xPC Target    

Target PC

The target PC has to be a PC compatible system. In many cases you can use a second desktop computer as the target PC, but also you can use an industrial system like a PC/104 or CompactPCI as the target computer.

The following table lists the software xPC Target requires on the target PC system.

Table 2-3: Software Requirements for the Target PC

Software
Description
Operating system
None. If you have an operating system installed, it is not affected.
BIOS
PC compatible.

The following table lists the minimum hardware resources xPC Target requires on the target PC system.

Table 2-4: Hardware Requirements for the Target PC

Hardware
Description
Chip set
PC compatible with UART (For example, 16550), programmable interrupt controller (For example, 8259), keyboard controller, and counter (For example, 8254).
Communication
One free serial port (COM1 or COM2) with a 9-pin or 25-pin D-sub connector, or an Ethernet card connected to a network. An Ethernet card is provided with xPC Target.
CPU
Intel 386 with a floating-point processor, Intel 486/Pentium or AMD K5/K6. We recommend a Pentium, K6 or higher CPU. xPC Target does not support DEC Alpha computers.
Keyboard and mouse
Needed to control the target PC when you create stand-alone applications.
Note If a keyboard is not connected, the BIOS may display an error message (keyboard failure). With a newer BIOS, you can use the BIOS setup to skip the keyboard test.
Monitor
We recommend using a monitor, but it is not necessary. You can get all of the target information using xPC Target functions on the host PC.
Peripherals
One 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. A hard disk drive is not required.
Note If you install the xPC Target Embedded Option, you can copy files to a hard disk or flash memory and boot from that device.
RAM
8 Mbytes or more.

Random Access Memory (RAM) - xPC Target works with PC compatible computers that use inexpensive dynamic RAM, unlike many nonPC compatible target computers that use expensive static RAM. You can acquire several megabytes of data during a run depending on how much memory you install in the target PC.

PC compatible target computers - xPC Target supports the following PC-compatible hardware (form factors):

I/O boards - You can install inexpensive I/O boards in the PCI or ISA slots of the target PC. These boards provide a direct interface to the sensors, actuators, or other devices for real-time control or signal processing applications.

For a list of I/O functions supported by xPC Target, see Input/Output Driver Support.


 Host PC Installation on the Host PC