Document #: 00052

How the EtherLink III (3C509) works in an EISA bus

The EtherLink III (3C509/3C509TP) adapter runs as a 16-bit slave device. It uses the EISA adapter configuration mechanism (usually SD.EXE) by reading the EEPROM on the adapter, which is set by the 3C509.EXE diagnostic and configuration program.

The long extra fingers that are normally found on an EISA adapter are not needed for the 3C509 adapter to use the EISA configuration mechanism. These EISA "fingers" supply signals for special EISA data transfer modes such as 32-bit transfers, bus master, and EISA DMA.

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