Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!pa.dec.com!rwood@pa.dec.com
From: rwood@pa.dec.com (Richard Wood)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: DECstation 5000/120 & Ultrix/UWS 4.2 announcments
Message-ID: <1991May1.164127@wsl.dec.com>
Date: 1 May 91 23:41:27 GMT
References: <1991May1.181137.30275@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Sender: news@pa.dec.com (News)
Reply-To: rwood@pa.dec.com
Organization: DEC, Palo Alto RISC Workstations
Lines: 40

archerb@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
|> 
|>   Two quick things on the new DEC RISC & Ultrix announcments.  From the
|> preliminary info on the DECstation 2000/120(125) platforms it appears that
|> some or all of the 3100 motherboard is retained.  We'd be interested in
|> the new models, *if* the ethernet controller used were the same as the
|> 5000/200 (not the 2100/3100 controller).  Anyone seen anything on this?

None of the motherboard for the 3100/2100 is retained.  The new
product is a complete redesign that could best be described as a
"minimization" of the DS5000/200.  On the ethernet controller, this is
from the technical overview of the new DS5000/100:


	Ethernet Connect

	A ThickWire Ethernet controller with a 15-pin DSUB connector is
	implemented via a LANCE (Local Area Network Controller for
	Ethernet) chip. The I/O control ASIC supports DMA transactions
	for the LANCE, which manages transmission and reception of
	packets via a dedicated buffer in main memory.

	To connect a DS 5000/100 Series workstation to a ThinWire
	Ethernet network, a Digital ThinWire Ethernet Station Adapter
	(DESTA) is used in conjunction with a ThinWire Ethernet
	(T-connector), a ThinWire Ethernet terminator, and a
	ThickWire-to-DESTA transceiver cable.  To connect the DS
	5000/100 Series to twisted pair, a commercially-available
	twisted-pair-to-ThickWire adapter may be used.

	An optional ThickWire Ethernet controller is available on a
	single-width TURBOchannel option card.

I believe this is the same chip used in the DS5000/200 (the LANCE
chip) although I know that DMA is new.  The ASIC doing the DMA was
developed in conjunction with this product.

-- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Wood     Corporate Worksystems Team      Digital Equipment Corp.
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