AST RESEARCH MegaPlus II User manual

TM
User's Manual
Af .1 RESEARCH INC.

MegaPlus II
Memory Expansion and 1/0 Card
for the
IBM Personal Computer,
IBM PC·XT, and
Other PC·Compatible Systems
User's Manual
August, 1983
AST RESEARCH, INC.
Irvine, California
[phone]

FIRST EDITION (August. 1983)
IBM is a registered trademark
of International Business Machines Corporatio n.
Compaq is a trademark of Compaq Computers. Inc.
MegaPlus II . MegaPak. SuperPak. SuperDrive. and SuperSpool are trademarks of
AST Research. Inc.
Copyright © 1983 AST Research. Inc. All rights are reserved. including those to
reproduce this book
or parts thereof in any form without permission in writing from
AST Res ear ch. Inc.

TABLE OF CONTEl\'TS
SECTIO]'o; 1. Il\TRODUCI:\,G THE MEGAPLlJS 11 . I-I
1.1 Compatibility. . .. . . . . 1 -3
1.2 Non-PC-DOS Operation . 1-4
1. 3 MegaPlus II Board Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1-4
I A This Manual 1-4
IA.I Syntax Conventions ..... . ..... 1-6
SECTIO]'o; 2. MEGAPLUS II MEMORY
CONFIGURATIOl\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
2.I Removing the PC System Unit
Cover. . . . . . . . . . 2-1
2.2 MegaPlus II Memory Switch Settings. . . 2-2
2.2.1 MegaPlus
1I Starting Memory Addres, ... .. . . 2-3
2.2.2 Parity Check Enable
............ . ... . . . . .... . .. 2-4
2.3 PC System Board Switch
Configuration. . . . 2-5
2.3.1 PC-I System Board Switch Settings
... .. .... . . ... 2-5
2.3.2 PC-2 System Board Switch
Settings. 2-6
2.3.3 PC-XT System Board Switch Settings.. . ... 2-7
2A Installing Multiple Memory Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-8
2.4.1 Installing a Board
"Below" the MegaPlus 1I .. ... . 2-8
2.4 .2 Installing a Board "Above" the MegaPlus II 2-9
2.5 Installing Additional Memory on the MegaPlus
II ... .. ... 2-9
2.6 Troubleshooting Memory Problems ..... . . . .. .. ..... 2-10
SECTION 3. SERIAL ASYNCHRO~OUS
COMMUNICATION . . .. ................... 3-1
3.1 Setting Up Serial Port #1 ............ . .. . . ..... .... . . 3-2
3.2
If Your System Already Has a Serial Port . . .... . .. .. ... 3-2
3.3 RS-232 Connector Pin List for Serial Port
#1 ... ... . .... 3-3
3.4 Disabling Serial Port #1 . . . ...... . ................... 3-5
3.5 Option
S: Serial Port #2 ............ . ...... .. .. .... .. 3-5
3.6 Verifying Your Serial #2 Configuration .. . ............. 3-5
3.7 DTE and DCE Interface Selection for Serial #2 ......... 3-6
3.8 Setting
Up Serial #2 for DCE Configuration .... . .. . .. .. 3-6
3.9 DCE Configuration: Serial #2 RS-232 Pin
Connector Listing ...... .. ....... . ......... . ... . .. .. 3-7
3.10 Installing the Serial #2 Interface Cable
.. ... . . .. . ... ... . 3-7
3.11
Programmin g the Serial Port ............ . .. .... . .. ... 3-9
3.12 Disabling Serial Port #2
........... . ...... .. .. . ... . . 3-10
iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Continued)
SECTION 4. PARALLEL PRINTER PORT
(OPTION P) ............ ......... .. .. .. ... .4-1
4.1
In stalling the Inte rf ace Cable ... ......... . ........... .. 4-1
4.2 Reconfiguring Your Parallel Port for
Multiport Systems
........... ... .. .. ... . ... . ... .4-2
4.3 Programming the Parallel Port .. .. .... .. .. . .... . . . .... 4-3
4.4 Printer Port Connections . .. . ... . ..... .. . ... ...... .. . .4-3
4.5 Disabling the Parallel Printer Port ..... . .......... . ... .4-5
SECTION 5. CLOCK-CALENDAR FEATURE .. . ......... 5-1
5.1 The Cl ock-Calendar Battery . . ............... .. ....... 5-1
5.2 Preparing Your Working DOS Diskettes . . ..... .. ..... . .5-2
5.3 The
SETCLOCK Utility: Setting the MegaPlus II
Time and Date ....... . ...... .. .............. . ... .. .5-3
5.4 Device Addressing of the Clock-Calendar ..... ... . ... .. .5-4
5.5 Disabling the Clock-Calendar on Your MegaPlus II .... ... 5-4
SECTI ON 6. MEGAPAK ... .. ........................... 6-1
SECTION 7. GAME ADAPTER PORT ..... .............. 7-1
7.1
In stalling the Game Adapter Pi ggyback Board .... .. ... . .7-1
7.2 Device Addressing of the Game Adapter ..... .... . ... .. .7-1
7.3 Disabling the
Game Adapter Port . ... . ... ..... .. .. . .... 7-2
SEC TIO:"ol 8. I NS TALLING YOUR MEGAPLUS II BOARD .. 8-1
8. 1 Testing the New Installation .
.. ... .. .......... . ....... 8-2
SEC TIO N 9. liSE R UPGRADE L~FORMA TION ...... . . . .. 9-1
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: RECOMMENDED SERIAL PORT
CA BLING ............. . ................. A-I
APPENDIX B: SWITCHING BETWEEN LPT1 AND LPT2 ... B-1
APPENDIX C: CLOCK-CALEN DAR CHIP ...... ... . .. . .... C-I
APPENDIX
0: PATCH PROCEDURES ........ .... ........ 0 -1
APPENDIX E: WIRlNG RS -232 SERlAL INTERFACES ..... E- I
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Continued)
FIGURES
Figur e 1-1 . MegaPlu~ II Board Layout . . . . . 1-5
Figur e 2- 1. Removing System Unit Cover . . . . . . ". . .. .. 2-2
Figure 2-2. Starting Addres s Settings .2 -3
Figure 2-3. Parity Check Enable Setting . .2-4
Figure 2-4. PC-l System Board Switch Settings ... .. . "" . . ... .2-5
Figure 2-5. PC-2 System B oard Switch Settings .2-6
Figure 2-6 . PC-XT System Board Switch Settings . .. "...... 2-7
Figure 7-1 . Game Adapter Piggyback B oard Layout .. . .... 7-2
Figure E-l. The Ideal: Terminal to Modem . . . . . . . . . . .E-3
Figure E-2. Example of a Specific DTE to DTE Interf ace .. .... E-4
Figure E-3. AST R esearch Board"s Serial Port DTE to
NEC 7700 Series Serial DTE Printer. .E-6
Figure EA. Serial Interface Form
Schematic Diagram s . .
... E-7
.. """ ..... Back of Manual
v

