Ampro Puts Fast Ethernet on PC/104-Plus Cards

Ampro Computers, Inc.mpany%> (San Jose, CA), the company that originated the popular PC/104 and PC/104-Plus modular single-board computer (SBC) standards--and co-authored with Motorola the EBX non-backplane SBC based on its Little Board form-factor--has jumped into the CSMA/CD networking arena. The firm has just announced the availability of modules with Ethernet connectivity hooks.

The products are dubbed MiniModule/ESB multi-function modules. Key to their utility is a PCI Fast (100Base-T) Ethernet interface. But, the modules also pack a pair of configurable serial ports, and SSD expansion sockets--all in PC/104-Plus compliant SBC module form factors. For distributed processing industrial applications, Ampro's MiniModule/ESB should prove easy to embed in CSMA/CD-networked, as well as serially interconnected, systems.

These modules can serve a variety of applications, offering you cost versus performance tradeoffs. For example, the company is making its modules available in standard commercial versions for operating over the commercial temperature range of 0 to 70°C, but will also dish up -40 to +85°C extended temperature range versions for embedded industrial applications in harsher environments.

The module's Ethernet subsystem is based on a PCI interfaced Advanced Micro Devices (Sunnyvale, CA) Type AM79C972 controller chip. The Ethernet subsystem supports both 10 Mbit/second and 100 Mbit/second full-duplex data transfers. Either the 10Base-T or 100Base-T twisted-pair media connection is accomplished by means of an onboard industry-standard RJ-45 connector.

Support For Multiple Operating Systems

A wide range of operating systems, including good old DOS, also support the modules. Naturally, they work under Windows 98 and Windows NT. However, if your application requires deterministic responses, the modules also support Windows CE, as well as hard realtime operating systems (RTOSs) such as QNX, VxWorks, and others.

The module's two PC-compatible serial ports are implemented with industry-standard 16C550-type UART chips, working in conjunction with a 16-byte FIFO buffer to ensure fast throughput. One serial port can be configured to support either RS-232 or RS-485 operation; the other is configurable for RS-232C or TTL-level signaling.

Solid-state Storage

A bytewide socket is also included in each module. It permits plug-in addition of an M-Systems (Newark, CA) DiskOnChip2000 solid-state flash-based disk emulator which can work with the wide range of operating systems mentioned above.

If you need them, Ampro's MiniModule/ESB modules are available now. They're manufactured per IPC-610A Class 2 specs in Ampro's ISO9000-certified factories. If you're interested in more details, contact Rick Lehrbaum at Ampro Computers, Inc., 4757 Hellyer Ave., San Jose, CA 95138. Phone: (408) 360-0200. Fax: (408) 360-0220. Email: info@ampro.com.