RE: The Cost of Developing A PCI Card

["Kevin Brace" <kevinbraceusenet@hotmail.com>]

Thanks, Austin for the helpful answers.
I looked around for Tek 465B, and it seems inexpensive, but is 100MHz 
bandwidth enough for PCI?
I heard that to deal with a 33MHz signal, I need to have bandwidth 5 times 
of the frequency I am dealing with, and 10 times is desirable.
Also for HP 16500B, I found a refurbished one for about $700, but it seems 
like I will have to buy several more expansion card to make it useful.
Am I correct about that?
Also, is Tektronics TLA 600 series a good logic analyzer?
Yes, it is very expensive (TLA 612 costs $8,000 . . .), but it looks like a 
nice logic analyzer. (TLA 600 series has Windows 2000 in it. I am not a fan 
of Microsoft, but I guess the user will be more familiar with the user 
interface because it is Win2K-based. I heard that some Agilent oscilloscopes 
have Windows 98 in them. I cannot believe putting Win98 in oscilloscopes 
considering how unreliable Win98 is.)
Regarding software tools, don't I have to do signal integrity analysis 
before fabricating the PCB?
Protel 99 SE says it comes with an integrated signal integrity analysis 
tool, but is it actually useful for things like PCI, or will I have to buy 
one separately?



Thanks,



Kevin Brace (In general, don't respond to me directly, and respond within 
the mailing list.)



>Hi Kevin,
>
>For your PCB my suggestion would be to go to
>www.SierraProtoExpress.com and see for your self.
>It depends on how fast you want the board, and how big it is.
>
>I typically spend $2000 for around 10 pieces of a PCI board for
>prototypes.
>In large quantity, like 1000, the cost goes down to around $20 or less 
>each.
>
>You need a schematic capture program and PCB layout program.  These
>costs can range from sort of free to thousands of dollars.
>Heck, try eBay!  I guess if I was on a low budget, I'd try Eagle is it?
>
>As far as logic analyzers and oscilloscopes go, again, try eBay.
>I can recommend for low cost exceptional logic analyzers, the HP 16500 
>series (get the B with a 10 base T network connection) or
>Kontron PLA/2.
>For scopes, Tektronix 465B or get a 16530/31 card for the logic analyzer, 
>though I really do recommend a stand alone scope.
>You'll probably spend under $1000 for both a logic analyzer and
>scope.
>
>Austin

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