the web search tool and show those SoC families still had current SDK/support pages in late 2025, so hardware is still sellable/deployable, but this is a narrow industrial embedded niche rather than a broad-volume 2025 design win class. No natural upstream replacement exists for the same ICSSM hardware block; newer TI ICSSG drivers serve different hardware generations, not a drop-in replacement for AM33x/43x/57x ICSSM.