bdm@ciprico.mn.org (Bill D. Moren) (09/18/87)
RIMFIRE 3500 VMEbus SCSI HOST BUS ADAPTER WITH FLOPPY PORT
The Rimfire 3500 VMEbus SCSI bus adapter from Ciprico Inc.
was designed to be the highest performance and most cost effective
adapter available. It accomplishes this goal with a software
interface derived from Ciprico's high performance VMEbus disk
controllers and an extremely fast though elegantly simple
hardware architecture.
* Command Queuing * 30 Mbyte/sec. VMEbus
Software Interface Transfer Rate
* Pass Through SCSI * 4.0 Mbyte/sec. Synchronous,
Commands 1.5 Mbyte/sec. Asynchronous
SCSI Transfer Rates
* Complete UNIX Device
Drivers Available * Single-ended or Differential
SCSI Bus Transceivers
* Floppy Port
Providing complete control over SCSI bus operations, a
software interface using pass through commands allows the system
to select which commands are sent to the peripheral controllers.
Rimfire 3500 parameter blocks have a SCSI command descriptor
block embedded in them. The board will issue the command
descriptor block directly to the SCSI bus upon reading it from
system memory. This allows the use of any mandatory, optional,
and vendor unique SCSI commands as well as commands defined in
the Common Command Set (CCS) specification.
A large circular command queue, designed for system
software, links the operating system to the Rimfire 3500 adapter.
The queue, with a command capacity exceeding practical limits,
receives requests from the operating system driver as soon as
they are ready, with no timing restrictions. With access to all
pending SCSI requests, the Rimfire 3500 board can take advantage
of the disconnect/reconnect capability of the SCSI bus and issue
overlapped commands for different devices.
With a transfer rate capability of 30 Megabytes/second,
Ciprico's proprietary Short Burst FIFO gate array and VMEbus
interface combination increase bus efficiency. By moving data
across the bus at a rate limited by the capability of most memory
boards, the Rimfire 3500 adapter uses only a small fraction of
the available bus bandwidth for data transfers.
Optional support for up to 4 single, dual, or quad density
floppy drives provides users with an economical method of
providing floppy capability in their system. By buffering all
floppy data in on-board local memory, SCSI performance is never
degraded during floppy activity. Supporting IBM PC XT/AT
compatible drives, floppies continue to prove valuable as a
method of loading software patches and updates, running
diagnostics, transporting files, and even as a modest backup
alternative.
A 4.0 Megabyte/second synchronous SCSI bus transfer rate
capability, as well as a 1.5 Megabyte/second asynchronous rate
capability, eliminates the possibility of any transfer rate
bottlenecks. With data rates of SCSI bus peripherals continually
increasing, the Rimfire 3500 adapter has the ability to meet
future needs.
With single-ended or differential bus transceivers, system
to peripheral interconnection choices are made by the systems
designer, not the board supplier. Even if today's needs are met
with everything in a single enclosure, where single-ended
transceivers fit the need, tomorrows expansion may mean an
external cabinet. The Rimfire 3500 adapter was designed with
this in mind, providing differential capability as a standard
option.
The Rimfire 3500 SCSI host bus adapter is available today
with a list price of $1395 for a single-ended transceiver and
floppy version of the board. For more information on the Rimfire
3500 adapter, or any of Ciprico's VMEbus, Multibus I, or Multibus
II compatible mass storage controllers, contact Bill Moren at
Ciprico:
Ciprico Inc.
2955 Xenium Lane
Plymouth, MN 55441
(612) 559-2034
or at:
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