🚀 go-pugleaf

Austin Franklin wrote:
> I would strongly urge you to choose an already existing PCI interface chip
> (and I strongly second the recommendation of the PLX chip over ANY others),
> unless you really need a custom back end interface or this is a learning
> exercise (and that it will be).

We have been using the PLX 9060.  The chip itself seems very reliable.

Their documentation is about a 1.5 on a scale of 0 to 10.  Registers 
don't have any good system to identify them; you chose between names 
like "Local Base Address (Re-map) for PCI to Local Address Space 0", 
which undergo subtle changes from document to document, or "Offset 
84h" which is also Offset 04h, or "Table 24", which is sometimes 
a register or sometimes just part of a register.  In their 
documentation they hop from one usage to another. Many, many details 
of the chip's operation are revealed by meditation and prayer over a 
cryptic little note in a timing diagram, such as "CS or A31-29 match 
S2-0" (CS is not in the list of pins), or you may pick them up in 
conversation with tech support.

Their test SW is juvenile and buggy.

But once you make lots of experiments, learn how to use the thing, 
and write your own utilities, it works good and never burps.

Wood