During my time as an industrial computer salesman, I have learned that there are still a good amount of customers with a pressing need for ISA slots. At the end of the day, it isn’t always feasible to re-design software and find replacement I/O cards that adhere to the newer standards such as PCIe. Time is also a variable that weighs heavily on customers along with the financial ramifications of making the changeover. If you are one of those legacy ISA users, you still have options readily available to you.
One of the only options available to ISA users is a PICMG 1.0 passive backplane and PICMG 1.0 single board computer (SBC) configuration. PICMG 1.0 passive backplanes are available in 5, 6, 8, 14/15 and 20-slot versions and all provide ISA accessibility.
Please keep in mind that the number of ISA slots required will dictate the size of the passive backplane and chassis. In my experience, most users select a 4U 19” rack mount chassis or a smaller form factor wall mount/desktop chassis.
Paired with a PICMG 1.0 single board computer, which houses the CPU, CPU fan and RAM, the user can operate with XP Pro or Windows 7 32/64-bit at Intel Atom, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processing speeds.
Still wondering about your options as far as ISA slots or industrial PCs? Feel free to leave any questions or comments you have and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
