Are VMEbus & VME64X Really Compatible?
VMEbus, a bus that has been around since Pac-Man, remains a dominant embedded architecture. The creation of VME64X breathed in new life, and soon, VITA 41 and 46 will further extend this legacy. What happens when you want to upgrade your legacy VMEbus system? Can you add a higher performing VME64X board or must you scrap the system and start over with VME64X? If you build a VME64X system, can you insert VMEbus cards into it? Here’s the problem: plugging a VME64X board into a VMEbus system isn’t straight forward. In a series of four articles, I will tell how you can plug in a VME64X board, plus address the differences between price, performance, and structure of the solution you choose. VME64X was adopted in 1997 to address some shortcomings of VMEbus, namely performance, I/O, and power. It utilized IEEE 1101.10, a mechanical standard that is also used by CompactPCI. VME64X was designed to be compatible with older VMEbus boards. In other words, VMEbus boards can plug into VME64X systems
