Hardware Reference Manual
PMC233/4/5 & PMC243/4/5 High Capacity Disk Solutions
1 Introduction
This manual describes the operation, configuration and installation instructions for the PMC23X and PMC24X
High Capacity Disk modules. The PMC23X/PMC24X family provides a single PMC slot storage solution utilizing
industry standard ATA rotating and solid state disks. Designed to be plugged onto a host processor (e.g., Single
Board Computer) card, these products provide an extremely compact, flexible and economical high performance
storage solution.
The PMC23X/PMC24X family of embedded disk modules offers a totally new high performance, low cost option
for file system and boot storage. Combining high performance controllers developed for high-end workstations,
with disk technology used in laptops, the PMC23X/PMC24X embedded disk module delivers very high data rates
in a compact form factor implemented with components designed for physically demanding environments. With
the PMC23X/PMC24X “single slot,” computing solutions do not need to compromise in either capacity or
performance. In addition, card edge PCI systems can be accommodated using RAMiX's PMC239 adapter for
rapid prototype and development.
The PMC23X/PMC24X is fully PMC compliant, meeting all mechanical, electrical and protocol specifications.
Disk capacities from 10GB to 60GB (rotating media) and from 32MB to 2GB (Flash) are supported.
The PCI controller on the PMC23X/PMC24X makes full and efficient use of the PCI bandwidth. FIFO buffers
allow effective use of PCI burst modes, critical to achieving low PCI overheads. The PMC23X/PMC24X can
execute data transfers at full PCI bus speeds. The PMC23X/PMC24X will mount on any PMC location (either
directly on a processor card or on a PMC carrier board).
On the disk side, the controller can support ATA 66 for the PMC 233/234/235 and ATA 100 on the
PMC243/244/245.
1.1 Features
The PMC233 and PMC234 use the CMD Technology CMD646 controller, the PMC235 uses the CMD648
controller. The PMC243, PMC244 and PMC245 use the Promise Technology PDC20269 controller (fully PCI 2.1
compliant). The most significant difference between the two sets of products is the performance, both on the PCI
(the PMC233, PMC234 and PMC235 supports 32bit/33Mhz, the PMC243, PMC244 and PMC245 supports 32 bit
wide PCI and speeds up to 66Mhz) and on the ATA (to disk) bus.
Within each group, the products are distinguished by mechanical layout and the style of disk they support.
All of these modules comply with the CMC specification for PCI Mezzanine Cards (commonly known as PMC).
As such, they will directly connect to any Single Board Computer (SBC) or Expansion Card that supports PMC
modules. All initialization, and functional configuration of the module is done automatically by software.
All of the products offer:
• Boot OS (e.g. Windows, NT, RTOS, etc.)
• Runs under the local Operating System File System
• Utilize industry standard storage solutions (e.g., 2.5” and Compact FLASH drives), allowing capacity and
performance improvements as they become available.
• Drivers for most popular RTOS, UNIX and Microsoft Window environments
DDC No. Rx-URMH 090 Rev A
Issued 7 April 2002
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