Manual page for BOARDS.PC(5)
boards.pc - information about AT- and XT-compatible boards for DOS windows
SYNOPSIS
/etc/dos/defaults/boards.pc
AVAILABILITY
Available only on Sun 386i systems running a SunOS 4.0.x
release or earlier. Not a SunOS 4.1 release feature.
DESCRIPTION
The
boards.pc
file stores information about
AT-
and
XT-compatible
boards installed on a system.
Only the super-user may alter the file.
The file format is as follows, with entries separated by
SPACE
or
TAB
characters:
-
Board-name I/O port range IRQ DMA Memory Options
- Board-name
-
The name of the board as it will appear in the
DOS
Windows Device menu.
Use any name that is not longer than 19 characters.
- I/O port range
-
Most boards have
I/O
addresses through which they exchange
information with the workstation.
For boards that will be used by
DOS,
the
I/O
address is entered in the
boards.pc
file, directly to the right of the board name.
Certain
I/O
addresses are already used by
DOS
Windows emulated devices (such as drive C and the
DOS
printers), and by built-in system hardware.
The following list shows the
AT-bus
I/O
address spaces:
Address DOS Use
1F8-1FF * Hard disk (C:) emulation
218-21F Expanded memory
230-23F Bus mouse emulation
278-27F Parallel port 2 (usually accessed through LPT3)
378-37F * Parallel port 1 (usually accessed through LPT2)
3B0-3BF Monochrome display adapter
3D0-3DF Color display adapter
3F0-3F7 * Diskette controller
-
-
An address marked with an asterisk cannot be replaced
by a board.
When the board you are installing uses one
of these addresses, or it uses the same
address as another board that is already
installed, change the jumpers or switch settings
on your board to use a different address.
If you add a board that
occupies one of these address spaces,
DOS
ignores the entry.
An address not marked with an asterisk
may be used for a board you are installing,
as long as you do not plan to use the emulated
device at that address.
Adding an I/O Address Entry to boards.pc:
If the board uses addresses that can be contained within one
eight-address block, note the block base address and
include it in the
I/O port range
column of the
boards.pc
file.
When using a multiple-block address, specify the base
address of each block.
For example, when entering a two-block
address, specify the base addresses of both
the first and second blocks, and
separated with a
SPACE
character.
Suppose you have a board with a two-block I/O address space that
begins at 380.
You would specify 380 388 in the
boards.pc
file's
I/O port range
column.
- IRQ
-
Some boards send periodic signals asking
DOS
to delay whatever it is doing
and accept information from the device.
These signals are known as
interrupt requests,
or more simply, as
interrupts.
The following chart shows the interrupt levels available under
DOS
Windows.
Valid interrupt levels are 1 to 15,
although some of these are reserved for emulated
DOS
devices.
-
Interrupt
Level Availability
0 Unavailable; used for timer emulation
1 Unavailable; used for keyboard emulation
2 Unavailable; used for interrupt controller 2 cascade
3 Available for board, unless COM2 emulation in use
(specified in setup.pc)
4 Available for board, unless COM1 emulation in use
(specified in setup.pc)
5 Available for board, unless LPT3 emulation in use
(specified in setup.pc)
6 Unavailable; used for diskette drive emulation
7 Unavailable; used by built-in parallel port
8 Unavailable; used for real-time clock emulation
9 Available for board
10 Available for board
11 Available for board
12 Available for board
13 Unavailable; used for 8087 numeric coprocessor emulation
14 Unavailable; used for hard disk emulation
15 Available for board
-
-
To ensure that signals do not become confused,
set each board or emulated device that uses
interrupts for a different interrupt level.
Normally, interrupt settings are changed by
pressing small switches or moving metal
jumpers on the board itself.
Consult the manual of the board you are installing
for details on how this is done.
In addition to the changes required on the
board itself, make sure that the interrupt level in your
boards.pc
file matches the setting on the card.
For example, if a board's physical
interrupt was previously 3,
and you change it to 4 by altering switch settings
or board jumpers, make a corresponding change in the
boards.pc
file.
If the card uses a
DOS
driver, you may also need to make changes in
C:or other files to reflect the switch settings on the card.
Adding an Interrupt Entry to boards.pc
Some boards do not generate interrupts, and therefore will not
have an interrupt level listed in their manuals.
If this is the case, leave the
IRQ
column empty.
For boards where an interrupt level is required,
enter the letters
irq
followed by the appropriate number in the
boards.pc
file, as shown in
EXAMPLES
below.
- DMA
-
Certain boards use direct memory access
(DMA)
channels to ensure speedy transfer of large
quantities of data.
