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Intel i860-based
Bus Boards
AL-860 PCI Bus Processor Board
Based on Intel's i860 processors, the AL-860 processor board is
ideal for accelerating digital signal processing (DSP), graphics,
and imaging processing applications.
The Intel i860 microprocessor delivers supercomputer performance
in a single VLSI component. The 64-bit design of the i860 balances
integer, floating point, and graphic performance, and its architecture
makes it suitable for many applications including engineering workstations,
scientific computing, 3-D graphics workstations, and multi-user
systems.
AL-860 Features
Features common to all Alacron i860-based boards include:
- Single or dual i860s
- Up to 200 MFLOPs / 100 MIPS
- Up to 272 MB addressable memory
- FastTrack connection to I/O and processor daughter-cards
- Real-time OS
- MS-DOS, Windows, Unix interfaces
- Available for: PCI computers
The AL-860s are single-processor i860 XR-based board-level subsystems,
available for PCI bus computers. Utilizing a single 40 MHz i860
XR, the AL-860 executes a 1k complex FFT in 0.720 mSec. The AL-860's
addressable memory is expandable from 2 MB to 256 MB for the PCI
bus.
The AL-860 subsystem provides two FastTrack expansion connectors.
These connectors implement Alacron's stackable daughter-card protocol,
and together can support a combination of up to six I/O, memory
expansion and processor daughter-cards.
Alacron provides a complete family of high-performance FastTrack
daughter-cards to allow sufficient speed and buffering for intensive
I/O and display, and to support a wide range of third-party solutions.
FastTrack interfaces include:
- High Performance Digital (Camera) Interface
- Analog Framegrabber
- High Performance Digital I/O Interface
- DT-Connect Interface
- SCSI Interface
- VISIONbus Interface
- Video Display Adapter
- VSB Interface
The AL-860 accommodates one 25 or 40 MHz i860XR processor and up
to 256 MB of local DRAM. Each AL-860 board features an on-board
Real-time Clock, Programmable LED, Interrupt Controller, Bus Arbiter
and two FastTrack connectors.
| Control Registers |
The i860 processor has its own set
of control registers within the memory address space. These
control the real-time clock, i860 interrupts, processor-bus
arbitration and interprocessor communication. |
| Real-time Clock (RTC) |
The RTC can be used to measure processing
times, to generate periodic interrupts to the i860, or to function
as a time of day clock. |
| Interrupt Control (IC) |
IC registers control interrupts to
and from each i860 processors. The i860 maybe interrupted from
4 sources: either expansion connector, the RTC, or the host
computer. The i860 can interrupt the host bus as well as the
other i860 processor. |
| System Bus Arbitration |
The i860 processor can share the
system bus with other RAM masters in the following priority:
DRAM Refresh, FastTrack Connector #1, FastTrack Connector #2.
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| Memory |
The AL-860 for the PCI
bus computer can be configured from 2 to 256 MB on the main
board. The 40 (25) MHz AL-860 memory achieves a peak access
rate of 160(100) MB/sec for near (on page) accesses, and 45.7
(28.6) MB/sec for far accesses. |
Technical Specifications
Block Diagram
| Al-860
Processor Board |
| Processor |
Intel i860XR |
| Clock Speed |
25 or 40 MHz |
| Memory |
2 MB to 256 MB |
| External I/O |
160 MB/sec (1) |
| Intel
i860 CPU |
| Precision |
IEEE (754) floating point
Single (32 bit) precision
Double (64 bit) precision |
| Performance |
80 MFLOPs, 40 MIPs @ 40 MHz |
| 3D unit |
Z buffering
Pixel interpolation
3D shading |
| MMU |
4k page sizes |
| Data bus |
128 bit internal
64 bit external |
| Cache |
8K data, 4K Instruction |
| Al-860
Peak Performance |
| MFLOPs |
80 MFLOPs |
| MIPs |
40 MIPs |
| 1K complex FFT |
< 0.720 mSec |
512 image processing
2D real FFT
3x3 convolution |
0.330 mSec
66.1 mSec |
| Notes: (1) burst rate
transfers using AL-860-DI daughter-card |
| PCI
Interface |
| Bus specification |
8, 16, 32 bit PCI format |
| Control registers |
I/O mapped |
| Global memory |
Memory mapped |
| PCI/global memory |
132 MB/sec burst |
| PCI/global memory |
70 MB/sec sustained |
| PCI/global memory |
16 MB/sec random |
| PCI
Electrical and Environmental |
| Power |
+5 volts at 5A |
| Dimensions |
12.7 x 35.6 x 1.9 cm |
| Operating temperature |
0 - 50 degrees centigrade |
| Relative humidity |
95% noncondensing |
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