VL-bus

(VESA Local-BUS) A peripheral bus from VESA that was primarily used in 486s. It provided a high-speed data path between the CPU and peripherals (video, disk, network, etc.). VL-bus was a 32-bit bus that supported bus mastering and ran at speeds up to 40 MHz. It generally provided up to three slots on the motherboard, each slot using one 32-bit Micro Channel connector placed adjacent to the standard ISA, EISA or Micro Channel connector. See PC data buses.

The VL-bus

The VL-bus was widely used on 486 motherboards, providing a wider bandwidth for peripheral data transfer than the traditional ISA bus.

Types of Expansion Boards

Of all the bus types in this illustration, PCI and AGP are the only ones still in use. ISA, EISA, Micro Channel and VL-bus are obsolete.

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