NI VXIpc-870B Series Embedded Pentium III VXIbus Controllers

Processor

The VXIpc-870B Series feature the 1.26 GHz Intel Pentium III processor in the FC-PGA2 package. The processor comes with 512 KB of Level 2 Cache and interfaces to the chipset through the 133 MHz AGTL+ system bus.

Memory

The VXIpc-870B Series controllers come with two SO-DIMM sockets for memory. 128 MB of PC133 SDRAM is installed in one socket with the other socket available for expansion. The system handles a maximum of 512 MB of PC133 memory. You can purchase additional 128 MB or 256 MB memory modules and upgrade your system memory.

Intel 82815 Graphics Controller

The NI VXIpc-870B Series uses the integrated Intel 82815 graphics controller and Dynamic Memory Video Technology (DMVT). Using DMVT, the integrated graphics controller achieves optimum graphics and memory performance by dynamically sharing the high-speed PC133 system memory. With this video memory management, the VXIpc-870B Series offers a wide

range of video resolutions and colors, a few of which are listed in Table 2.

10/100BaseT Ethernet

The VXIpc-870B Series uses the Intel integrated LAN controller and the 82562 Platform LAN Connect Fast Ethernet Controller. The controller automatically negotiates connections for 10BaseT and 100BaseTX.

SCSI

The LSI53C895A is a PCI controller providing Wide Ultra2 SCSI performance to the VXIpc-870B Series. The controller can perform transfers as fast as 40 Mtransfers/s (80 Mbytes/s). The SCSI controller operates in low voltage differential mode and is backward compatible with single-ended devices.

PC Card Expansion

You can also add third-party peripheral cards through two PC Card slots on the front panel. The VXIpc-870B Series handles two Type I/II or one Type III PC Card. The controller uses the Texas Instruments PCI1450 PCI-PC Card bridge. Booting from an ATA solid-state flash memory card is possible in VxWorks or Linux if you configure the controller through the BIOS*.

*Please refer to National Instruments KnowledgeBase entry for flash memory booting on ni.com for the latest information on this feature.

IEEE 488.2/HS488 Interface

The VXIpc-870B Series uses the PCI mini-MITE and TNT4882 ASIC (PCI-GPIB compatible) for full GPIB control of external instruments via a front panel connector. GPIB control capability is fully IEEE 488.2 compatible. The GPIB interface on the VXIpc-870B Series is fully compatible with the National Instruments industrystandard NI-488.2 driver software for a variety of operating systems. Any software using NI-488.2 runs on the VXIpc-870B Series. Using the HS488 protocol, the VXIpc-870B Series can handle speeds up to 8 Mbytes/s.

NI Watchdog

NI Watchdog is a counter/timer that can monitor an application program by having the software check in with NI Watchdog. Please call National Instruments technical support for more information on this feature.

Real-Time Clock

The VXIpc-870B Series uses the integrated real-time clock along with a user-replaceable battery for CMOS setting backup. The battery is a hermetically sealed lithium battery, making it suitable for use in industrial applications.

BIOS

The Phoenix BIOS was developed specifically for the VXIpc-870B Series controllers. The BIOS incorporates both a SCSI option ROM and PXE network boot ROM, so you have the option of either SCSI or network booting.

Another special feature of this BIOS is PC Card booting from an ATA flash memory PC Card. The BIOS can configure the TI PCI1450 PC Card Controller in IDE mode, so some operating systems, such as VxWorks or Linux, can boot from a PC Card*.

*Operating systems that enumerate the PCI bus can reconfigure the PC Card controller, which causes boot failure. Please refer to National Instruments KnowledgeBase entry for flash memory booting on ni.com for the latest information on this feature.

USB CD-ROM Drive

National Instruments offers an optional external USB CD-ROM drive for use with the VXIpc-872B embedded controller. Using the USB interface, connect this CD-ROM drive to your embedded controller for easy system software recovery, installation, and upgrades. Because USB is not available with Windows NT, the external CD-ROM drive works only as a recovery device under this operating system. This drive is completely powered through the USB port, so no external power connections are required.

VXIbus

VXI Addressing – The VXIpc-870B Series controllers feature the MITE and MANTIS custom ASICs for accessing the VXI backplane resources. To access VXI memory or VXI devices, VXIpc-870B Series controllers use the multiple windowing scheme of the MITE, so you can access all of the VXI address space. The MITE exports independent VXI address windows, providing the user with three completely user-configurable windows. You can also set each window size and location. This multiple windowing scheme alleviates the performance penalty related to the context switching of one window that you must constantly move between the different address spaces.

DMA Transfers to and from VXI – The VXIpc-870B can perform blockmode transfers using one of the two on-chip DMA controllers on the MITE. Controlling external VXI devices often takes valuable CPU time, because the microprocessor typically shoulders the burden of transferring data to and from devices. However, MITEbased VXI controllers, such as the VXIpc-870B Series, free up CPU processing time by moving the burden of block data transfers to one of the DMA controllers on the MITE. Instead of the computer microprocessor transferring the data and/or commands, NI-VXI/NI-VISA software uses the MITE ASIC to execute the block data transfers. While the MITE transfers the data, the processor can perform application-specific tasks, such as data presentation and analysis.