PPC7A Product Manual
1
st
Edition
2-1
Chapter 2 - General Description
This chapter contains a general description of the PPC7A. Chapter 8 describes the board in more detail.
Introduction
The PPC7A is a highly integrated, VMEbus processor using the PowerPC 745x RISC CPU with
integrated L2 cache and a private L3 cache bus or the PowerPC 7410/755 RISC CPU with a private L2
cache bus. The product offers an extensive range of standard functions including processors clocked at
933 MHz and above, 2 Mbytes of L2 (or L3 if 745x fitted) cache, user SDRAM up to 512 Mbytes on-
board with ECC, on-board serial, parallel, and two channels of 10/100 base Ethernet, up to 256 Mbytes
of FLASH memory, an Ultra-SCSI peripheral interface controller, a 64-bit VMEbus interface, and direct
connection for a keyboard and mouse.
Expansion capabilities are provided by two 64-bit/66 MHz PCI interface slots. PCI (IEEE P1386.1)
provides an industry-standard, high-speed (528 Mbytes/second) local expansion bus, designed for
graphics, high-speed communications (e.g. ATM, FDDI, ISDN, etc.), multi-media and user-defined
custom functions. PCI has established itself as the leading local interconnect standard, and the wide
availability of compatible devices, coupled with its adoption on an array of platforms, ensures that PCI-
based modules are both high-performance and low cost.
The highly integrated nature of the PPC7A makes it a true single board computer. In many ways, the
PPC7A resembles a high performance PC motherboard, although in a more rugged, lower profile and
more compact form factor.
The PPC7A has been designed to be a plug in upgrade/replacement of the PPC range of PowerX boards.
To enhance the connection capabilities, the PPC7A uses 5-row P1 and P2 connectors, but still retains the
PPC basic pinout.
Figure 2.1 - PPC7A General View
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