Octagon PC-500 User manual

NOTICE
The drivers and utilities for Octagon products, previously provided
on a CD, are now in a self-extracting zip file located at the Octagon
Systems web site on the product-specific page. Download this file to a
separate directory on your hard drive, then double click on it to extract
the files. All references in this manual to files and directories on the CD
now refer to files in the Utilities zip file.

O C T A G O N S Y S T E M S
Embedded PCs For Extreme Environments
PC-500 User’s Manual
5170 (0403)

DiskOnChip®isaregisteredtrademarkofM-Systems. MicroPC™,PCSmartLink™,
OctagonSystemsCorporation®,theOctagonlogoandtheMicroPClogoaretrademarks
ofOctagonSystemsCorporation. QuickBASIC®isaregisteredtrademarkofMicrosoft
Corporation. QNX®isaregisteredtrademarkofQNXSoftwareSystemsLtd.
ROM-DOS™isatrademarkofDatalight. Windows™andWindowsNT™aretrade-
marksofMicrosoftCorporation. PICOFA™isatrademarkofPhoenixTechnologies
Ltd.
Copyright 1997, 1998, 2003—Octagon Systems Corporation. All rights reserved.
However, any part of this document may be reproduced, provided that Octagon
Systems Corporation is cited as the source. The contents of this manual and the
specifications herein may change without notice.
Theinformationcontainedinthismanualisbelievedtobecorrect. However,Octagon
assumesnoresponsibilityforanyofthecircuitsdescribedherein,conveysnolicense
underanypatentorotherright,andmakesnorepresentationsthatthecircuitsarefree
frompatentinfringement. Octagonmakesnorepresentationorwarrantythatsuch
applicationswillbesuitablefortheusespecifiedwithoutfurthertestingormodification.
OctagonSystemsCorporationgeneralpolicydoesnotrecommendtheuseofitsproducts
inlifesupportapplicationswherethefailureormalfunctionofacomponentmaydirectly
threatenlifeorinjury. ItisaConditionofSalethattheuserofOctagonproductsinlife
supportapplicationsassumesalltheriskofsuchuseandindemnifiesOctagonagainst
alldamage.
Technicalsupport: 303-426-4521
Telephone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
Web site: www.octagonsystems.com

PC-500 user’s manual Notice to user
IMPORTANT!
Please read the following section before installing your product:
Octagon’sproductsaredesignedtobehighinperformancewhileconsuming
verylittlepower. In order to maintainthisadvantage, CMOS circuitry is
used.
CMOSchipshavespecificneedsandsomespecialrequirementsthattheuser
mustbeawareof. Readthefollowingtohelpavoiddamagetoyourcardfrom
theuseofCMOSchips.
≡Using CMOS circuitry in industrial control
IndustrialcomputersoriginallyusedLSTTLcircuits. BecausemanyPC
componentsareusedinlaptopcomputers,ICmanufacturersareexclu-
sivelyusingCMOStechnology. BothTTLandCMOShavefailure
mechanisms,buttheyaredifferent. Describedbelowaresomeofthe
failureswhicharecommontoallmanufacturersofCMOSequipment.
However,muchoftheinformationhasbeenputinthecontextofthe
MicroPC.
Octagonhasdevelopedareliabledatabaseofcustomer-induced,field
failures. TheaverageMTBFofMicroPCcardsexceeds11years,yet
therearefailures. Mostfailureshavebeenidentifiedascustomer-
induced,butthereisasmallpercentagethatcannotbeidentified. As
expected,virtuallyallthefailuresoccurwhenbringingupthefirst
system. Onsubsequentsystems,thefailureratedropsdramatically.
nApproximately20%ofthereturnedcardsareproblem-free. These
cards,typically,havethewrongjumpersettingsorthecustomerhas
problemswiththesoftware. Thiscausesfrustrationforthecus-
tomerandincursatestingchargefromOctagon.
nOftheremaining 80% of thecards,90% of these cardsfaildueto
customermisuseandaccident. Customersoftencannotpinpointthe
causeofthemisuse.
nTherefore,72%ofthereturnedcardsaredamagedthroughsome
typeofmisuse. Oftheremaining 8%,Octagonisunabletodeter-
minethecauseofthefailureandrepairsthesecardsatnochargeif
theyareunderwarranty.

