FINAL
PCnet-32-KT
Am79C965 Based Evaluation Kits for
VESA VL-Bus Systems
DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS
s
Based on the PCnet-32 (Am79C965) 32-bit
single-chip Ethernet controller
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Two evaluation kit options available:
鈥?PCnet-32-KT/2 with 10BASE-T and
10BASE2 ports
鈥?PCnet-32-KT with 10BASE-T port
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Implements a full functional Ethernet node
using a VESA VL-Bus鈩?system as host
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Ethernet adapter card utilizing a high
performance, low-cost, bus-master architecture
(NE2100)
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Software compatible with all PCnet family
members
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Software drivers support all popular Network
Operating Systems
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Includes evaluation board, software driver
diskettes and supporting documentation
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The PCnet-32 evaluation kit is an evaluation vehicle for
the Am79C965 PCnet鈩?32 single chip Ethernet con-
troller. There are two versions of the kit available for
evaluation. The PCnet-32-KT supports the 10BASE-T
(Twisted Pair) connection, while the PCnet-32-KT/2
supports both the 10BASE2 (Cheapernet) connection
and the 10BASE-T connection on the evaluation card.
The evaluation board, when installed in a VESA
Local-Bus host system, provides a platform for demon-
strating the high performance design of the PCnet-32
device, the low manufacturing cost of a PCnet-32
based solution and the overall ease of design. The plat-
form further allows the user to evaluate network hard-
ware and to develop software for an Ethernet node
based on the PCnet-32.
In addition to the evaluation board, the kit comes with
software diskettes, a hardware user鈥檚 manual, the
PCnet Family Network Driver Installation Guide,
and
device datasheet and the
PCnet Family Technical Man-
ual.
The software includes driver object codes for Novell
NetWare鈩?ODI DOS and OS/2, NetWare Lite, Mi-
crosoft Windows NT, Windows for Workgroups, LAN
Manager, Banyan VINES Client, IBM LAN Server, SCO
UNIX, Artisoft LANtastic/AI, DEC Pathworks, and
Packet Driver. Also included are two utility programs,
one for con鏗乬uration of the network adapter card and
software driver installation, and one for EEPROM con-
鏗乬uration.
In addition, AMD provides a low-level evaluation pro-
gram to establish connections and send and receive
messages. The evaluation program allows the user to
view and change the contents of the PCnet-32 regis-
ters, the memory resident Initialization Block, and the
data buffer Descriptor Rings. The program also allows
the designer to establish loops for hardware probing.
The PCnet Family Con鏗乬uration and Installation utility
program, AmInstall, provides an easy user interface to
view the con鏗乬uration of the PCnet-32 evaluation
board. The utility program will automatically scan the
system bus(es), which may include ISA, VL, or PCI to
鏗乶d the installed PCnet device. This utility program will
identify AMD鈥檚 PCnet-ISA, PCnet-ISA
+
, PCnet-32, and
PCnet-PCI devices. With the con鏗乬uration portion of
the program, the utility allows the user to select the I/O
address, IRQ channel, DMA channel, and Boot ROM
address for the PCnet-32 device. After con鏗乬uration,
the user may use the installation portion of the utility to
install a selected driver by copying the appropriate
driver from the AMD diskette and create or modify the
CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and PROTOCOL.INI
or NET.CFG 鏗乴es on the user鈥檚 system.
The PCnet-32 evaulation board stores the unique IEEE
physical address in the serial EEPROM. Once powered
up , the Am79C965 device reads the node鈥檚 IEEE
physical address from the EEPROM through the Mi-
crowire interface protocol. The EEPROM utility pro-
gram allows the user to change the bus con鏗乬uration
options such as burst length, FIFO thresholds, I/O loca-
tion, etc. For more details about the PCnet-32 single
chip Ethernet controller, refer to the
Am79C965
PCnet-32
data sheet (PID#18219) and
PCnet Family
Technical Manual
(PID# 18216).
Publication#
18565
Rev:
A
Amendment/0
Issue Date:
February 1994
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