Epson EISA Desktop Product Support Bulletin page 5

EPSON AMERICA, INC.
Product Support Bulletin
Subject: EISA Series - Questions and Answers
Date: 06/05/92
Page(s): 1 of 5
GENERAL
Q. What is EISA? And what is the Epson EISA Series?
A. EISA stands for Extended Industry Standard Architecture. This is a 32-bit
superset of the 16-bit ISA, or AT, expansion bus architecture. It is compatible
with 8-bit (XT) and 16-bit (AT) expansion boards, as well as 32-bit EISA
expansion boards. Due to features such as the increased bandwidth and bus-
mastering capability, EISA expansion boards provide improved performance
and throughput. This is particularly important for I/O intensive peripherals such
as network interface cards, video display adapters and hard disk drive
controllers.
The Epson EISA Series consists of both a desktop and a floor-standing or
tower chassis, capable of accepting a number of different processor boards.
This allows either system to be tailored for exact, specific needs without
compromise.
Q. What's the difference between the desktop and the tower system? How are
they alike?
A. The desktop system has five EISA expansion slots, a 235 watt power supply
and can accept up to five mass storage devices, with three being externally
accessible. The tower has eight EISA expansion slots, a 300 watt power
supply and can accept up to six mass storage devices, with four being
externally accessible. Note that all five expansion slots in the desktop support
bus-mastering boards, whereas only slots 1 through 5 and slot 8 in the tower
support bus-mastering.
Otherwise, the two systems are exactly alike - they use the same processor
boards, SIM modules, disk drives, etc.
EPSON
PSB No: S-0139
Originator: MWT