Customer Reviews

PCI & PCI-X Hardware and Software, Fifth Edition

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

 

 

I've written code for two projects that required me to do the PCI device drivers myself. I could not have completed them without this book. It looks as if it might be helpful for a hardware engineer as well.

There are other, more "user friendly" books out there, but the other books I tried to use didn't have the wealth of information this one does. It contains the spec, commentary, and useful notes. It doesn't hold your hand and guide you through the development process. If you need that, buy another book, *in addition* to this one.

Bottom line: If you need to develop code to operate a PCI bus device, and you don't have a device driver, get this book. The price of the book is *nothing* compared to the time it will save you.

I have used previous editions of this book and found them to be excellent. I had lost my fifth edition, when I went to replace it found this sixth edition. It turns out that the PCI SIG made a recent update to the specification and this book reflects this latest update. This latest edition seems to further refine the extensive technical information found in earlier editions. It also has added a CD-ROM with an extensive PCI and PCI-X tutorial the book claims is for the purpose of ramping up new engineers. Because I have previously designed PCI plug-in cards I did not look at all of the tutorial, but it is extensive with a lot of graphics.

The book begins with the basic PCI and PCI-X platform architecture. It then exhaustively details the bus transactions and bridge interfaces. Part of the unique protocol of PCI and PCI- X is the transaction protocol which permits the transaction to be terminated and completed at a later time. Part of this protocol relies on master and target termination which is extensively discussed in this book. Also unique to PCI and PCI-X was parity and bus errors

My understanding is that PCI Express uses the PCI configuration model. I am not a software engineer so all I can comment on is that the software section of the book seems extensive. I have checked several technical resources and found that this is the ONLY resource that has not been updated with the recent changes to the hardware and software updates in the specification.

I am reading this book after "PCI bus mustified" and "PCI System Architecture". Unless I had read the two other books I would have been completely lost. The authors constantly use concepts not yet explained which makes the book not make sense. New concepts are explained in a confusing way. The authors write in a babbly style of small unrelated sentences without any clear thread of thought. I am now on page 91 and I seriously consider throwing the book away. Save your money and get the two above mentioned books and also get hold of the PCI specification. This is my first review ever on Amazon - I am so disappointed in this book...

PCI Bus Architecture and desig