Specification-XTX™ Revision 1.1

XTX Pinout, signal description and implementation guidelines

ETX® Concept and XTX™ Extension

The ETX® concept is an off the shelf, multi vendor, Single-Board-Computer that integrates all the core components of a common PC and is mounted onto an application specific carrier board. ETX® modules have a standardized form factor of 95mm x 114mm and have specified pinouts on the four system connectors that remain the same regardless of the vendor. The ETX® module provides most of the functional requirements for any application. These functions include, but are not limited to, graphics, sound, keyboard/mouse, IDE, Ethernet, parallel, serial and USB ports. Four ruggedized connectors provide the carrier board interface and carry all the I/O signals to and from the ETX® module.

Carrier board designers can utilize as little or as many of the I/O interfaces as deemed necessary. The carrier board can therefore provide all the interface connectors required to attach the system to the application specific peripherals. This versatility allows the designer to create a dense and optimized package, which results in a more reliable product while simplifying system integration. Most importantly ETX® applications are scalable, which means once a product has been created there is the ability to diversify the product range through the use of different performance class ETX® modules. Simply unplug one module and replace it with another, no redesign is necessary.

XTX™ is an expansion and continuation of the well-established and highly successful ETX® standard. XTX™ offers the newest I/O technologies on this proven form factor. Now that the ISA bus is being used less and less in modern embedded applications the XTX™ standard offers an array of different features on the X2 connector than those currently found on the ETX® platform. These features include new serial high speed buses such as PCI Express™ and Serial ATA®. All other signals found on connectors X1, X3, and X4 remain the same in accordance to the ETX® standard and therefore will be completely compatible. If the embedded PC application still requires the ISA bus then an ISA bridge can be implemented on the application specific carrier board or the readily available LPC bus located on the XTX™ module may be used.

XTX™ is an ETX® Component SBC Specification extension.
XTX™ is fully compliant to ETX® Specification except for the X2 [ISA bus] connector signal definition.
The ISA bus signals on the X2 connector are replaced by state of the art interface technologies such as:

• PCIexpress™
• USB
• ExpressCard™
• Digital Audio
• SATA
• LPC interface

Plus additional control signals.