The LAN91C110 is designed to facilitate the implementation of second generation Fast Ethernet PC Card adapters and other non-PCI connectivity products. The LAN91C110 is a digital device that implements the Media Access Control (MAC) portion of the CSMA/CD protocol at 10 and 100 Mbps, and couples it with a lean and fast data and control path system architecture to ensure that the CPU to packet RAM data movement does not cause a bottleneck at 100 Mbps.

The LAN91C110 implements a generic 16-bit host interface which is adaptable to a wide range of system buses and CPUs. This makes the LAN91C110 ideal for 10/100 Fast Ethernet implementations in systems based on system buses other than PCI.

Total memory size is 128 Kbytes, equivalent to a total chip storage (transmit plus receive) of 64 outstanding packets. The LAN91C110 is software compatible with the LAN9000 family of products in the default mode and can use existing LAN9000 drivers (ODI, IPX, and NDIS) with minor modifications in 16 and 32 bit Intel X86 based environments.

Memory management is handled using a unique MMU (Memory Management Unit) architecture and a 32 bit wide data path. This I/O mapped architecture can sustain back-to-back frame transmission and reception for superior data throughput and optimal performance. It also dynamically allocates buffer memory in an efficient buffer utilization scheme, reducing software tasks and relieving the host CPU from performing these housekeeping functions. The total memory size is 128 Kbytes (external), equivalent to a total chip storage (transmit and receive) of 64 outstanding packets.

FEAST provides a flexible slave interface for easy connectivity with industry-standard buses. The host interface is "ISA-like" and is easily adapted to a wide range of system and CPU buses.

An IEEE-802.3 compliant Media Independent Interface (MII) is provided on the network side of the LAN91C110. The MII interface allows the use of a wide range of MII compliant physical layer (PHY) devices to be used with the LAN91C110. The LAN91C110 also provides an interface to the two-line MII serial management protocol.

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