DMA
channels 0, 1, 3, and 5 are available.
Each
DOS
or SunOS
DMA
board on the system must be assigned a unique
DMA
channel.
When two or more boards expect to use
DMA
channel 1, physically alter
DMA
settings on one of the boards so that
it uses a different channel (such as
DMA
channel 3).
Normally these settings are changed
by pressing small switches or
moving metal jumpers on the board itself.
Consult the manual for the board
you are installing for details on changing a
DMA
channel setting.
Adding a
DMA
Entry to boards.pc
When the board you are installing uses a
DMA
channel, include a
dma
entry for that board.
For example, when the board is set up to use
DMA
channel 3, the entry can look like this:
-
MYBOARD 200 208 irq 2 dma 3
- Memory
-
Some boards are equipped with memory chips for
DOS.
Because this memory is ``mapped'' (transferred) into
DOS
memory so that
DOS
can read it, the boards are called
memory mapped boards.
When you install such a board, include a
mem
entry with the following format:
-
mem
address size
-
-
The
address
is the starting address of the memory segment, in
hexadecimal notation.
Enter the size of the memory block in
kilobytes, in decimal notation.
The following example is for
a board that starts mapped memory
at the address $DE00 and
uses a block of 8 kilobytes.
-
MYBOARD 258 irq 5 dma 3 mem de00 8
-
-
When determining the size of the memory block, be careful not to confuse
DOS
address size (the number you should use) with actual on-board memory (the
number you should not use).
For example, a
LIM
memory board might have 2 megabytes of on-board memory, yet may require
only 64 kilobytes of
DOS
address space for its memory mapping.
Therefore, the number to use for the
mem
entry is 64.
- Options
-
- reboot
-
Certain boards require
DOS
rebooting before they work.
These same boards require that you reboot
DOS
after you have finished using them.
You can set up
DOS
to reboot the current
DOS
window automatically whenever the board is attached.
DOS
displays a confirmatory alert before rebooting.
To force
DOS
to reboot when you attach the board, add the word
reboot
at the end of the
boards.pc
line for that board, as shown in the following example:
-
MYBOARD 3e8 mem a000 192 reboot
-
-
If you choose to omit the
reboot
instruction, you can enable the board by attaching it and then manually
rebooting:
-
1. Choose Attached from the Device menu to enable the board.
2. Choose Reboot DOS Window.
-
-
To detach such a board from a
DOS
window, choose
Detach
and then reboot the
DOS
window.
- shared
-
You can specify that a device is to be shared between windows,
rather than being reserved for use by one window at a time.
Generally, you should do this only with devices, such as joysticks, which
can fluidly move from one
DOS
window to another.
To designate a device as shared, place the word
shared
at the very end of the
boards.pc
line:
-
Joystick 200 shared
Determining Board Information
In many cases, you may need to determine whether a board you are
installing will conflict with other devices on the system.
Also, you
sometimes may need to install a board for which there is no entry
in the
boards.pc
file.
In most cases, the instruction manual included with the board
you are installing should contain the technical information you need, including:
-
The
I/O
port addresses at which the board is accessed.
One or more blocks can be reserved,
and there are eight consecutive
addresses per block.
The board's interrupt level,
if the board generates interrupts.
The
DMA
channel number, if the board uses a direct memory access channel.
Memory mapping information, if the board maps data into
DOS
memory.
If the board's manual does not provide such information, contact
the manufacturer.
EXAMPLES
The following is an example of a
boards.pc
file:
#COM2 2f8 irq 3
#Joystick 200 shared
#EGA 3b0 3b8 3c0 3c8 3d0 3d8 mem a000 192 reboot
#VGA 3b0 3b8 3c0 3c8 3d0 3d8 102 2e8 mem a000 192
#3COM-3C501 300 308 irq 3 dma 1
#TOPS-FlashTalk 398 irq 3
#IBM-3363-Worm 258 irq 5 dma 3 mem de00 8 reboot
#Plus-Hardcard20 320 irq 5 dma 3 mem ca00 8 reboot
#HP-Basic 390 irq 3
#DCA-IRMA1 220 228
#DCA-IRMA2 220 228 280 288
#Bernoulli-A220H 350 reboot
#WD8003E 280 288 290 298 irq 5 mem d000 8
#NI5210 360 irq 5 mem c000 16
#NIC irq 5 mem d000 32
#LPT2 278 irq 5
FILES
- /usr/lib/help/*/*
-
SEE ALSO
dos.1
setup.pc.5
Sun386i Advanced Skills
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97
