Customer Reviews

ISA System Architecture (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't let the fact that this is ISA System Architecture deter you from reading this book. Although the ISA BUS is seldom used, the Legacy devices/functions are still in use today.

This book was Very useful to to me for gaining a base level of understanding system architecture. In general, the PC architecture builds upon it's predecessor. This book will give you the foundation needed to progress to the next level and so on.

It is important for me to note that there appear to be two (2) distinct writing styles in this book. One of the authors explains in great detail before and during a subject and the other is somewhat vague at times in defining and explaining his subjects.

However, regardless of the two writing styles, If you bring your thinking cap, scratch paper,and a desire to learn, this book will teach you what you need to move forward.

I Highly recommend this book.

It should also be noted that the reader should have a GOOD understanding of PC's from an integration,troubleshooting, and repair standpoint. (A+ certification knowledge)OR experience in Assembly/ 'C' language. This will make it easier to understand and put you in the right frame of mind.

Enjoy.

Just completed the book. Excellent coverage of the ISA Bus -- from the hardware as well as software point of view.
Book also covers the peripheral support chips (8237,8259, etc) that are attached to the Bus -- as well as the operating
modes of various x86 processors.

Definetly geared towards Operating System Developers.

On the whole I found this book very informative, and a good starting point for anyone interested in understanding the ISA bus system and memory, I/O interaction.

I feel that I will need to follow up now with further technical documentation to successfully design the custom I/O cards I require.

Although I very much enjoyed the book, I found that at times, it was presented in terms too simplistic for the majority of the engineering community. Areas that could have been eliminated are, (AND, OR, NOT) logic interpretations in every chapter and the duplication of efforts in describing the 8086 to the 80286 to the 80386, etc.

Things that I did feel useful are the flow charts, timing diagrams, and block descriptions of each of the larger logic segments.

William Kamienik Pittsburgh, PA.

I like this book since it covers the ISA bus in a very compresive way. It is a good book on computer architecture since it descibes how the CPU attaches to the bus, and what gets attached to the bus. the authors descibe the evolution of the bus by discussing how the CPU (286,386,..) attached to the bus evolves. i like how the book is organized... you dont have to go searching all over the place for information. everything is presented thoroughly and without convolution so that you dont have to start with the first chapter, or, when you refer back to the book, you dont have to read a bunch of other chapters.

The examples and explanations of why and how the ISA architecture functions in a standard PC were a great help for me. As the book progresses, one can appreciate the complexity of the ISA architecture, yet I didn't get "lost" from chapter to chapter. Without this resource, I probably wouldn't have been able to complete a major design project and graduate from college.

This book lays all the groundwork necessary for people who want to learn computer hardware. Especially, it teachs you the basic knowledge you need for all subsequent Mindshare books in PC Architecture Series. The book partitions its content into several parts:
1. CPU: how the CPU fetchs the instructions from memory, and how the CPU process and stores the data inside its registers.
2. INTERFACE: how the CPU communicates with the rest of the peripherals on the motherboard.
3. MEMORY: how the system memory, cache memory and ROM works. Among other things, the book explains the refresh cycle in the sytem memory, the algorithm of the cache controller and ROM self checking for errors.
3. ISA BUS: Among other things, the book examines every single line of ISA bus, the Interrupt, DMA, Timers and Numeric Coprocessors.
Because this book is about ISA bus, the only CPU described in details are the 8086, 8088, 286 and 386. Eventhough these CPUs are old and nobody use ISA bus anymore, you will need to understand them before you can learn more advanced CPU and system bus, such as Pentium 4 and PCI bus. The prerequisite to read this book is a solid understanding of Digital Logic Design, especially the Hex number, decoder, mux, flip flop, latch and state machine.

This book is good for people who do not want to delve into the hardware level very much but still want a summary overview of how the ISA bus interacts with different components on a PC. I bought the book thinking it would present more hardware solutions on interfacing but was sorely dissapointed in the lack of real world examples. It is a so-so refrence book with enough good info for me to want to keep it.

ISA architecture was introduced to the computer market long ago but is still alive for the PC/104 bus micro-controller world. I have been searching for documents realated to the ISA architecture but found only this book the best book that helped me in designing products interfacing to the ISA bus.

This book is incredible; I was struck with astonishment at the depth of its technical coverage. Everything is here. Everything you could ever need to know about ISA. Although highly detailed, it approaches each topic with grace and smooth transition from the previous topic. Each term and concept is explained prior to it being used. Each topic is build upon previous discussions. This book takes the willing reader by the hand, and walks him/her through all of the chapters. In the end, you'll feel like a real ISA authority. Although, this book is well written and consists of easy transitions from chapter to chapter, it is not for the timid. The authors hold nothing back. Everything is here.