ETC PCNET-ISAII-KT/2

PRELIMINARY
PCnet-ISA II-KT/2
Am79C961A Based Evaluation Kit for ISA Systems
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS
n ISA-based Ethernet adapter card with on-board
10BASE-T and 10BASE2 connections
n Based on the PCnet-ISA II (Am79C961A) singlechip Ethernet controller for ISA-based systems
n Implements a fully functional Ethernet node
using an IBM PC/AT or compatible as host
n Ethernet adapter card utilizing a high
performance, low-cost, bus master architecture
(NE2100)
n Supports full-duplex Ethernet operation
n Supports Microsoft’s Plug and Play system
configuration for jumperless ISA designs
n Software compatible with all PCnet family
members
n Software drivers support all popular Network
Operating Systems (NOS)
n Includes evaluation board, software driver
diskettes, and supporting documentation
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The PCnet-ISA II evaluation kit is a design evaluation
vehicle for the Am79C961A PCnet-ISA II single-chip
Ethernet controller with an integrated ISA bus interface.
The kit includes an evaluation board with the
Am79C961A single chip Ethernet controller and connections for 10BASE-T (twisted pair) or 10BASE2 (coaxial cable) media.
The evaluation board, when installed in an ISA-based
host system, provides a platform for demonstrating the
high performance of the PCnet-ISA II device, the low
manufacturing cost of a PCnet-ISA II based solution,
and the overall ease of design. The platform further allows the user to evaluate network hardware and to develop software for an Ethernet node based on the
PCnet-ISA II device.
In addition to the evaluation board, the kit comes with
software diskettes, a hardware user’s manual, the
PCnet Family Network Driver Installation Guide, and
the Networking Products CD-ROM (PID# 21244).
The software includes driver object codes for Novell
NetWare ODI DOS and OS/2, Microsoft Windows NT,
Window for Workgroups, LAN Manager, Banyan VINES
Client, IBM LAN Server, SCO UNIX, Artisoft LANtastic/
AI, DEC Pathworks, and Packet Driver. Also included
are two utility programs, one for configuration of the
network adapter card and software driver installation,
and one for EEPROM configuration.
No hardware jumpers are required for configuration. The
PC system BIOS automatically configures on power up,
the I/O Base Address, interrupt channel, and DMA channel for the PCnet-ISA II Ethernet adapter card.
In addition, AMD provides a low-level evaluation program to establish connections, and send and receive
messages. The evaluation program allows the user to
view and change the contents of the PCnet-ISA II registers, the memory resident Initialization Block, and the
data buffer Descriptor Rings. The program also allows
the designer to establish loops for hardware probing.
The PCnet Family Configuration and Installation utility
program, Aminstall, provides an easy user interface to
view the configuration of the PCnet-ISA II evaluation
board. The utility program will automatically scan the system bus(es), which may include ISA, VL, and PCI to find
the installed PCnet-ISA, PCnet-ISA+, PCnet-ISA II,
PCnet-32, PCnet-PCI, PCnet-PCI II, and PCnet-ISA II devices. With the configuration portion of the program, the
utility will find and report to the user, the I/O address, IRQ
channel and DMA channel, assigned to the PCnet-ISA II
device by the system BIOS. After configuration, the user
may use the installation portion of the utility to install a selected driver by copying the appropriate driver from the
AMD diskette, and create or modify the CONFIG.SYS,
AUTOEXEC.BAT, and PROTOCOL.INI OR NET.CFG
files on the user’s system.
The PCnet-ISA II evaluation board stores the unique
IEEE physical address in the serial EEPROM. Once
powered up, the Am79C961A device reads the node’s
IEEE physical address from the EEPROM through the
Microwire interface protocol. For more details about the
This document contains information on a product under development at Advanced Micro Devices. The information
is intended to help you evaluate this product. AMD reserves the right to change or discontinue work on this proposed
product without notice.
Publication# 22105 Rev: A Amendment/0
Issue Date: January 1998
P R E L I M I N A R Y
PCnet-ISA II Ethernet Controller also refer to the
Am79C961A PCnet-ISA II data sheet (PID #19364),
which is found in the Networking Products CD-ROM
(PID#21244) or on the AMD Web site (www.amd.com).
Transformer
DC-DC Converter
Coax
Transceiver
10BASE2
Am7996
PCnet-ISA+/II 10BASE-T/10BASE2
2 Layer Card
Crystal
EEPROM
10BASE-T
Am79C961A
LEDs
Transformer/Filter
Boot ROM Socket
22105A-2
Figure 1.
PCnet-ISA II-KT/2
Trademarks
Copyright © 1998 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.
AMD, the AMD logo, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
CLANCE, Élan, ISAnet, LANCE, Magic Packet, and PCnet are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Product names used in this publication are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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