Ampro Corporation 486E manual VL-Bus Flat Panel/CRT Display Controller, Enhanced Embedded-PC Bios

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Little Board™/486e Technical Manual

VL-Bus Flat Panel/CRT Display Controller

A powerful and flexible local bus video display controller interfaces with both flat panels and CRTs, and offers full software compatibility with all popular PC video standards (VGA, Super VGA, and VESA). All standard resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 pixels and 16 million colors (True Color, in 640 x

480VGA) are supported. Refer to Tables 3-1 and 3-2 for video specifications. 2M byte of video memory is standard. The display controller features:

!High-speedVL-Bus Architecture. The video controller provides an optimized 32-bit path between the CPU and video memory.

!Graphical User Interface (GUI) Accelerator. This feature can dramatically boost the performance of Windows®, Windows®9x, and many graphics-intensive applications.

!Color Flat-Panel Support. Up to 16M colors can be displayed on TFT LCD flat panels and up to 226,981 colors on STN LCD panels.

!Display Centering and Stretching. A variety of automatic display centering and stretching techniques can be employed when running lower resolution software on a higher resolution display.

!Color Simulation/Reduction. Color is automatically converted to gray-scale on most monochrome LCD panels, using a Frame Rate Modulation (FRM) and dithering techniques.

!Standard Panel Support in the VIDEO BIOS. The VIDEO BIOS supports a number of standard flat-panel displays, selectable from the system SETUP menu.

An optional external adapter board can provide an adjustable LCD bias power supply and power sequencing control.

Enhanced Embedded-PC BIOS

One of the most valuable features of the Little Board/486e CPU is its enhanced embedded-PC BIOS. Its extensive function set meets the unique requirements of embedded system applications. These enhancements include:

!Watchdog timer—monitors the boot process and provides a watchdog function call for applications

!Fast boot operation—normal or accelerated POST, selectable by SETUP options

!Configurable POST display—selects what displays at boot time

!Fail-safe boot support—intelligently retries boot devices until successful

!Battery-free boot support—saves system SETUP information in non-volatile EEPROM

!Serial console option—lets you use a serial device as a console

!Serial loader option—supports loading boot code from an external serial source

!EEPROM access function—512 bits of EEPROM storage available to user; useful for serialization, copy protection, and security

!OEM customization hooks—can execute custom code before system boot through ROM extensions; allows sophisticated system customization without BIOS modification