Notice to user PC-500 user’s manual
ThemostcommonfailuresonCPUcardsareovervoltageofthepower
supply,staticdischarge,anddamagetotheserialandparallelports.
Onexpansioncards,themostcommonfailuresarestaticdischarge,over
voltageofinputs,overcurrentofoutputs,andmisuseoftheCMOS
circuitrywithregardstopowersupplysequencing. Inthecaseofthe
videocards,themostcommonfailureistomiswirethecardtotheflat
paneldisplay. Miswiringcandamageboththecardandanexpensive
display.
nMultiple component failures -Thechanceofarandomcompo-
nentfailureisveryraresincetheaverageMTBFofanOctagoncard
is greater than 11 years. In a 7 year study, Octagon has never
foundasinglecasewheremultipleICfailureswerenotcausedby
misuseoraccident. Itisveryprobablethatmultiplecomponent
failuresindicatethattheywereuser-induced.
nTesting “dead” cards -Foracardthatis“completelynonfunc-
tional”,thereisasimpletesttodetermineaccidentalovervoltage,
reversevoltageorother“forced”currentsituations. Unplugthecard
fromthebusandremoveallcables. Usinganordinarydigital
ohmmeteronthe2,000ohmscale,measuretheresistancebetween
powerandground. Recordthisnumber. Reversetheohmmeter
leadsandmeasuretheresistanceagain.Iftheratiooftheresis-
tancesis2:1orgreater,faultconditionsmostlikelyhaveoccurred.
Acommoncauseismiswiringthepowersupply.
nImproper power causes catastrophic failure - If a card has had
reversepolarityorhighvoltageapplied,replacingafailedcompo-
nentisnotanadequatefix. Othercomponentsprobablyhavebeen
partiallydamagedorafailuremechanismhasbeeninduced. There-
fore,afailurewillprobablyoccurinthefuture. Forsuchcards,
Octagonhighlyrecommendsthatthesecardsbereplaced.
nOther over-voltage symptoms-Inover-voltagesituations,the
programmablelogicdevices,EPROMsandCPUchips,usuallyfailin
thisorder.Thefaileddevicemay behottothetouch. Itisusually
thecasethatonlyoneICwillbeoverheatedatatime.
nPower sequencing -ThemajorfailureofI/Ochipsiscausedbythe
externalapplicationofinputvoltagewhiletheMicroPCpowerisoff.
Ifyouapply 5V to the inputofa TTL chip with thepoweroff,noth-
ingwillhappen. Applyinga5VinputtoaCMOScardwillcausethe
currenttoflowthroughtheinputandoutthe5Vpowerpin. This
currentattemptstopowerupthecard. Mostinputsareratedat
25 mA maximum. When this is exceeded, the chip may be damaged.
nFailure on powerup -Evenwhenthereisnotenoughcurrentto
destroyaninputdescribedabove,thechipmaybedestroyedwhen
thepowertothecardisapplied. Thisis duetothefactthatthe
inputcurrentbiasestheICsothat itactsasaforwardbiaseddiode
onpowerup. Thistypeoffailureistypicalonserialinterfacechips.

PC-500 user’s manual Notice to user
nHot insertion -Pluggingcardsintothecardcagewiththepoweron
will usually not cause a problem. (Octagon urges that you do not
do this!) However,thecardmaybedamagediftherightsequence
ofpinscontactsasthecardispushedintothesocket. Thisusually
damagesbusdriverchipsandtheymaybecomehotwhenthepower
isapplied. Thisisoneofthemostcommonfailuresofexpansion
cards.
nTerminated backplanes-SomecustomerstrytouseMicroPC
cardsinbackplanesthathaveresistor/capacitorterminationnet-
works. CMOScardscannotbeusedwithterminationnetworks.
Generally,thecardswillfunctionerraticallyorthebusdriversmay
failduetoexcessiveoutputcurrents.
nExcessive signal lead lengths-Anothersourceoffailurethatwas
identifiedyearsagoatOctagonwasexcessiveleadlengthsondigital
inputs. Long leads act as an antenna to pick up noise. They can
alsoactasunterminatedtransmissionlines. When5Visswitch
ontoaline,itcreatesatransientwaveform. Octagonhasseen
submicrosecondpulsesof8Vormore. Thesolutionistoplacea
capacitor,forexample0.1µF,acrosstheswitchcontact. Thiswill
alsoeliminateradiofrequencyandotherhighfrequencypickup.
≡Avoiding damage to the heatsink/CPU
WARNING!
When handling any Octagon CPU card, extreme care must be
taken not to strike the heatsink against another object, such
as a table edge. Also, be careful not to drop the CPU card,
since this may cause damage to the heatsink/CPU as well.
Epoxy adhesive bonds the heatsink to the CPU chip. When
the heatsink is struck, the epoxy adhesive does not allow the
heatsink to separate from the chip. The force of the blow to
the heatsink then causes the legs of the CPU chip to separate
from the PCB. This force damages both the CPU chip and
the PCB.
Note AnyphysicaldamagetotheCPUcontrolcardisnotcoveredunder
warranty.

