Cell Computing Spins 333 MHz Pentium II PCIBus Boards

Continuing its trend of delivering very small single-board computers (SBCs), Cell Computing (Santa Clara, CA) is now delivering a 7 x 4.5-in. PCIBus board packing either a 333 MHz Mobile Pentium II (Dixon), or a 233 MHz Pentium. The firm's SlotCARD product, when combined with Cell's Pentium or Pentium II micro-motherboards, lets you configure a complete PCI system.

Cell says its PCI SlotCARD can be used by OEMs developing network appliances, small Web servers, imaging systems, and other throughput-intensive embedded applications. "The SlotCARD can be used to build high-performance prototypes--some with real-time operating systems--to help get new products funded and into production in weeks instead of months," says Henri Uehara, the firm's president.

Lots Of Features

Based on the company's 3 x 5-in. stacking micro-motherboard form-factor, SlotCARDs feature three full-size PCI slots. A "plug-and-run" SlotCARD touts an IBM 340 Mbyte Microdrive Socket, and PCI expansion using the Intel 82439TX chip.

A typical system would consist of a CPU, Intel chipset, 256-bit NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD multimedia accelerator IC with its own embedded video RAM (2.5 Mbytes worth), and a Standard Microsystems Corp. (SMC) Super I/O chip. It would also contain a 32-DIP socket for an M-Systems DiskOnChip flash disk. By using the DiskOnChip, the PCI SlotCARD products are ready to go with up to 144 MBytes of solid-state mass storage. OEMs can also take advantage of the SlotCARD's CompactFlash CF+ Type II socket, which supports the IBM Microdrive.

The boards also include two 12 Mbit/second Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, one parallel port and two serial ports and headers. Other features include an IDE drive interface using an Intel 82371EB chip, a floppy interface using an SMC FDC37N769 floppy controller chip, and PS/2 mouse/keyboard headers. The system would also contain up to 256 MBytes of SDRAM, an industry-standard PhoenixPICO BIOS, and interfaces for LVDS and LCD panels as well as a CRT connector.

A PCI SlotCARD system would measure 4.5 x 7 in. (114.3 mm x 177.8 mm), and require a single 5 V supply. The SBC dissipates about 10.7 W, dropping to 2.3 mW in a suspend-to-disk mode.

Sample PCI SlotCARDs are available immediately, while volume shipments will begin in the third quarter. Sample pricing for the SlotCARD carrier board is less than $350 (at time of publication). Cell Computing, Inc., 2099 Gateway Pl., Suite 750, San Jose, CA 95110-1017. Phone: (408) 967-8800. Fax: (408) 967-8801.