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Contents Little Board/486e Computer Revision Reason for Change Date Table of Contents Page Technical Specifications Index Introduction Technical SupportThis page left intentionally blank Viii General Description FeaturesChapter CPU/MotherboardEnhanced Embedded-PC Bios VL-Bus Flat Panel/CRT Display ControllerFloppy Interface Serial PortsEnhanced Parallel Port IDE InterfaceEthernet LAN Interface Byte-Wide Socket and Solid State Disk SSDEnhanced Reliability Modular PC/104 Expansion BusHalt Testing Software Little Board Development Platform Interface Connector Summary OverviewConnector Function Size Key Pin ConnectorsConnector and Jumper Locations Jumper Group Function Default Jumper Configuration OptionsSystem I/O Map Address Function Connector Type Mating Connector DC PowerPin Connection Backup Battery Power RequirementsCooling Requirements Powerfail Monitor Dram System Memory MapExpanded Memory and Extended Memory Memory Address FunctionRS-485 Serial Port Serial Ports J11, J13RS-232C Serial Ports AddressesInterrupt Assignments IRQ11 IRQ7ROM-BIOS Installation of the Serial Ports Serial Port Connectors J11, J13Ports Pin Signal Function In/Out DB25 Name PinConfiguring Serial 2 for RS-485 J6, W5, W6 Pin Signal NameRS-485 Twisted-Pair Cabling Using RJ11 Connectors Pin RJ11 Signal Standard Wire ColorUsing the RS-485 Interface Interconnection Scheme ExamplesHex Command Serial ConsoleCOM Port Table Serial HandshakeSerial Booting and Serial Programming Using a Serial ModemRegister Name Address Primary Secondary Bi-Directional Parallel PortSelection Address Interrupts Signal Type Number of Lines Function Output Drive ROM-BIOS Installation of Parallel PortsStandard and General Purpose I/O Operation Parallel Port Interrupt Register Bit Signal Name In/Out Active J15 Parallel Port Interrupt EnableOr Function High/Low Pin Parallel Port Connector J15 J15 Pin Signal Function In/Out DB25 NameSignal Name Full Name Description Register Bit DefinitionsFloppy Drive Considerations Floppy Disk InterfaceCapacity Drive Size Tracks Data Rate Floppy Interface Connector J14 Floppy Interface ConfigurationPin Signal Name Function In/Out IDE Connector J12 IDE Hard Disk Interface25. IDE Drive Interface Connector J12 IDE Interface Configuration Enabling the Drive Master/Slave SettingCompact Flash Solid-State Disk Solid-State Disk PreparationName Connector Pins/Type Description Connecting a CRT J5Flat Panel/CRT Video Controller J5 Pin Signal Name DB-15 DB-9 Part Description Mating ConnectorConnecting a Flat Panel J3 W10 +5VPin Signal Description Name FLMPower Sequencing Advanced Power ManagementBios Support of Non-Standard Panels Pgmebios VIDEO=filenameLCD Bias Supply Option Selecting Vee PolarityJ4 Pin J3 Pin Description Attaching an External Contrast Control Ra = 270 Rb = Vee max Vee min / 1.5Example Ethernet Network Interface Network TermsInstalling an Ethernet Boot Prom QNXInstalling a Boot Prom in Byte-Wide Socket S0 Twisted-Pair InstallationsInstalling a Boot Prom Twisted Pair Interface J7Using Network Operating Systems NOS Controlling the Ethernet LAN Interface Directly Network OS DriversProgram Name Vendor Function Driver Name Manufacturer’s Ethernet ID 00 40SSD Device Size Package Generic Type Pins Part Number Byte-Wide Socket S0Addressing the Byte-wide Socket ROM-BIOS ExtensionsWindow Address Performance Issues Accessing the Byte-Wide SocketSolid State Disk SSD Drives Device 64KB Segment Address Size Segments Upper Nibble of BH W14 Pin Signal Name Description Byte-Wide Socket SignalsTypical Devices Pins Jumper Diagram Jumpering the Byte-Wide SocketFlash Eprom Typical Devices Pins Jumper Diagram Using EPROMsFlash Eprom Programming Using SRAMs Non-volatile RAMUtility Connector J16 Pin Signal Name Function ExsmiPC Speaker Push Button Reset ConnectionExternal Battery Connections LED ConnectionBattery-Backed Clock Jumper W4 Watchdog TimerWDT Response AL,61H AL,NOT 08H OUT 61H,AL Page AT Expansion Bus Using Standard PC and AT Bus Cards Onboard MiniModule ExpansionBus Expansion Guidelines Bus TerminationExpansion Bus Connector Pinouts Pin Signal Function In/Out Current PU/PD/S47. AT Expansion Bus Connector, B1-B32 P1 48. AT Expansion Bus Connector, C0-C19 P2 PU/PD/S Interrupt and DMA Channel Usage Interrupt FunctionSerial Parallel Floppy Channel FunctionEthernet Video Setup Overview Menu Name Functions Setup Page 1-Standard CMOS/EEPROM Setup Standard CMOS/EEPROM SetupFloppy Drives Drive Parameter SetupDate and Time IDE Hard Disk DrivesPage Dram Memory Error HaltVideo System PostSetup Page 2-Options/Peripheral Configuration Extended BiosPort Address Serial PortParallel Port Selection Address InterruptHot Key Setup Enable Floppy Interface EnableIDE Interface Enable Selection AddressVideo State Blank Post TestWatchdog Timer Configuration Byte-Wide Socket ConfigurationSerial Boot Loader Enable Local Bus Video DisplayInstalling a Modified Bios to Support a New Panel Flat Panel Display TypeSetup Page 3-Serial Console Configuration Extended Serial Console ConfigurationPage Creating Configuration Files with SETUP.COM Switch FunctionOperation with DOS DIR LPT1Utility Software Overview Little Board/486e CPU Specifications Embedded-PC System EnhancementsOnboard Peripherals CRT Support for Standard Video Modes Vesa Font Pixels Clock Horiz Vert Mem Mode MHz KHz Support Software Mechanical and Environmental Specifications Mechanical Dimensions Technical Specifications Page Index Page POST, Setup Little Board/486e Technical Manual Index-4
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