Notice to user PC-500 user’s manual

iii
PC-500 user’s manual Contents
Contents
Abbreviations and terms used in this manual ............................................ xiii
Conventions used in this manual .....................................................................xv
About this manual
Overview: Section 1 – Installation
Chapter 1: Overview ........................................................................................... 1-1
Description.......................................................................................................1-1
PC-500majorhardwarefeatures .................................................................. 1-1
CPU .........................................................................................................1-1
Up to 48 MB DRAM ...............................................................................1-1
Solid-statedisks .....................................................................................1-2
SerialportsprotectedagainstESD ...................................................... 1-3
LocalbusSVGA,flatpanelinterface,andGUIaccelerator ............... 1-3
Adjustabledisplaybiassupply .............................................................1-3
IndustrialI/OusingEZI/O...................................................................1-4
Speaker,keyboard,andmouseports .................................................... 1-4
PC/10416-bitinterface..........................................................................1-4
Ethernet..................................................................................................1-4
SCSI ........................................................................................................1-4
PC-500majorsoftwarefeatures .................................................................... 1-5
Advancedpowermanagementandsystemmanagementinput ........1-5
Diagnosticsoftwareverifiessystemintegrityautomatically ............. 1-5
SETUPinformationstoredinEEPROMforhighreliability.............. 1-5
PhoenixBIOS .........................................................................................1-6
“InstantDOS”operatingsystem ..........................................................1-6
ProgrammablevideoBIOS.................................................................... 1-6
On-boardflashfilesystem.....................................................................1-6
OctagonBIOSextensions......................................................................1-6
Interruptrouting: Insystemandprogrammable...............................1-6
Floppyandharddiskports ................................................................... 1-6
Bootsequence .........................................................................................1-7
Multifunctionalprinterport .................................................................. 1-7
Watchdogtimeraddedforsafety .......................................................... 1-7
Realtimecalendar/clockwithbattery-backup .................................... 1-7
I/Oconnectors.........................................................................................1-7
KeypadandLCDdisplaysupportforlowcostoperator interface ..... 1-7
Hardwarereset.......................................................................................1-8
5Voltoperationlowerssystemcost ...................................................... 1-8
Ruggedenvironmentaloperation ......................................................... 1-8
Size ..........................................................................................................1-8
Chapter 2: Quick start ....................................................................................... 2-1
InstallingthePC-500 .....................................................................................2-1
Referencedesignators.....................................................................................2-6
PC-500powersupplyrequirements .............................................................. 2-8
Runningademoprogram...............................................................................2-9
Logonmessage .......................................................................................2-9
What’snext....................................................................................................2-10

