The Mediator is a PCI implementation for
connecting PCI devices in Amiga computers, allowing expansion
of Amiga with all kinds of industry standard hardware products
like graphic, sound, network, USB, TV tuner, ISDN and MPEG-2
hardware decoder PCI cards.
Moreover, the Mediator PCI busboard is ready for SharkPPC
PCI cards based on the latest PowerPC G3 and G4 processors.
The minimum hardware configuration is: Amiga
3000D in tower case.
The recommended configuration is: Amiga 3000D in Mirage
3000 tower case, any 68060 (or PPC with 68060) turbo card
with 128MB RAM, a SharkPPC G3/G4 card with 256MB SDRAM, a
Voodoo3 graphic card.
The Mediator PCI 3000D features:
•
5 PCI slots (PCI 2.1 compatible)
For
simultaneous use of up to five PCI cards fully assimilated
in the Amiga environment.
•
6 Zorro III/II slots and one video slot
For
simultaneous use of up to six Zorro III/II cards.
•
33MHz PCI clock (66MHz with SharkPPC G3/G4)
With
the PCI clock running at 33MHz, data transfers are executed
with the bandwidth of up to 132MB/s and up to 264MB/s for
66MHz clocking.
•
32-bit PCI datapatch
Longword transfers are supported in all data transfer types:
PCI to Amiga, Amiga to PCI and PCI to PCI.
•
4GB PCI memory space
Mediator
PCI 3000D allows access to the entire 4GB of the PCI memory
space.
• Busmastering/DMA in all PCI slots
Mediator
PCI supports the busmastering mechanism in all its PCI slots.
The PCI cards in the busmaster mode can offer extremely fast
DMA access (up to 132MB/s) without any CPU load. Up to five
PCI busmaster cards may be used simultaneously in Mediator.
• SDRAM/SGRAM of PCI gfx card as
a DMA buffer
Mediator PCI 3000D can use part of the graphic card memory
for Amiga system needs. Thus, the entire system gains in effectiveness
as graphic card's SDRAM/SGRAM memory modules are about 10x
faster than FastRAM memory in Amiga turbo cards. With very
short access time in SDRAM/SGRAM, several PCI busmaster cards
may use this memory simultaneously. The PCI cards may then
rush at the data transfer rate of up to 132MB/s without any
CPU load whatsoever.
• DMA to A3000 motherboard space
Mediator PCI 3000D includes a busmastering controller supporting
transfers between PCI cards and the A3000 motherboard space.
•
Address and data parity control support
Address
and data parity are supported in all Mediator slots. Parity
support is necessary for using PCI cards like Sound Blaster
Audigy, Sound Blaster Live! or ForteMedia FM801-based PCI
cards.
•
Interrupt controller (4 lines to each PCI card)
The Mediator Interrupt Controller manages four independent
PCI interrupt lines.
•
PCI and Zorro
Mediator PCI 3000D enables
simultaneous operation of up to five PCI cards and up to six
Zorro III/II cards.
Mediator
PCI 3000D is compatible with all A3000 processor card models.
Mediator PCI 3000D can be installed in any towerised A3000D
though this may require some physical modifications of the
tower.
Installation
of PCI and Zorro III/II cards in Mediator PCI 3000D is very
easy, see Mediator
PCI 3000D Quick Installation Guide.
The following PCI cards are currently supported
in Mediator PCI 3000D:
• Graphic cards,
• Ethernet 10Mbps cards,
• Fast Ethernet 100Mbps cards,
• TV tuner cards,
• Sound cards,
• USB cards.
The
complete list of the supported PCI card models: see the Mediator
Driver Guide.
The Mediator PCI 3000D is available with a standard software
pack: 2D and Warp3D Voodoo3 graphic drivers, Voodoo4 and Voodoo5
24-bit 2D graphic drivers, S3 ViRGE and S3 ViRGE DX 2D graphic
drivers and Ethernet 10Mbps network drivers.
Mediator PCI 3000D can also be obtained with an extended software
pack including the Mediator
Multimedia CD.
Info
on the current software versions is available in the DOWNLOADS
| Mediator
section.
Mediator PCI 3000D (incl. MM CD) Suggested
Retail Price (VAT and local taxes excluded): see Product
Price List.
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