PCI Bus Demystified [Hardcover]

Doug Abbott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 187870754X | ISBN-13: 978-1878707543 | Publication Date: November 15, 2000 | Edition: 1

Doug Abbott is founder and president of Intellimetrix, Inc., a computer hardware design firm in Silver City, New Mexico. He has conducted seminars on PCI bus theory and design for such companies as Intel and Sun Microsystems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Aimed at hardware and software designers, this book is a practical guide to the PCI Bus found in every modem PC. The guide begins with an overview of key PCI Bus concepts, including commands, read-and-write transfers, memory and I/O addressing, error handling, and interrupts. It then goes on to more advanced topics, such as PCI-to-PCI bridge architecture and the PCI BIOS. (One possible design application for the PCI Bus is for developing an interface card for controlling a robot from a PC.)

The accompanying CD-ROM includes a free, fully searchable eBook version of the text. In addition, a Web site for the book (www.pcidemystified) covers new PCI developments, offers supplemental materials, and provides a reader's forum.
Poptronics

PCI Bus Demystified Gets Down to Basics:
PCI is the mainstay for PC and many embedded-system designs, therefore designers need to be aware of its methods, mechanisms, and nuances. PCI Bus Demystified, written by Doug Abbott for LLH Technology Publishing, does this in enough technical detail to impress PCI interface designers and simply enough to enlighten engineers and programmers acquainted with the PCI bus from plugging in a few PCI adapters.

The book starts with a good overview of ISA and PCI and then dives into the bus protocol, along with optional and advanced features. The section on mechanical and electrical design will be handy for those dealing with motherboard or daughterboard designs, as well as those interested in all aspects of the PCI bus.

Standard and Compact PCI hardware is presented but the latest MiniPCI specification is not addressed. The latter is of interest to laptop designers and embedded designers that are space limited. Compact PCI is well addressed and probably the most important to embedded designers.

All aspects of PCI design and standards are examined, including hot-plug and hot-swap support, "plug and play" operation, and PCI BIOS support. Overall, the topics are presented well and useful for learning and reference purposes.
Bill Wong, Embedded Technologies/Software Editor, Electronic Design

"...enough technical detail to impress PCI interface designers and simple enough to enlighten engineers and programmers acquainted with the PCI bus from plugging in a few PCI adapters." ELECTRONIC DESIGN

Book Description

The most accessible introduction to the PCI Bus, now updated to include PCI-X 2.0! --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Newnes; 1 edition (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 187870754X
• ISBN-13: 978-1878707543
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a very useful reference., November 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: PCI Bus Demystified (Hardcover)

This book does not contain any information that is not easily available on the Web for free. Go to the AMCC or PLX web sites and read their documentation. They go into much more detail. This book is way to general to be of any real use. The diagrams are not explained in any more detail than is available in the PCI spec or the PCI Handbook. Finally, a few software examples would be very instructive. The included CD-ROM does not include examples, only the book in electronic form.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Intro, April 13, 2005

By 

K. G. Tiplady - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PCI Bus Demystified (Hardcover)

I am a hardware engineer that only recently got involved in designing a hardware board for the Pci bus. All books and articles on the subject all assume some inherent knowledge on the subject. This is the only book/article that I found that introduced the subject slowly and clearly bringing me up to speed in a very enjoyable manner. Well Done!

14 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars PCI Bus Demystified, December 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: PCI Bus Demystified (Hardcover)

I regreted that I purchased this book. I wish I can return the book and get my money back. It is only a "simplified" and "re-organized" version of the real spec. It is worthless.