# VESA LocalBus (VLB) (technical)

This section is currently based solely on the work by Mark Sokos.

This file is intended to provide a basic functional overview of the Vesa Local Bus, so that hobbyists and amateurs can design their own VLB compatible cards.

It is not intended to provide complete coverage of the VLB standard.

VLB Connectors are usually inline with ISA connectors, so that adapter cards may use both. However, the VLB is separate, and does not need to connect to the ISA portion of the bus.

The 64 bit expansion of the bus (optional) does not add additional pins or connectors. Instead, it multiplexes the existing pins. The 32 bit VLB bus does not use the 64 bit signals shown in the above pinouts.

## Signal Descriptions

### A2-A31

Address Bus

### ADS

Address Strobe

### BE0-BE3

Byte Enable. Indicates that the 8 data lines corresponding to each signal will deliver valid data.

### BLAST

Burst Last. Indicates a VLB Burst Cycle, which will complete with *BRDY. The VLB Burst cycle consists of an address phase followed by four data phases.

### BRDY

Burst Ready. Indicates the end of the current burst transfer.

### D0-D31

Data Bus. Valid bytes are indicated by *BE(x) signals.

### D/C

Data/Command. Used with M/IO and W/R to indicate the type of cycle.

M/IO | D/C | W/R |
--- | --- | --- | ---
0 | 0 | 0 | INTA sequence
0 | 0 | 1 | Halt/Special (486)
0 | 1 | 0 | I/O Read
0 | 1 | 1 | I/O Write
1 | 0 | 0 | Instruction Fetch
1 | 0 | 1 | Halt/Shutdown (386)
1 | 1 | 0 | Memory Read
1 | 1 | 1 | Memory Write

### ID0-ID4

Identification Signals.

ID0 | ID1 | ID4 | CPU | Bus Width | Burst
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
0 | 0 | 0 | (res) |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | (res) |  |
0 | 1 | 0 | 486 | 16/32 | Burst Possible
0 | 1 | 1 | 486 | 16/32 | Read Burst
1 | 0 | 0 | 386 | 16/32 | None
1 | 0 | 1 | 386 | 16/32 | None
1 | 1 | 0 | (res) |  |
1 | 1 | 1 | 486 | 16/32/64 | Read/Write Burst

ID2 Indicates wait: | 0 = 1 wait cycle (min)
| 1 = no wait
ID3 Indicates bus speed: | 0 = greater than 33.3 MHz
| 1 = less than 33.3 MHz

### IRQ9

Interrupt Request. Connected to IRQ9 on ISA bus. This allows standalone VLB adapters (not connected to ISA portion of the bus) to have one IRQ.

### LEADS

Local Enable Address Strobe. Set low by VLB master (not CPU). Also used for cache invalidation signal.

### LBS16

Local Bus Size 16. Used by slave device to indicate that it has a transfer width of only 16 bits.

### LCLK

Local Clock. Runs at the same frequency as the cpu, up to 50 MHz. 66 MHz is allowed for on-board devices.

### LDEV

Local Device: When appropriate address and M/IO signals are present on the bus, the VLB device must pull this line low to indicate that it is a VLB device. The VLB controller will then use the VLB bus for the transfer.

### LRDY

Local Ready. Indicates that the VLB device has completed the cycle. This signal is only used for single cycle transfers. *BRDY is used for burst transfers.

### LGNT

Local Grant. Indicates that an *LREQ signal has been granted, and control is being transferred to the new VLB master.

### LREQ

Local Request. Used by VLB Master to gain control of the bus.

### M/IO

Memory/IO. See D/C for signal description.

### RDYRTN

Ready Return. Indicates VLB cycle has been completed. May precede LRDY by one cycle.

### RESET

Reset. Resets all VLB devices.

### WBACK

Write Back.

## 64-bit Expansion Signals

### ACK64

Acknowledge 64 bit transfer. Indicates that the device can perform the requested 64 bit transfer cycle.

### BE4-BE7

Byte Enable. Indicates which bytes are valid (similar to BE0-BE3).

### D32-D63

Upper 32 bits of data bus. Multiplexed with address bus.

### LBS64

Local Bus Size 64 bits. Used by VLB Master to indicate that it desires a 64 bit transfer.

### W/R

Write/Read. See D/C for signal description.

## 64 Bit Data Transfer Timing Diagram:

                 Address         Data
                 Phase           Phase
                 _______         _______         _______
    LCLK     ___|       |_______|       |_______|       |_______

             ____         ______________________________________
    *ADS         |_______|

                  _______________  _______________
    A2-A31   ----<_______________><_______________>-------------
    D34-D63         Address          Data D34-D63

                  _______________  _______________
    D/C      ----<_______________><_______________>-------------
    M/IO, W/R      M/IO, W/R         Data D32-33

             _____                 _____________________________
    *LDEV         |_______________|

             _____                 _____________________________
    *LBS64        |_______________|
             ______                _____________________________
    *ACK64         |______________|

                                   _______________
    D0-D31    --------------------<_______________>-------------

              _____________________                _____________
    LRDY                           |______________|

Contributor: Joakim Ögren, Mark Sokos

Source:
Mark Sokos VLB page
"The Indispensible PC Hardware Book" by Hans-Peter Messmer, ISBN 0-201-8769-3

Copyright © The Hardware Book Team 1996-2001.
May be copied and redistributed, partially or in whole, as appropriate.
Document last modified: 2001-06-08