GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Media Access Controller for Ethernet (MACE) chip is a CMOS VLSI device designed to provide flexibility in customized LAN design. The MACE device is specifically designed to address applications where multiple I/O peripherals are present, and a centralized or system specific DMA is required. The high speed, 16-bit synchronous system interface is optimized for an external DMA or I/O processor system, and is similar to many existing peripheral devices, such as SCSI and serial link controllers. The MACE device is a slave register based peripheral. All transfers to and from the system are performed using simple memory or I/O read and write commands. In conjunction with a user defined DMA engine, the MACE chip provides an IEEE 802.3 interface tailored to a specific application. Its superior modular architecture and versatile system interface allow the MACE device to be configured as a stand-alone device or as a connectivity cell incorporated into a larger, integrated system.