Micro Channel Architecture
MCA is a motherboard slot type created in 1987 by IBM for their PS/2 computers, trying to replace ISA slots. Since it was a proprietary architecture, only PCs manufactured by IBM could use it. Replacing an open standard that everybody was using for another that was proprietary simply didn’t work out. Another issue was that MCA was incompatible with ISA, i.e. ISA cards couldn’t be installed on MCA slots.
MCA slots were available in two versions: 16 and 32 bits.
click to enlarge
Figure 1: Motherboard with MCA slots.
Originally at http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/dictionary/term/355
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