HL7.OCT–RM–Cirrus Logic
PCMCIA interface chips address both card and host requirements
Mixed-voltage disk controller includes the card side of the interface,
and a host adapter manages the other
A pair of devices, the CL-SH380 disk controller and the CL-PD6710/6720
host adapter, are aimed at the Personal Computer Memory Card Association
(PCMCIA) 2.0 interface, and at disk drives that use the interface. Both
are designed for power-critical use, and both will operate in mixed 5.0-
and 3.3-V environments. The host adapter comes in two forms: the 6710, in
a 144-pin very thin quad flatpack minimizes real estate and supports one
slot; the 6720, in a 208-pin plastic quad flatpack, supports two slots.
The chips connect to the PCMCIA slots and to an ISA bus without glue
logic. Their register set is a superset of the Intel 80365SL. The
6710/6720 have an automatic standby mode, which turns off most clocks when
interaction with the card ends. A programmable suspend mode shuts down I/O
operations and internal clocks until an external wakeup signal arrives.
The chips also permit hot insertion, a convenience not found in PCMCIA 1.0
systems. Internal clocks are programmable to go as fast as a particular
card permits. Transfers can be either 8 or 16 bits wide. The CL-SH380
disk controller has dual interfaces (see diagram). It works as a PCMCIA
card, but can also look like a PC/XT or PC/AT disk controller. Both
interfaces can handle 8- or 16-bit transfers. The dual mode makes possible
a data-transfer peripheral that talks to desktops and portables. (CL-SH380,
$25 ea/1,000; CL-PD6710, $21 ea/1,000; CL-PD6720, $29 ea/1,000–samples
now, prod qty 1st qtr 1993.) Cirrus Logic, Inc. Fremont, CA Joe Fowler
510-226-2239
CAPTION:
The CL-SH380 has all the usual parts of a disk controller, along with
direct interfaces to both the AT bus and a PCMCIA 2.0 card slot.
Advertisement
