Hi, Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check what I'm doing for me. We plan to use a OneStop host-end board to drive the cable, in the customer's control computer. This will be 8-lane Gen1, so the electricals (PCB layout and such) shouldn't be too bad... if I connect the right things to the right things. jjlarkin atsign highlandtechnology dotthing com
PCI Express Cable
Started by ●May 25, 2011
Reply by ●May 25, 20112011-05-25
On May 25, 3:14=A0pm, John Larkin <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:> Hi, > > Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over > cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device > that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such > equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough > ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check > what I'm doing for me. > > We plan to use a OneStop host-end board to drive the cable, in the > customer's control computer. > > This will be 8-lane Gen1, so the electricals (PCB layout and such) > shouldn't be too bad... if I connect the right things to the right > things. > > jjlarkin > atsign > highlandtechnology > dotthing > comA PCIe extender? We bought and built some at my old place. http://www.samtec.com/ProductInformation/TechnicalSpecifications/overview.a= spx?series=3DPCIEC
Reply by ●May 25, 20112011-05-25
On Wed, 25 May 2011 15:45:23 -0700 (PDT), a7yvm109gf5d1@netzero.com wrote:>On May 25, 3:14�pm, John Larkin ><jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >> Hi, >> >> Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over >> cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device >> that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such >> equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough >> ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check >> what I'm doing for me. >> >> We plan to use a OneStop host-end board to drive the cable, in the >> customer's control computer. >> >> This will be 8-lane Gen1, so the electricals (PCB layout and such) >> shouldn't be too bad... if I connect the right things to the right >> things. >> >> jjlarkin >> atsign >> highlandtechnology >> dotthing >> com > >A PCIe extender? We bought and built some at my old place. >http://www.samtec.com/ProductInformation/TechnicalSpecifications/overview.aspx?series=PCIECWhat we're going to do is have the customer plug one of these http://www.onestopsystems.com/pcie_hib25_x8.php into his system, then run it through one of these http://www.molex.com/webdocs/datasheets/pdf/en-us/0745460802_CABLE_ASSEMBLIES.pdf then into a mating connector on our board. Then a couple of equalizer chips, then into the FPGA. I'm trying to piece together the puzzle. I've made an honest try at reading the Mindshare (mind-numbing) PCIe book, all 1047 pages of it, but it's very light on the hardware aspects, and don't even mention PCIe over cable. The index doesn't include the words "cable" or even "connector." PCIe is shockingly complex; I'm amazed it works at all. John
Reply by ●May 25, 20112011-05-25
On 26 Maj, 01:17, John Larkin <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:> On Wed, 25 May 2011 15:45:23 -0700 (PDT), a7yvm109gf...@netzero.com > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > >On May 25, 3:14 pm, John Larkin > ><jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: > >> Hi, > > >> Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over > >> cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device > >> that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such > >> equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough > >> ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check > >> what I'm doing for me. > > >> We plan to use a OneStop host-end board to drive the cable, in the > >> customer's control computer. > > >> This will be 8-lane Gen1, so the electricals (PCB layout and such) > >> shouldn't be too bad... if I connect the right things to the right > >> things. > > >> jjlarkin > >> atsign > >> highlandtechnology > >> dotthing > >> com > > >A PCIe extender? We bought and built some at my old place. > >http://www.samtec.com/ProductInformation/TechnicalSpecifications/over... > > What we're going to do is have the customer plug one of these > > http://www.onestopsystems.com/pcie_hib25_x8.php > > into his system, then run it through one of these > > http://www.molex.com/webdocs/datasheets/pdf/en-us/0745460802_CABLE_AS... > > then into a mating connector on our board. Then a couple of equalizer > chips, then into the FPGA. > > I'm trying to piece together the puzzle. I've made an honest try at > reading the Mindshare (mind-numbing) PCIe book, all 1047 pages of it, > but it's very light on the hardware aspects, and don't even mention > PCIe over cable. The index doesn't include the words "cable" or even > "connector." PCIe is shockingly complex; I'm amazed it works at all. > > Johnlooked at something like this for inspiration? http://www.opalkelly.com/products/xem6110/ -Lasse
Reply by ●May 26, 20112011-05-26
On 25 Mai, 22:14, John Larkin <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:> Hi, > > Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over > cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device > that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such > equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough > ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check > what I'm doing for me.You should get the PCIe-over-cable spec. The communication staff is actually rather simple. PCIe is surprisingly robust. But there are rather confusing hot plug signaling requirements. Regards, Kolja cronologic
Reply by ●May 26, 20112011-05-26
We have been running PCIe Gen1 with our Raggedstone2 Spartan-6 development boards over short ribbon cables and it is remarkably robust like other people have seen. We have not tried that yet with our Raggedstone3 Cyclone IV GX development boards yet but that is on the list to do. Proper PCIe cables e.g. http://www.tmcscsi.com/PCIe_cables.shtml?gclid=3DCO= yvzJX9hakCFUEb4QodPGjjkg should be pretty good. John Adair Enterpoint Ltd. On May 25, 9:14=A0pm, John Larkin <jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:> Hi, > > Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over > cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device > that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such > equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough > ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check > what I'm doing for me. > > We plan to use a OneStop host-end board to drive the cable, in the > customer's control computer. > > This will be 8-lane Gen1, so the electricals (PCB layout and such) > shouldn't be too bad... if I connect the right things to the right > things. > > jjlarkin > atsign > highlandtechnology > dotthing > com
Reply by ●May 26, 20112011-05-26
On Thu, 26 May 2011 05:25:12 -0700 (PDT), Kolja Sulimma <ksulimma@googlemail.com> wrote:>On 25 Mai, 22:14, John Larkin ><jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >> Hi, >> >> Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over >> cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device >> that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such >> equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough >> ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check >> what I'm doing for me. > >You should get the PCIe-over-cable spec.Probably so. It's $1000. Or I can join the consortium, and get all the specs, for $3000. I think I can get my customer to pay for it! This money-for-specs thing is sort of annoying. John
Reply by ●May 26, 20112011-05-26
John Larkin <jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:>On Thu, 26 May 2011 05:25:12 -0700 (PDT), Kolja Sulimma ><ksulimma@googlemail.com> wrote: > >>On 25 Mai, 22:14, John Larkin >><jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >>> Hi, >>> >>> Does anybody here have experience designing something to do PCIe over >>> cable? I need to design (ie, draw the schematic of) a target device >>> that will have a Molex cable/connector coming in, some Pericom or such >>> equalizer chips, and an Altera Arria II GX45 FPGA. There are enough >>> ways to mess this up that I'd sure like to have a consultant check >>> what I'm doing for me. >> >>You should get the PCIe-over-cable spec. > >Probably so. It's $1000. Or I can join the consortium, and get all the >specs, for $3000. I think I can get my customer to pay for it! > >This money-for-specs thing is sort of annoying.Nahh, just search on internet. Its out there for free! -- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.) --------------------------------------------------------------
Reply by ●May 26, 20112011-05-26
John, We've been using One Stop Systems ( http://www.onestopsystems.com/ ) - Gen1 and Gen2 PCIe cables, host adapters, and express cards. Thanks, Evgeni http://outputlogic.com
Reply by ●May 26, 20112011-05-26
On Thu, 26 May 2011 12:00:00 -0700 (PDT), OutputLogic <evgenist@gmail.com> wrote:>John, > >We've been using One Stop Systems ( http://www.onestopsystems.com/ ) - >Gen1 and Gen2 PCIe cables, host adapters, and express cards. > >Thanks, >Evgeni >http://outputlogic.comMy customer plans to use their XMC board to drive their end of the cable. John
