By leaving off the ISA bus interface, there is more room on PCI-104 modules for other functions, which is expected to open up new opportunities for expanded market penetration of the PC/104 standards, the Consortium says.
Above: PCI-only PCI-104 modules in a stack with PC/104-Plus and PC/104 modules. The PCI bus is on the left, and the ISA bus is on the right).PC/104 modules are popular in industrial and embedded systems where functional modularity, ruggedness, reliability, and compact size using off-the-shelf board-level modules are desired. The modules measure 3.6 x 3.8 inches (90 x 96 mm), and can be used to implement entire compact single-board computers or modular expansion for such systems. One of the key features of PC/104 is its unique pin-and-socket bus connectors. The bus connectors are designed in such a way as to allow more than a single module to be self-stacked, without requiring the overhead of an external backplane.
The PC/104 standard and the PC/104 Consortium were officially launched in 1992.
The new PCI-104 specification is available for
free download (247KB PDF file) from the PC/104 Consortium's website.
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