Am79C960

The PCnet-ISA controller, a single-chip Ethernet controller, is a highly integrated system solution for the PC-AT Industry Standard Architecture (ISA ) architecture. It is designed to provide flexibility and compatibility with any existing PC application. This highly integrated 120-pin VLSI device is specifically designed to reduce parts count and cost, and addresses applications where higher system throughput is desired. The PCnet-ISA controller is fabricated with AMD's advanced low-power CMOS process to provide low stand by current for power sensitive applications.

The PCnet-ISA controller is a DMA-based device with a dual architecture that can be configured in two different operating modes to suit a particular PC application. In the Bus Master Mode all transfers are performed using
the integrated DMA controller. This configuration enhances system performance by allowing the PCnet-ISA controller to bypass the platform DMA controller and directly address the full 24-bit memory space. The implementation of Bus Master Mode allows minimum parts count for the majority of PC applications. The PCnet-ISA controller can be  onfigured to perform Shared Memory operations for compatibility with lowend machines, such as PC/XTs that do not support Bus Master and high-end machines that require local packet buffering for increased system latency.