NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR TO DEVELOP FIRST SINGLE-CHIP PLUG AND PLAY INTERFACE DEVICES FOR ADD-IN CARD DESIGNS
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- August 7, 1995 -- National Semiconductor announced today that it is developing a family of memory enabled devices, designed to provide complete Plug and Play (PnP) capability for ISA bus systems. The devices enable add-in card manufacturers (i.e., sound cards, fax/modem and data acquisition cards) to offer products that take advantage of Windows 95's PnP functionality. The two devices, NM95MS14 and NM95MS15, reduce board space, system cost and will improve time-to-market by integrating nonvolatile (EEPROM) memory and PnP logic onto one chip .
The devices allow designers the ability to upgrade their products to meet the PnP standard, with very few changes. NM95MS14 and NM95MS15 will eliminate the need for glue logic or design changes by integrating a state machine, switching logic, an address decoder, and more importantly EEPROM all onto one chip. Currently designers have to use two or more chips to achieve this type of functionality. Also, for those adapter functions that require additional non-volatile memory to store card specific information, like the communication parameter and Ethernet address, there will be 4Kbits of additional EEPROM memory on the chip that can be accessed through a MICROWIRE(tm) interface.
"The PnP specification eliminates end user installation miseries when it comes to installing a new ISA adapter card," said Steve Hamilton, director of marketing for the Embedded Technologies Division at National Semiconductor. "Whatever was previously required to be manipulated by the end-user is now done in-system through a combination of hardware, software and configuration memory. Now that all three pieces are in place, installing a new card is a matter of plugging-in, powering-up and playing."
NM95MS14 will offer direct connection to the ISA bus, support for one logical device and can operate in two modes, DMA and Extended Interrupt. NM95MS15 will also be a complete implementation of the PnP specification and offers direct connection to the ISA bus, support for two logical devices, up to four I/O chip selects, two memory chip selects, and 20 address lines. The chip will operate in three modes, DMA, Extended Interrupt and Extended DMA. The primary benefit from having these different modes is that a card manufacturer can mix and match any adapter's requirements with a single chip instead of having an inventory of larger-packaged chips or multiple chips.
Both devices will feature an integrated EEPROM. NM95MS14 will offer 2Kbits for PnP resource allocation and 4Kbits for external MICROWIRE access. NM95MS15 will offer 4Kbits for PnP resource allocation and 4Kbits for external MICROWIRE access. Both devices will allow the designer to save board space and cost by eliminating the need for an external memory device.
NM95MS14 comes in a 48-pin TQFP and is expected to be in volume production in Q3 95. NM95MS15 comes in a 64-pin TQFP and is expected to be in volume production by the end of 1995. Samples and limited quantities are currently being shipped to Beta sites and selected potential customers. For reader information, contact Angela Johnson, National Semiconductor at (408) 721-8387.
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