National Instruments Data Acquisition Device E Series - Manual (Page 127)

© National Instruments Corporation 9-1 E Series User Manual
9
Bus Interface
Each E Series device is designed on a complete hardware architecture that
is deployed on one of the following platforms:
• PCI
• PXI
• PCMCIA (DAQCard)
• USB (DAQPad)
• IEEE 1394 (DAQPad)
Using NI-DAQ driver software, you have the flexibility to change hardware
platforms and operating systems with little or no change to software code.
MITE and DAQPnP
PCI and PXI E Series devices use the MITE application-specific integrated
circuit (ASIC) as a bus master interface to the PCI bus. PCI, PXI, and
DAQCard E Series devices are inherently Plug-and-Play (PnP) compatible.
On all devices, the operating system automatically assigns the base address
of the device. The MITE implements the PCI Local Bus Specification so
that the interrupts and base memory addresses are all software-configured.
Using PXI with CompactPCI
Using PXI-compatible products with standard CompactPCI products is an
important feature provided by PXI Hardware Specification Revision 2.1.
If you use a PXI-compatible plug-in module in a standard CompactPCI
chassis, you cannot use PXI-specific functions, but you can still use the
basic plug-in device functions. For example, the RTSI bus on a
PXI E Series device is available in a PXI chassis, but not in a CompactPCI
chassis.
The CompactPCI specification permits vendors to develop sub-buses that
coexist with the basic PCI interface on the CompactPCI bus. Compatible
operation is not guaranteed between CompactPCI devices with different
sub-buses nor between CompactPCI devices with sub-buses and PXI. The