Ampro Corporation 486E manual Solid State Disk SSD Drives, Accessing the Byte-Wide Socket

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Little Board™/486e Technical Manual

Performance Issues

Executing programs directly from the byte-wide socket can adversely affect system performance. There are a number of factors that can contribute to the performance impact:

!The byte-wide device is substantially slower than DRAM, as it is an 8-bit device instead of 32- bit device.

!The device is accessed from the PC expansion bus, which is much slower than the high-speed processor memory bus.

Performance can be substantially improved by copying the contents of the byte-wide device into RAM and executing directly from RAM.

Solid State Disk (SSD) Drives

Using the Ampro Solid State Disk (SSD) Support Software, you can configure EPROM, Flash EPROM, or SRAM solid-state devices, installed in the byte-wide sockets, to act as one or more disk drives. No custom programming is required. Regular DOS-compliant programs, including standard DOS utilities, can be used without modification.

Ampro’s SSD support software creates data image files, based on your application programs and operating system, which can be programmed into the devices you install in the byte-wide sockets. The Ampro ROM-BIOS treats these devices like one or more disk drives, loading the programs into DRAM for execution. The sockets can be combined to serve as a single drive, or each socket can be used as a separate drive. You can use SSD drives in addition to, or instead of, normal floppy and hard disk drives.

You can increase system SSD capacity by adding one or more of Ampro’s SSD expansion modules.

Accessing the Byte-Wide Socket

To access the byte-wide socket, it must be enabled. Using SETUP, either device can be enabled at boot time. This places the contents of the enabled device at the address specified in SETUP and the processor can access this memory in a normal fashion.

Here is a simple assembly language routine showing how to use an Ampro extended-BIOS call to enable or disable the byte-wide memory socket, S0. This code selects the first 64K page on large devices.

;----------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

; Access control code for a byte-wide socket

 

;----------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

MOV

AH,0CDH

; AMPRO function

call

MOV

AL,03h

; Use 03

for S0

 

MOV

BL,nn

; Use 01

to turn

ON or 00 to turn OFF

MOV

BH,00

; Selects page 0

of the device

INT

13H

 

 

 

Table 2–37 lists the segment addressing in large memory devices.

2–50

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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 Configuration Options Jumper Group Function DefaultSystem I/O Map Address Function DC Power Connector Type Mating ConnectorPin Connection Power Requirements Backup BatteryCooling 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 ModemBi-Directional Parallel Port Register Name Address Primary SecondarySelection Address Interrupts ROM-BIOS Installation of Parallel Ports Signal Type Number of Lines Function Output DriveStandard and General Purpose I/O Operation Parallel Port Interrupt Parallel Port Interrupt Enable Register Bit Signal Name In/Out Active J15Or Function High/Low Pin Parallel Port Connector J15 J15 Pin Signal Function In/Out DB25 NameSignal Name Full Name Description Register Bit DefinitionsFloppy Disk Interface Floppy Drive ConsiderationsCapacity Drive Size Tracks Data Rate Floppy Interface Configuration Floppy Interface Connector J14Pin 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 PreparationConnecting a CRT J5 Name Connector Pins/Type DescriptionFlat 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=filenameSelecting Vee Polarity LCD Bias Supply OptionJ4 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 Network OS Drivers Controlling the Ethernet LAN Interface DirectlyProgram Name Vendor Function Driver Name Manufacturer’s Ethernet ID 00 40SSD Device Size Package Generic Type Pins Part Number Byte-Wide Socket S0ROM-BIOS Extensions Addressing the Byte-wide SocketWindow Address Accessing the Byte-Wide Socket Performance IssuesSolid 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 SocketUsing EPROMs Flash Eprom Typical Devices Pins Jumper DiagramFlash 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 Watchdog Timer Jumper W4WDT 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 FunctionChannel Function Serial Parallel FloppyEthernet 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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