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Rating: 
Summary: Random detailed information does not = advanced
Review: I am a hadware design engineer by living and purchased this
book hoping to learn more about pc bus standards, and pc
architecture. However, I quickly gave up on reading this
book. There is a lot of very detailed information in the
book - for example several pages of oscilloscope waveforms.
They fatten up the book. But, not much information is really
conveyed by them. A chapter on the AGP bus is very poorly
written. Did anybody knowledgable actually edit or review this
book before it was published? I was very disappointed
and ultimately had to obtain my information from other sources.
It seemed like the book tried to take a big standard, such as
AGP, and select random bits of detail from it to present. The
problem is that the book tries to go to far in depth for
the amount of text devoted to each subject and the effect is
a jumble of random, very detailed information which does not
make much sense. Furthermore, I found a LOT of editorial
mistakes which were very serious. Using the wrong term in
some contexts makes key information hard to decipher.
Rating:
Summary: Random detailed information does not = advanced
Review: I am a hadware design engineer by living and purchased this
book hoping to learn more about pc bus standards, and pc
architecture. However, I quickly gave up on reading this
book. There is a lot of very detailed information in the
book - for example several pages of oscilloscope waveforms.
They fatten up the book. But, not much information is really
conveyed by them. A chapter on the AGP bus is very poorly
written. Did anybody knowledgable actually edit or review this
book before it was published? I was very disappointed
and ultimately had to obtain my information from other sources.
It seemed like the book tried to take a big standard, such as
AGP, and select random bits of detail from it to present. The
problem is that the book tries to go to far in depth for
the amount of text devoted to each subject and the effect is
a jumble of random, very detailed information which does not
make much sense. Furthermore, I found a LOT of editorial
mistakes which were very serious. Using the wrong term in
some contexts makes key information hard to decipher.
Rating: 
Summary: Provides complete understanding of the workings of a PC
Review: I bought this textbook as a supplementary resource book for a Microprocessor class at school. It can be used as either a textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in PC Architecture or as a general resource guide for practicing engineers. It provides a comprehensive, practical coverage of PC architecture in an easy-to-read writing style. Although the book says it's advanced and provides advanced topics, it also provides a good simplified foundation to understanding the components of the PC. The format of the book is intuitive and modernized. There are many functional block diagrams of various configurations and interesting boxed notes throughout the book. There are also many remarkable data and facts items conveniently located all through the book. You'll also find many insightful comparison lists, tables, and diagrams that help clarify concepts. Overall I like the writing style, format, and layout of the book. The book describes each of the main PC processors and compares their performance. It also observes the different types of main interface devices and shows how they work with the complete system. Past, current, and future motherboards are discussed in detail so that students and professionals can understand how data is passed around the PC. The text illustrates general PC Architecture principles and design methodologies. It is written on the premise that the student may know the basic components of a computer system but may have not had any formal training. The authors have done an admiral job at providing a complete picture of the workings of a PC. SOME (but not all) of the topics covered in each chapter include:
1) The History of computers. How computers have evolved. Which computers have flopped and which have been successful. Top Achievers and Under-achievers.
2) PC Basics, Buses, Interrupts, Interfacing, How Bios works
3) Introduction to Intel Processors, A close-up look at the Processor. The 8088. Memory addressing.
4) 8086 Basics, Assembly language elements, timing, and moving data around in Memory.
5) 80486. Specifics about the processor, data definition, equates, memory, and timing.
6) Bus Cycles, Bus Controller and Direct Memory Access.
7) CMOS, Memory and I/O, and Ports
8) Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) and Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC)
9) Programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI) and Programmable Timer Controller (PTC)
10) Introduction to the Pentium. Overview, Development and Terminology. Also details the Pentium II and Pentium Pro.
11) Transaction Phase Signals and additional Pentium Pro Signmals
12) Memory basics, subsystems, and errors.
13) MMX Technology. Also profile of Pentium II.
14) Instruction Execution in general. The Pentium II block diagram, execution implementation, bus features, etc. Other transaction types and phases.
15) SC242 Signals and other signals.
16) Processor Developments. Various Processors. Detail of x84-64 Architecture
17) Interface Buses. The PC, ISA, and other Legacy busses. Comparisons of different interface bus types.
18) PCI Bus. Bus cycles, PCI operation, functional signal groups, cycle timing diagrams, pins, and faults. I/O Addressing
19) IDE Section. Tracks and Sectors, The IDE interface and communication. Hard Disks, Optical Storage, File systems, and Magnetic Tape.
20) SCSI types, Interface, Operation, and Commands.
21) PCMCIA (PC Card). Registers and various types and Pin Connections.
22) USB and Firewire,
23) Games Port, Keyboard and Mouse,
24) AGP and more PCI. AGP Connections, Configuration. Register and Pin Descriptions.
25) RS-232. Programs, communications between nodes, and Interface
26) Parallel Port. I/O Addressing. Interrupts, Interface, Data Handshaking, and ECP/EPP Mode.
27) PC Motherboards. Different motherboards such as the Intel HX, TX, 450NX PCIset, and 450KX PCIset.
28) Hub-based Architecture. 810E, 820, and 840 Chipsets.
Rating:
Summary: complete and current book on the PC architecture
Review: This is a great book on the PC architecture. The guy above seems to doubt the title with "Although the book says it's advanced". I found it to be advanced in the respect that it does not baby you through PC architecture basics and goes straight into the details and doesn't hold anything back. It's well written and doesn't leave anything out. I found the information to be current, covering Pentium 3 cpus and Hub-based motherboard architectures and making reference to newer Pentium 4s. (AMD's line of processors as well). The book also has programming examples and sample programs in C and Assembly, though not making it a major focus of the book. I found it to be a great buy!
Rating:
Summary: complete and current book on the PC architecture
Review: This is a great book on the PC architecture. The guy above seems to doubt the title with "Although the book says it's advanced". I found it to be advanced in the respect that it does not baby you through PC architecture basics and goes straight into the details and doesn't hold anything back. It's well written and doesn't leave anything out. I found the information to be current, covering Pentium 3 cpus and Hub-based motherboard architectures and making reference to newer Pentium 4s. (AMD's line of processors as well). The book also has programming examples and sample programs in C and Assembly, though not making it a major focus of the book. I found it to be a great buy!
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