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vi

SECTION 1
INTRODUCING THE MEGAPLUS II
The AST Research MegaPlus IpM board is a versatile and powerful
memory expansion and data 110 accessory for your IBM Per,on al
Computer (PC) family. The generous range of the expansion
memory size. the real time Clock with battery backup. and the
RS-232 asynchronous Serial communications port (all standard).
along with the optional Second Serial port, Parallel
printer port. and
Game adapter port make the MegaPlus II board the ultimate in
expansion hardware .
Depending on the options selected, the MegaPlus II board supplie,
up to 512KB (kilobytes) of additional Random Access Memor y
(RAM). With this larger storage capacity you can run any
PC-compatible applications software requiring additional memory
and expand the capacity
of some of your existing programs , such as
spreadsheet models.
As a bonus. AST Research gives you two valuable utility programs:
SuperDrive TM, a disk emulation program allowing you to use part of
your memory as a superfast "electronic disk drive" ; and
SuperSpoolTM, an intelligent print spooler allowing you to output
files to a printer without tying up your PC . These utilities are
discussed
in the SuperPak User's Manual.
Your MegaPlus II board is available with 64. 128. 192, 256. 384.
or 512 kilobytes of RAM memory. If you prefer. you can start off
small and install AST Research memory upgrade kits and the
MegaPak piggyback board as you need more memory space.
Standard features
• A real-time Clock-Calendar with battery backup so that
you
don't have to enter the time and date every time you
start
your system. The battery power is only used when
your system is turned off.
1-1

• An RS-232C Serial interface to be used with a modem,
serial printer. remote display terminal, other serial device,
or as an asynchronous communications port to another
computer or peripheral operating under separate
asynchronous
commu nications software control. (Note: a
current loop teletype interface
is not supported.)
• Up to 256K of RAM memory, available in 64K
increments.
• The SuperPakI'M utility diskette containing SuperDriveT M,
SuperSpoolTM. clock software, and the RAMCLEAR
memory initialization utility program.
NOTE
For information on the SuperPak utilities, see
your SuperPak User's Manual.
Available options
• A Parallel printer port to be used for connecting a parallel
printer to the
Pc.
• A Second RS -232C Serial port (serial #2, configurable as
DTE or
DCE ).
• The MegaPak TM, providing 128K or 256K of additional
memory. which brings the MegaPlus
II board total to
384K or 512K bytes,
• A Game adapter port which can be used with an IBM-
compa tible joystick.
These options may be purchased
onboard, or installed by the user at
a later date. (Upgrade kits are available from
your dealer.)
1-2

1.1 Compatibility
The McgaPlus II is completely compatible with all existing. 18i\1 PC
types.
It is also compatible with the Compaq and other IBM looJ.; -
alikes. The three existing IBM PC modeb are defined in thi,
manual as follows:
I.
Th e PC-1 is the original IBM Personal Computer The
system board contains 64K
of memor) . The sy, t cm',
maximum mcmory capacity is 640K. System hoa rd
switches, howe ver , recognize a maximum of 5441<..
2. The PC-2 is the newer, updated version of the PC- I. The
system board
mu st be fully populated with 2561<. of
memor y before utilizing any expansion board memory . If
your PC -2 is not fully populated, then the AST Research
Memory Upgrade Kit (P IN MP-()()9) can be used for this
purpose . The maximum memory capacity of this system is
640K.
3. The PC-XT comes standard with 128K of memory . The
system board is expandable
to 256K. Unlike the PC-2, the
system
board does not have to be fully populated before
using expansion
board memory ; you may, however, use
the
AST Research Memory Upgrade Kit (P IN MP-()()9)
on your system board, if desired. The XT computer
automatically recognizes memory up to a maximum of
640K.
The XT comes with a standard serial port configured as
COM I. Your MegaPlus II board comes with a standard
serial port that should
be reconfigured as COM2 to avoid
addressing conflicts with
COM I. Section 3 of this manual
contains the necessary reconfiguration instructions.
1-3