What’s PC/104?
The ISA bus architecture has long been a popular choice for embedded applications, and the implementation of the PC/104 standard in 1992 made the ISA bus architecture available in a small, stackable, rugged form factor. Since then, PC/104 has become an industry standard. As technological requirements became more complex, a need arose for higher bus throughput performance. The PC/104 consortium developed PC/104-Plus™ and PCI-104™ specifications on the 104™ form factor. The stackable connectors and asymmetric corner mounting holes create a modular system that is both rugged and compact.
PC/104 is the original specification. It defines the 104 form factor at 3.550” x 3.775” (90.17 x 95.89 mm) with a stacking ISA bus. The specification is for 8-bit (XT) and 16-bit (AT) versions.
The PC/104-Plus standard added PCI buses to PC/104 on the 104 form factor. A transfer rate of 132 MB/s made high-speed processing possible in rugged embedded systems while the ISA bus allowed for the use of embedded modules to develop extensive infrastructure.
PCI-104 is actually included in the PC/104-Plus specification, but it is without a name. The consortium decided to give it its own specification, and the PCI-104 standard was thus developed with only a PCI bus on the 104 form factor.
Assembled PC/104 Plus Stack (4 Modules)
Advantech’s PC/104 family (PC/104, PC/104 plus)
| PC/104 Consortium | CPU board /Platform | Datacom Module/Module Name | I/O Module/I/O Model Name | Power module | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC/104 | DM&P Vortex86DX- | PCM-3343 | 2-port RS-232/422/485 | PCM-3610 | 48-ch Digital I/O | PCM-3724 | |
| AMD G-Series | PCM-3356 A2 | 2-port RS-422/485 | PCM-3612 | 8-ch Relay and Isolated Digital Input | PCM-3725 | ||
| 4-port RS-422/485 | PCM-3614 | ||||||
| 2-port CAN-bus | PCM-3680 | ||||||
| PC/104-plus | Intel Bay trail | PCM-3365 | USB 2.0/IEEE 1394a | PCM-3620 | 250 kS/s, 12-bit, 16-ch Multifunction | PCM-3810I | 10V-24V PCM-3910 |
| 2-port CAN-bus | PCM-3680I | Onboard 32-ch isolated I/O | PCM-3730I | ||||
| PCI to ISA Bridge module | PCM-3117 | ||||||
