gwg@fibercom.COM (Greg Goodchild) (07/23/90)
While the following questions are not directly related to the
68K, I am at a loss as to where else to post this question.
Is anyone familiar with, or presently using, the VTC VIC068
VMEbus Interface Controller? I am interested in your opinions of
the device. Are there any bugs you are aware of, or any
complications in its implementation?
Your emailed comments would be greatly appreciated.
--
Greg Goodchild INTERNET: gwg@fibercom.com
FiberCom, Inc. UUCP: ...!uunet!fibercom!gwg rmiller@ucrmath.ucr.edu (robert james miller) (07/24/90)
The VIC chip (VME Interface Controller) is a VME interface and DMA chip developed by VTC to the specifications of the VME Consortium (VITA). As a sales representative for Radstone Technology (a member of the consortium and one of the very avid supporters of its implementation), I have seen it used to obtain chip to chip transfers through the VME backplane at speeds of up to 40 Mbytes/sec in burst mode. Thus, the chip definitely enables some very high throughput. There are, however, some documented bugs, which are being worked out, and probably some undocumented ones, yet to be dis- covered. The chip is quite an accomplishment, I feel, for the VME industry, because not only does it increase the speed as illustrated above but, since it is open technology, it give the VME interface something of a standard to adhere to. For detailed information about the chip, you might try contacting VITA. I can mail their # to anyone who mails me requesting it. Another place for information would be one of the manuals that Radstone has. The 68-33 board, a 68030 processor board that implements the chip, has a fantastic 70+ page appendix dedicated solely to the VIC chip. That's about as much as is ded- icated to the board itself. There's lots of great information there. (BTW, I don't get a commission on those books, so I'm not just trying to get you to buy them for personal reasons! :-) Again, if you need the number, drop me a line. I'm not at my office, or I would post it now. Another interesting fact about the chip: National Instruments, a manufacturer that has a VXIbus product line, has implemented a (very) slightly modified version of the chip on some of their VXI boards! Seems that since VXI was modeled after VME, the chip works wonderfully. But I won't go into technical details here... DISCLAIMER: These opinions are mine. I am in no way representing Radstone Technology, National Instruments, VITA, or University of California, Riverside with this posting. - Robert James Miller - rmiller@ucrmath.ucr.edu