Alpha Microsystems AM-318 User manual

RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
RIGHT. FROM THE START
AM-318
Eight-Port
Serial I/O Board
Installation Instructions
PDI-00318-00,Rev.A03

1995 Alpha Microsystems
REVISIONS INCORPORATED
REVISION DATE
00 May 1994
01 Sept. 1994
02 Nov. 1994
03 Nov. 1994
AM-318 Eight-Port Serial I/O Board Installation Instructions
To re-order this document, request part number PDI-00318-00.
The information contained in this manual is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, no
responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or use of this information is assumed by Alpha
Microsystems.
This document may contain references to products covered under U.S. Patent Number 4,530,048.
The following are registered trademarks of Alpha Microsystems, Santa Ana, CA 92799:
AMIGOS AMOS Alpha Micro AlphaACCOUNTING
AlphaBASIC AlphaCALC AlphaCOBOL AlphaFORTRAN 77
AlphaLAN AlphaLEDGER AlphaMAIL AlphaMATE
AlphaNET AlphaPASCAL AlphaRJE AlphaWRITE
CASELODE OmniBASIC VER-A-TEL VIDEOTRAX
The following are trademarks of Alpha Microsystems, Santa Ana, CA 92799:
AlphaBASIC PLUS AlphaVUE AM-PC AMTEC
DART ESP MULTI inSight/am
inFront/am
All other copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
ALPHA MICROSYSTEMS
2722 S. Fairview Street
P.O. Box 25059
Santa Ana, CA 92799

Page iInstallation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2.0 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
3.0 CONFIGURING YOUR AM-318 BOARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
3.1 Accessing Your Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4.0 ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT HANDLING PRECAUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.1 Accessing the Main Electronics Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2 Eagle 300 AM-319(-00) I/O Expansion Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.3 Eagle 200 AM-319(-10) I/O Expansion Slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.4 Eagle 100 AM-137 I/O Expansion Slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.0 INSTALLING THE AM-318 BOARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6.0 EAGLE 300 REAR PANEL I/O CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.0 EAGLE 200 REAR PANEL I/O CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
8.0 EAGLE 100 REAR PANEL I/O CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9.0 INSTALLING THE AM-318’S RJ21 CONNECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10.0 SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMMAND FILE (EAGLE 200 AND 300) . . . . . . . 20
11.0 SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMMAND FILE (EAGLE 100) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
11.1 Finishing the Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
APPENDIX A - EXTERNAL SERIAL I/O CABLING
A.1 SIGNAL LIST AND MODULAR ADAPTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1
A.2 THE RJ21 METAL CONNECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6
A.3 DB9 BREAKOUT BOXES AND CLUSTER CABLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-6
A.4 CABLE CONFIGURATIONS TO CONNECT A TERMINAL
WITH THE DB9 BREAK OUT BOX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-11
A.5 CPU TO CPU SERIAL NET CONNECTION OR CPU
TO MODEM CONNECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-12
A.6 HOW TO USE THE AM-318 WITH MODULAR CABLING SYSTEMS. . A-13
A.7 GUIDELINES FOR TERMINATING CABLE SHIELDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-14
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Page ii Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
A.8 WHERE TO GET MODULAR CABLING COMPONENTS. . . . . . . . . . . A-17
APPENDIX B - SUPER I/O
B.1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
B.1.1 Super I/O Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1
B.2 ENABLING SUPER I/O SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-2
B.2.1 Super I/O (AMOS 2.2C Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-3
B.3 DISABLING SUPER I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4
B.3.1 Disabling Super I/O on All AM-318 Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-4
B.3.2 Disabling Super I/O on Individual AM-318 Boards . . . . . . . . . B-5
PDI-00318-00, Rev. A03

