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. |