Non-Host CPU/PCI Bridge

[Jean-Jacques.Lecler@masi.ibp.fr (Jean-Jacques LECLER)]

 Hi there !
 
 An annoucement and a Question :
 
 The question :
 
 Let's imagine I want to build a multiprocessor hardware,
 with off-the-shelf plug-in cards,
 around a PCI bus.
 
 The idea is to plug 3 [Processor + DRAM + CPU/PCI bridge]s on 
 a standard motherboard. The processors could be Pentiums, PowerPCs
 or AXPAlphas. This should lead to quite a good perfomance/price ratio.
 
 The problem is, the CPU/PCI Bridge on the expansion cards cannot
 be a standard HOST/PCI bridge, for 2 reasons :
   1/ It cannot receive configuration accesses,
   2/ The DRAM is always wired to a fixed physical address. 
 
 Is anyone aware of a CPU/PCI bridge, or of a Non-Host CPU plug-in card ?
 
 
 The Annoucement :
 
 The MASI Lab of the Pierre and Marie Curie University (France) has developped a 
 set of components for fast PCI/PCI communications :
 It includes:
    * A 8x1Gb/s whormhole router, named RCube.
     (each HSL Link supports 80MB/s in full duplex, on a double coax.)
     The prototypes seem to work fine. It should be available 1Q97.
 
    * A PCI/HSL component, named PCI-DDC (Direct Deposit Component)
     which provides memory to memory copy in full master mode.
 
    * A Demonstration Prototype plug-in card, built around 
      Motorola's 56301, coupled with the RCube router.
 
 The Web pages should be available soon,
 but if you are interested in such topics,
 just reply to this mail, 
 or send a mail to
   MPC@humanus.ibp.fr   
 
Jean-Jacques Lecler 
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