| Layout of MCA Slots | 
| Some people ask: "What the heck are there so many different slots in MCA-machines." "And which is what ?" Let's look at the slots and what the difference between "The short ones" and "the longer ones". 
 | 
| 16-bit standard MCA slot 
            
               01               45   48  58 --Side A
              +--------------------+-------+  (component)
REAR          | ================== | ===== |              FRONT 
              +--------------------+-------+  (soldering)
               01               45   48  58 --Side B
16-bit MCA slot with AVE "8514/A Slot" 
            
       V10 V1  01               45   48  58
      +-------+--------------------+-------+
      | ===== | ================== | ===== |
      +-------+--------------------+-------+
               01               45   48  58
32-bit MCA slot 
 
               01               45   48            89 
              +--------------------+-----------------+
REAR          | ================== | =============== | FRONT
              +--------------------+-----------------+
               01               45   48            89
32-bit MCA slot with MME "Memory Card Slot" 
 
             MM 1               45   48            89 
           +-----------------------+-----------------+
           | ===================== | =============== | FRONT
           +-----------------------+-----------------+
             MM 1               45   48            89
32-bit MCA slot with MME and BVE "Video Slot" 
 
    V10 V1    MM 1               45   48            89 
   +-------+-----------------------+-----------------+
   | ===== | ===================== | =============== | FRONT
   +-------+-----------------------+-----------------+
             MM 1               45   48            89
All views are from the top looking down to the slot 
The 'component' and 'soldering' referres to an 
AVE = Auxiliary Video Extension 
 | 
| AVE = Auxiliary Video Extension The AVE part of the MCA connector consists out of 20 pins (2 x 10) at the rear end of the MCA connector, separated by a key (notch in the cards' connector). 
The AVE is intended for cards that have no own base-video system - like the IBM 8514/A Display Adapter /A. Other additional video-cards that *do not* use the AVE cannot display the VGA text/graphic mode on the same screen along with their own native modes. They need a second monitor attached to the onboard VGA / XGA card. In a way this AVE is the MCAs Video Feature Connector: cards can use the onboard video-system and -for example- syncronize their output to the onboard video. 
 | 
| MME = Matched Memory Extension The MME part of the MCA connector consists out of 8 pins (2 x 4) at the rear end of a 32-bit MCA connector. There is no separation between the 32-bit connector and the MME-part. The MME part is used from 32-bit Memory Expansion adapters, which support Matched Memory Cyles. This can improve the data transfer capabilities between the system master and channel-resident memory (means: between planar memory and that on expansion cards). 
The use of MME is system-dependent and varies between the line of PS/2-machines. 
 | 
| BVE = Base Video Extension The BVE part of the MCA connector consists out of 20 pins (2 x 10) at the rear end of a 32-bit MCA connector and after the MME-part. There is a separating key between MME and BVE, which causes a notch in a cards' MCA connector with a size of 2 connecting pins. 
This slot can only be found on machines, that do not supply an onboard Base-Video system, like the Models 76, 77, 90 and 95. 
 | 
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© 1997 by Peter H. Wendt / pw-software production