iv
Contents PC-500 user’s manual
Chapter 3: SETUP programs ............................................................................ 3-1
Introduction.....................................................................................................3-1
SETUP .............................................................................................................3-1
RunningSETUPovertheconsoleport ................................................ 3-4
SETUPexample.....................................................................................3-8
SETSSD ...........................................................................................................3-9
PMISETUP......................................................................................................3-9
SETIRQ.EXE...................................................................................................3-9
Chapter 4: Save and run programs ................................................................ 4-1
Saveand run yourprograms on thePC-500 ................................................4-1
Savingprogramsandsupportfiles ................................................................ 4-1
Addingyourapplication ........................................................................ 4-2
Autoexecutingyourapplication ............................................................ 4-2
Overridingtheautoexecutionofyourapplication...............................4-2
Overview: Section 2 – Hardware
Chapter 5: Serial ports....................................................................................... 5-1
Description.......................................................................................................5-1
Serialportoptions...........................................................................................5-1
Descriptionofserialports ..............................................................................5-2
ConflictingCOMportaddresses ...........................................................5-2
COM1 ......................................................................................................5-2
COM2 ......................................................................................................5-3
COM3throughCOM5interrupt/statusport ....................................... 5-3
COM3 ......................................................................................................5-5
COM4 ......................................................................................................5-5
COM5 ......................................................................................................5-6
Nullmodemcable ...........................................................................................5-6
Matingreceptacle...................................................................................5-6
Buildingyourowncable ........................................................................5-7
Functionanduseofserialports .................................................................... 5-9
COM1asserialconsoledevice ..............................................................5-9
COM1 through COM4 as RS-232 I/O...................................................5-9
COM5asRS-485transmittercontrol ..................................................5-9
RS-485network.............................................................................................5-10
Chapter 6: LPT1 parallel port.......................................................................... 6-1
LPT1parallelport ..........................................................................................6-1
Printer..............................................................................................................6-1
Installingaprinter ................................................................................6-1
Display .............................................................................................................6-2
Installingadisplay ................................................................................6-2
Keypad .............................................................................................................6-2
Installingakeypad ................................................................................6-2
Optorack .........................................................................................................6-3
Chapter 7: Console devices ............................................................................... 7-1
Description.......................................................................................................7-1
Selectingconsoledevices ................................................................................7-1
LocalbusSVGA .....................................................................................7-1
Serialconsole..........................................................................................7-1
Keyboard.................................................................................................7-3

v
PC-500 user’s manual Contents
Speaker ...................................................................................................7-3
Mouse ......................................................................................................7-3
Enabling/disablingthevideoBIOS ...............................................................7-3
Re-establishingcommunicationswhentheconsoleisnotworking ...7-5
Chapter 8: SSDs, DRAM, and battery backup ............................................. 8-1
Description.......................................................................................................8-1
SSD0(optional) ...............................................................................................8-1
SelectingSSD0devicetype ................................................................... 8-1
SSD0replacedwithanSRAMdevice............................................................ 8-1
SSD0replacedwithaflashdevice................................................................. 8-2
SelectinganSSDBIOS .........................................................................8-2
SSD0replacedwithanEPROM/OTPROM .........................................8-3
SSD1.................................................................................................................8-3
DRAM...............................................................................................................8-3
BatterybackupforSSD0SRAMandrealtimecalendar clock ................... 8-4
InstallinganATbattery ........................................................................ 8-4
Chapter 9: External drives................................................................................ 9-1
Description.......................................................................................................9-1
Floppydiskcontroller .....................................................................................9-1
Powerrequirements...............................................................................9-1
Installingafloppydiskdrive ................................................................ 9-1
Harddiskcontroller ........................................................................................ 9-2
BootingwithROM-DOS ................................................................................. 9-2
Chapter 10: IRQ routing and opto IRQs......................................................10-1
Interruptrouting...........................................................................................10-1
OptoIRQs ......................................................................................................10-3
Interruptroutingmatrixdefaults ...............................................................10-3
Programming.................................................................................................10-3
Masterdisable ...............................................................................................10-4
Chapter 11: EZ I/O .............................................................................................11-1
Description.....................................................................................................11-1
PullingtheI/Olineshighorlow ..................................................................11-2
Organizationofports ....................................................................................11-2
Portaddressing ....................................................................................11-3
BaseI/Oaddress ..................................................................................11-3
ConfiguringandprogrammingtheEZI/Oports........................................11-4
ProgrammingtheEZI/O.....................................................................11-4
ConfiguringtheEZI/O ........................................................................11-4
WritingandreadingfromEZI/O .......................................................11-5
EZI/Ooutputprogramexamples .......................................................11-5
EZI/Oinputprogramexamples .........................................................11-6
EnhancedINT17hfunctiondefinitions......................................................11-6
InitializeEZI/O ...................................................................................11-6
WriteEZI/O .........................................................................................11-7
ReadEZI/O ..........................................................................................11-8
Opto-modulerackinterface ..........................................................................11-9
Interfacingtoswitchesandotherdevices .................................................11-11
Chapter 12: LED signaling and “beep” codes ............................................12-1
Description.....................................................................................................12-1