In article <1992Dec15.212901.12236@bcars64a.bnr.ca> schow@bcarh2d8.bnr.ca (Stanley T.H. Chow) writes:
>
>Also, it is not clear how this would be "inexpensive" or be
>compatible to existing PC software (I am assuming that you
>want to run existing PC software).
>
To address the issue of cost:
Anet (Compaq proposal) requires only 12 signals to interconnect a channel.
When one develops a system around Anet, the number of signals is reduced
signifigantly relative to other proposed I/O standards. This translates into
reduced pin count for implementation ASICs, reduced board layout costs, etc.
For example, a PCI ethernet chip will fit in a 100 pin PQFP. The same
implementation using the Anet interface fits in a 32-pin PSOP. The nice
thing is that 32-pin PSOPs are used for DRAMs so they are dirt cheap. This is only one example, cost savings continue to appear as one studies an actual implementation.
On the issue of compatibility:
Anet is in fact compatible with current x86 software, but we really don't care. The current model allows well behaved x86 applications to simply upgrade their device driver model (or in the case of Windows, provide a new driver for the shell). Old apps that are register specific are not supported, but are considered irrelevent with the current trends in operating system software.
