A. Automatic System Configuration
Less Interference
Multiple device handling (the system allows expansion boards to take complete of the bus for certain operations)
Greater data transfer rates E. All of the above
Answer is Wrong!
Answer is Right!
The correct answer is: E. All of the above
Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) is a bus architecture developed by IBM for its PS/2 line of personal computers. It was introduced in 1987 as a replacement for the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus. MCA offered several advantages over ISA, including:
- Automatic system configuration: MCA expansion cards were automatically detected and configured by the system BIOS. This eliminated the need for jumpers or DIP switches on the expansion cards.
- Less interference: MCA used a 96-bit bus, which was twice as wide as the 32-bit ISA bus. This reduced the amount of electrical interference between expansion cards, which improved performance.
- Multiple device handling: MCA allowed expansion cards to take complete control of the bus for certain operations. This improved performance for devices that required a lot of bandwidth, such as graphics cards and hard drives.
- Greater data transfer rates: MCA had a maximum data transfer rate of 8.33 megabytes per second, which was twice as fast as the 4.0 megabytes per second maximum data transfer rate of ISA.
As a result of these advantages, MCA was widely adopted by businesses and other organizations that required high-performance personal computers. However, MCA was also more expensive than ISA, and it never gained widespread adoption in the consumer market.