Have you seen the recent writeup @ BWRC ? http://casper.berkeley.edu/memos/cabletestmemo.pdf
For copper cables we, ATA, use WLGore cables https://consumer.gore.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10401&storeId=10401&productId=10852&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10101 IBN6800-1, -1.5 -3 for 1, 1.5 and 3meters. For fiber optic we like, but have not yet purchased : Tyco PARALIGHT example part number 1985427-3 ZARLINK Semiconductor parts are: P/N ZL60615MJDA S/N F1614004707 length 3m P/N ZL60615MJDE S/N F1614006114 length 10m Fujitsu FPD-010R008-OE w/ cable FOC-CC-10004 seem to work as well but are double the cost (or more). At HCRO for ATA we are going to use iBob -> BEE2 1m copper or 3 to 10m fiber optic iBob -> F Board 1,2 and 3 m copper (more testing TBD on 3m) BEE2 -> BEE2 1m and 1.5m BEE2 -> iBob 3 to 10m fiber optic All of our iBobs will have fans mounted to the FPGA's heatsink 5VDC fan 40x40x6mm fan, digikey GM0504PEV1-8GN 5.9CFM Sunon GM0504PEV1-8GN and the aluminum mounting plate is hogged out so that they can still be mounted on 8hp = 1.6" pitch. These fans are in addition to the chassis level fans (cold air in at bottom front; warm aire out at top back). On Tue, 19 Aug 2008, Jonathan Weintroub wrote: > This is my first question to the general list---please be gentle ;) > > We have been doing iBOB<->iBOB and iBOB<->BEE2 fast serial > communications using cables made by Fujitsu. Typically we keep the > cable lengths quite short, a typical Fujitsu part number for a 1 m > cable is FCD-ZZ00016, it's sold as Infiniband. The link seems to be > pretty robust with the short cables, and it seems that inserting a 3 m > cable doesn't really seem to give us trouble, on the bench anyhow. In > the field it should be ok for us to use the 1 m cables primarily. Note > that our system does not include a switch and the protocol we are > using is low level, simply XAUI point-to-point. > > I have a little year end money to spend stocking up on cables. I have > been reading discussions on this list and overheard conversations at > the workshop regarding fiber optic versions of these cables, which I > think go with add-on transmitter-receivers to connect to the copper- > based CX4 board connectors. These discussions typically referred to > unreliability of the copper link under some circumstances, and again > we do not seem to have experienced that problem here. It is possible > that many of these discussions were in the context of systems which > need a fast off-the-shelf F/O switch. There was some discussion as to > whether power is available on CASPER CX-4 pins to run the F/O modules. > > Can someone please offer a current summary of where things stand in > this area, and perhaps an assessment based on my summary above, > whether it is worthwhile to purchase a F/O set to experiment with. > Is there a turnkey source for the necessary components and cables? > > > (I have re-read a prior thread from early May on this topic involving > John, Matt, Jouko, and Francois, however the sourcing information was > from 2005, and the applicability of the information to our situation > was not entirely clear from the conversation. Also perhaps more has > been learned since May.) > > Thanks for shedding light on this. > > Jonathan > > >
