GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The PCnet-PCI single-chip 32-bit Ethernet controller is a highly integrated Ethernet system solution designed to address high-performance system application requirements. It is a flexible bus-mastering device that can be used in any application, including network-ready PCs, printers, fax modems, and bridge/router designs.

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS

■Single-chip Ethernet controller for the Periph eral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus

■Supports ISO 8802-3 (IEEE/ANSI 802.3) and Ethernet Standards

■Direct interface to the PCI local bus

■Compliant to PCI local bus specification(Revision 2.0)

■Software compatible with AMD’s Am7990

   LANCE, Am79C90 C-LANCE, Am79C960

   PCnet-ISA, Am79C961 PCnet-ISA+, Am79C965

   PCnet-32, and Am79C900 ILACC^TM register and descriptor architecture

■Compatible with Am2100/Am1500T and Novell NE2100/NE1500 driver software

■High-performance Bus Master architecture with integrated DMA Buffer Management Unit for low CPU and bus utilization

■Big endian byte alignment supported

■Single +5 V power supply operation

■Low-power, CMOS design with sleep modes allows reduced power consumption for critical battery powered applications and Green PCs

■MicrowireTM EEPROM interface supports jumperless design

■Individual 136-byte transmit and 128-byte receive FIFOs provide frame buffering for increased system latency, and support the following features:

— Automatic retransmission with no FIFO reload

— Automatic receive stripping and transmit padding (individually programmable)

— Automatic runt packet rejection

— Automatic deletion of received collision frames

■Look-Ahead Packet Processing (LAPP) concept allows protocol analysis to begin before end of receive frame

■Integrated Manchester Encoder/Decoder

■Provides integrated Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) and 10BASE-T transceiver with automatic port selection

■Automatic Twisted-Pair receive polarity detection and automatic correction of the receive polarity

■Optional byte padding to long-word boundary on receive

■Dynamic transmit FCS generation programmable on a frame-by-frame basis

■Internal/external loopback capabilities

■Supports the following types of network interfaces:

— AUI to external 10BASE2, 10BASE5,10BASE-T or 10BASE-F MAU

— Internal 10BASE-T transceiver with Smart Squelch to Twisted-Pair medium

■NAND Tree test mode for connectivity testing on printed circuit boards

■132-pin PQFP package