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
3000T (original) or Amiga 4000T (original) or Amiga 1200 equipped
with Zorro III busboard or A4000 in E/BOX 4000 with Zorro
III/ISA busboard.
The recommended configuration is: Amiga 3000T (original) or
Amiga 4000T (original) with 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 3/4000T features:
•
5 PCI slots (PCI 2.1 compatible)
For
simultaneous use of up to five PCI cards fully assimilated
in the Amiga environment.
•
PCI and Zorro III/II
Mediator PCI 3/4000T enables
simultaneous operation of PCI cards in its slots and up to
four Zorro III/II cards in the motherboard slots. One video
slot is available.
•
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 3/4000T 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 3/4000T 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 A3/4000 motherboard space
Mediator PCI 3/4000T includes a busmastering controller supporting
transfers between PCI cards and the A3/4000 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.
Mediator
PCI 3/4000T is compatible with all A3/4000 processor card
models.
Mediator PCI 3/4000T, PCI cards in its slots, Zorro III and
Zorro II cards in motherboard slots fit perfectly in original
A3000T and A4000T and in towerised Amiga 4000D with Elbox
or Micronik Zorro/ISA busboard.
In the original A3000T and A4000T with Mediator PCI 3/4000T you can use simultaneously:
• 5 PCI cards,
• 1 full-length Zorro III/II card (in the upper Zorro
• and video slot) and
• 3 half-length Zorro III/II cards.
If you would like to use more than one full-length Zorro cards
each additional full-length Zorro card should be installed
in the Z3
riser.
Installation is very easy, see Mediator
PCI 3/4000T Quick Installation Guide.
The following PCI cards are currently supported
in Mediator PCI 3/4000T:
• 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 3/4000T 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 3/4000T 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 3/4000T (incl. MM CD) Suggested
Retail Price (VAT and local taxes excluded): see Product
Price List.
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