PCI System Architecture (4th Edition) [Paperback]

MindShare Inc. (Author), Tom Shanley (Author), Don Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0201309742 | ISBN-13: 978-0201309744 | Edition: 4

PCI System Architecture is a detailed and comprehensive guide to the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus Specification, Intel's technology for fast communication between peripheral devices and the computer processor. This new edition has been thoroughly updated, reorganized, and expanded to cover the PCI Local Bus Specification version 2.2 and other recent developments, including the new PCI Hot-Plug Specification, changes to the PCI-to-PCI Bridge Architecture Specification, revisions to the PCI Bus Power Management Interface Specification, and the new features of the PCI BIOS Specification. This book provides clear and concise explanations of the relationship of PCI to the rest of the system and PCI fundamentals, including commands, read and write transfers, memory and I/O addressing, error handling, interrupts, and configuration transactions and registers. In addition, you will find specific information on such key topics as: *Hot-Plug Specification *Power management *CompactPCI *The 64-bit PCI Extension *66 MHz PCI Implementation *Expansion ROMs *PCI-to-PCI Bridge and the PCI BIOS *Add-in cards and connectors *Bus arbitration *Reflected-wave switching *Early transaction end *Fast back-to-back and stepping Changes from PCI 2.1 to PCI 2.2 and changes from PCI-to-PCI Bridge Specification 1.0 to 1.1 are visibly highlighted throughout the book so that those familiar with the previous versions can quickly get a handle on new features and functions. Anyone who designs or tests hardware or software involving the PCI bus will find PCI System Architecture, Fourth Edition a valuable resource for understanding and working with this important technology. The PC System Architecture Series is a crisply written and comprehensive set of guides to the most important PC hardware standards. Each title explains from a programmers perspective the architecture, features, and operations of systems built using one particular type of chip or hardware specification.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

PCI System Architecture is a detailed and comprehensive guide to the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Bus Specification, Intel's technology for fast communication between peripheral devices and the computer processor.

This new edition has been thoroughly updated, reorganized, and expanded to cover the PCI Local Bus Specification version 2.2 and other recent developments, including the new PCI Hot-Plug Specification, changes to the PCI-to-PCI Bridge Architecture Specification, revisions to the PCI Bus Power Management Interface Specification, and the new features of the PCI BIOS Specification.

This book provides clear and concise explanations of the relationship of PCI to the rest of the system and PCI fundamentals, including commands, read and write transfers, memory and I/O addressing, error handling, interrupts, and configuration transactions and registers. In addition, you will find specific information on such key topics as:

• Hot-Plug Specification
• Power management
• CompactPCI
• The 64-bit PCI Extension
• 66 MHz PCI Implementation
• Expansion ROMs
• PCI-to-PCI Bridge and the PCI BIOS
• Add-in cards and connectors
• Bus arbitration
• Reflected-wave switching
• Early transaction end
• Fast back-to-back and stepping

Changes from PCI 2.1 to PCI 2.2 and changes from PCI-to-PCI Bridge Specification 1.0 to 1.1 are visibly highlighted throughout the book so that those familiar with the previous versions can quickly get a handle on new features and functions.

Anyone who designs or tests hardware or software involving the PCI bus will find PCI System Architecture, Fourth Edition a valuable resource for understanding and working with this important technology.

The PC System Architecture Series is a crisply written and comprehensive set of guides to the most important PC hardware standards. Each title explains from a programmer's perspective the architecture, features, and operations of systems built using one particular type of chip or hardware specification.

About the Author

MindShare, Inc. is one of the leading technical training companies in the hardware industry, providing innovative courses for dozens of companies, including Intel, IBM, and Compaq.

Tom Shanley, president of MindShare, Inc., is one of the world's foremost authorities on computer system architecture. In the course of his career, he has trained thousands of engineers in hardware and software design.

Don Anderson is the author of many MindShare books. He passes on his wealth of experience in digital electronics and computer design by training engineers, programmers, and technicians for MindShare.

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 4 edition (June 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201309742
• ISBN-13: 978-0201309744
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just OK, June 24, 2001

By 

habworks "habworks" (Lithonia, GA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PCI System Architecture (4th Edition) (Paperback)

Being an Electrical Engineer, and one that has already designed a PCI product (PC Card), I purchased this book as a re-fresher based on another EE comments. The book is VERY good at: Describing the many PCI based registers. Providing useful timing diagram information. Providing useful driver information tips, and explaining the "fair" nature of the PCI bus. The book is poor at: Providing useful electronic interface information. Way too wordy, but worse yet overly repetitive. Did not cover PCB layout issues. Overly focused on PC interface - what about embedded system?

The PCI bus architecture has grown to huge acceptance within the embedded world, yet this book focuses almost entirely on a PC interface. The book also fails to address the electrical characteristics of the bus. About four pages (total of 700+) are spent on the reflective wave nature of PCI. This is a lost because most EE are only familiar with an incident wave bus signal. If designing a complex embedded system with multiple loads, and PCI to PCI Bridges, you can forget about any help here when it comes to multiple transmission line reflections and PCB layout assistance. How could anyone write a "how to" book about a bus (any bus for that matter) and fail to cover the topic of bus transmission is beyond me (especially a bus that can clock up to 66MHz). WOW unbelievable! Lastly, this must have been a pay by the page deal. There are over 700+ pages (and I read most of them). Believe me, it could have been much shorter. Much of the information is repeated over, and over again (more than 2 or 3 times).

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, detailed, excellent., June 11, 2000

By 

R. Findley (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PCI System Architecture (4th Edition) (Paperback)

If you're looking for an extensive guide to the hardware workings of PCI, this is THE book. I read it, then bought the PCI spec (because I needed mechanical info). After looking through the spec, I realize that PCI System Architecture covers every aspect of conceptual, and almost all detail, information that is in the spec. As far as specs go, the PCI spec is very readable, but this book turns the PCI spec into a "for dummies" book in the sense that it's so easy to follow. Numerous and overlapping examples make it clear what's going on, and by the time you're done reading, you can do this stuff in your sleep. Only things absent were: (1) Mechanical info (though for $50, you really should buy the spec), (2) How to initiate transactions (in software) from an x86 PC, particularly burst transfers.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple and very didactic, December 4, 2000

By 

Avi Chami - See all my reviews

This review is from: PCI System Architecture (4th Edition) (Paperback)

Step by step, this book guides you over all the aspects of the PCI bus: Architecture, transactions, arbitration, PCI commands, interrupts, configuration, etc.

The book refers to both 33 and 66 MHz PCI.

The book language is clear, the diagrams are good and the division by subjects is well done.

At the beginning of every chapter, you can see a summary of the contents of the chapter, as well as a short sentence about the previous and next chapters.

NOTE: I am a hardware designer, and I think that hardware issues were well covered in the book. As I have seen from previous reviews, software designers think that there is not enough information in the book for them. Also, as already noted by other reviewers, mechanical aspects are not covered by the book.