Page 1Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
1.0INTRODUCTION
This document describes the installation of AM-318 eight-port serial I/O boards into
Eagle series computers. It is written for the experienced Alpha Micro Service
Technician, so if you do not feel comfortable performing the hardware and software
procedures discussed below, please contact your Alpha Micro Dealer or the Alpha Micro
Technical Support Group for help.
2.0PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The AM-318 board supports eight asynchronous serial I/O ports using RS232 protocol.
AM-318 boards do not support RS422. The Eagle 100 computer has a single I/O
expansion slot that will support one AM-318 board; the Eagle 200 computer has two
expansions slots and will support two AM-318 boards; the Eagle 300 computer has four
expansion slots and will support four AM-318 boards.
AM-318 boards use a modular style 50-pin RJ21 connector that mounts on the
computer’s rear panel; this connector looks exactly like your computer’s external SCSI
connector. AM-314 boards use standard female DB9 connectors. The rear panel of
your Eagle computer has cutouts for both DB9 and RJ21 connectors.
AM-318 board serial ports, as well as the Eagle 100’s eight on-board serial ports, can
take advantage of a feature called Super I/O. Super I/O handles character output in a
much more efficient manner than any other previously released AMOS serial port driver,
which greatly reduces the load on the CPU and makes more CPU cycles available for
other tasks. See Appendix B for more details.
3.0CONFIGURING YOUR AM-318 BOARD
There are no jumpers on the AM-318 board. Nothing needs to be configured; the board
is ready to install. An illustration of the AM-318 board is shown below:
ALPHA
MICROSYSTEMS
U2U3
RN1 RN2
PIN-1
AM-318
MC1067
J1
AM-318 Eight-Port Serial I/O Board
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Page 2 Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
The AM-318 supports only RTS/CTS flow control signals; however, these signals are
adequate for terminals, printers, some modems, PC connections, and AlphaNET serial
connections. If required, the AM-314 four-port serial I/O board supports a full
complement of RS232 signals, such as CD (carrier detect) and DTR (data terminal
ready).
3.1Accessing Your Computer
When adding an AM-318 serial I/O board to your computer, it will be necessary to
remove your computer’s top cover. The top cover is held in place with four phillips-head
screws located on the computer’s rear panel. To remove the top cover, remove all four
screws from the locations indicated in the illustration below. Once the screws have been
removed, the top cover can be slid back and removed.
115
SCSI
MAIN
ALT
BOOT
MC1018
TOP COVER SCREWS
A1 A2
B1 B2
C1 C2
D1 D2
F1 F2
G1 G2
H1 H2
PARALLEL 1PARALLEL 0
ETHERNET
ENET
E1 E2
Eagle Top Cover Screws
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Page 3Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
MC1010
Eagle Top Cover Removal
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Page 4 Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
4.0ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT HANDLING PRECAUTIONS
With the AC power cord unplugged and the top cover removed, the components inside
your computer are vulnerable to damage caused by static discharge. Your body and
clothing are capable of storing an electrical charge that can damage or destroy
unprotected electronic components. Prior to handling any computer hardware, make
sure your work area is properly protected against static discharge. There are a number
of commercially available static protection devices, like the wrist strap shown below,
designed specifically to protect your equipment from harmful static discharge.
MC1012
Static Protection Wrist Strap
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Page 5Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
4.1Accessing the Main Electronics Board
If you have an Eagle 200 or 300 computer, access to your main electronics board may
be blocked if your Roadrunner board is mounted vertically, as shown in the next two
illustrations. If this true for your application, you will need to remove the Roadrunner
board and its mounting bracket in order to install your I/O board or boards. Instructions
for doing this are shown in the illustrations.
Many Eagle 200 and 300 computers have their Roadrunner boards mounted on the
bottom of the chassis in the horizontal position, which does not block access to the main
electronics board. Also, Eagle 100 computers do not use a separate Roadrunner board
and access to the main electronics board is not a problem.
DWF-20754-00
Your Roadrunner 030 or 040 board is mounted
on the DWF-20754-00 bracket shown above.
To access the board, you need to remove
these four phillips-head screws. Once the
screws are removed, the mounting bracket
and board assembly can be folded down onto
your work surface.
MC1055
Roadrunner Mounting Bracket
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Page 6 Installation Instructions: AM-318 Eight-Port I/O Board
ROADRUNNER 030 OR 040
BOARD
With the Roadrunner and its mounting bracket
folded down out of the way, you will be able to
access the main electronics board.
MC1162
MAIN BOARD
Locating the Main Electronics Board
PDI-00318-00, Rev. A03