Go-HotSwap Frequently Asked Questions

Go-HotSwap FAQs
What is CompactPCI?
CompactPCI is a high performance bus based on the standard PCI electrical specifications. It is intended as an industrial bus for application in telecommunications, computer telephony, real-time machine control, industrial automation, real-time data acquisition, instrumentation, military systems or any other application requiring high speed computing, modular and robust packaging design, and long-term manufacturer's support. Three main reasons make the CompactPCI attractive for industrial applications such as high-speed telecom and datacom systems: One reason is that the CompactPCI has an extremely high bandwidth; this makes it particularly well suited for applications such as servers, routers, converters and switches. Secondly, CompactPCI boards are inserted/removed from the front of the chassis, and I/O can break out either to the front or through the rear; this feature is well suited for industrial use where insertion/removal is a common routine. Finally, the hot swap feature supported by the CompactPCI hardware specifications makes it possible to insert or remove circuit boards to or from a running system without causing damage to the other boards or crashing system software, thus enabling the system to be up and running while hardware is being replaced, maintained or upgraded.
What is HotSwap?
The basic purpose of the HotSwap additions to CompactPCI is to allow the orderly insertion and extraction of boards without adversely affecting system operation. This is done to repair faulty boards or reconfiguration of a system (see PICMG HotSwap specification 2.1 R1.0).
What are the main benefits of the Go-HotSwap OS Extension?
The Go-HotSwap OS Extension adds hot-swap capabilities for CompactPCI hardware to all major operating systems and on any available system board.
The included powerful driver development toolkit, enables users to immediately add hot-swap capabilities to their existing PCI drivers or to easily develop hot-swappable drivers from scratch. The resulting code will compile and run on all supported operating systems.
Which operating systems are supported?
Jungo's Go-HotSwap OS Extension enables hot-swap capabilities for CompactPCI hardware on: Linux, Solaris, Windows 2000, NT, NT- Embedded, 9x and VxWorks, where these capabilities are not natively available
Are there any hardware limitations?
Jungo's Go-HotSwap transparently supports all CompactPCI hardware (basic hot-swap or higher), i.e. it is not dependent on the hardware configuration on which it is running or the host PCI controller it is using.
Where can I get more in-depth information?
For additional information and white papers please see this page.