PCI-VME Solflower Computer PCI Bus Interface

The Solflower Computer PCI-VME Adapter enables the Sun Ultra PCI-based workstation to connect to a wide range of existing VMEbus peripherals. The adapter includes a Solaris 2.5.1 - 2.6 software driver which allows peripheral devices on the VMEbus to interact transparently with the host. All software written for current VME applications can be utilized without modification in the Solaris 2.x environment.

The Solflower Computer PCI-VME Adapter is built with a Universe 2 single chip PCI-VME interface. The Universe uses built-in FIFO to decouple the transfer of data between the asynchronous VME and the synchronous PCI bus. The advantage of a decoupled system is increased bandwidth and a decrease of local bus latency. There is no waiting for remote bus arbitration and data acknowledgment; therefore, each bus operates at its optimum speed. By using the Solflower PCI-VME bridge, system integrators can now rely on a product which allows direct connection of all off-the-shelf VME interfaces to the Sun Ultra PCI-based workstation.

The Solflower PCI-VME Adapter consists of a board set connected via a shielded cable (two, four or six-foot length). One board (PCI card) uses a single PCI slot of the host, the other board (6U VME interface board) is installed in a VME card cage. The soft- ware is compatible with Solaris 2.5.1+ or higher.