Transtech Transputer, User Manual

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Using Transputer Modules
TMB M 711 Transputer Motherboard User Manual
3
Chapter 2
Using Transputer Modules
This chapter contains a beginners guide to setting up and using
transputer equipment based on TRAMs. It discusses simple
configurations of transputers for the most popular programming
environments and how to link two motherboards together to
construct larger networks. If you have purchased a standard
configuration PARAstation it will already be configured for you and
the following should only be read to understand the concepts behind
your parallel processing system. For more detailed information refer
to Chapter 3
‘The TRAM Standard’
.
2.1 Introducing TRAMs
TRAMs are small assemblies based on transputers with a standard
electrical and mechanical interface. They plug onto standard
motherboards which in turn plug into or can be connected to a range
of host computers. This allows TRAMs and motherboards from
different vendors to be plugged into a wide variety of computing
platforms, giving the user the ability to construct a computing
machine which meets their requirements exactly in terms of
performance and IO function.
2.1.1 Hardware Description
This section contains a description of the transputer hardware which
allows users unfamiliar with TRAMs to understand the installation
procedure described in the next section.
The smallest size of TRAM measures about 3.5" long by 1" wide
(10cm by 2.5cm). This is called a Size 1 TRAM. The size of larger
TRAMs is always a multiple of the Size 1 TRAM. The size 1 TRAM