Copyright: Compiled by jcc


Contents
    The Hardware FAQ

Copyright

Table of Contents:

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Motherboards

3.0 IO controllers/interfaces

4.0 Storage/Retrieval Devices

5.0 Video

6.0 Systems

7.0 Diagnostics

8.0 Misc

9.0 References

10.0 Acknowledgments

* = no kind person gave a answer yet . . .

List of phone numbers.

List of hard drives.

Some pinouts.


Index Introduction
Introduction

Q) 1.1  What does this FAQ cover?

Q) 1.2  Where can I find the latest copy of this FAQ?

Q) 1.3  Is it ok to (sell/buy/job-offer/advertise) things here?

Q) 1.4  Where should I post?

Q) 1.5  How come no one answers my questions?

Q) 1.6  What are the going prices for...?

Q) 1.7  Who makes/Where can I find [some obscure piece of hardware]?

Q) 1.8  What is the history of the IBM PC?


Index Motherboards
Motherboards

Q) 2.1  What are the differences between the 80x86 CPUs?

Q) 2.2  How do I pick the right processor?

Q) 2.3  What is the difference between the 386SX/386DX and 486SX/486DX?

Q) 2.4  What is a ZIF socket?

Q) 2.5  What is over clocking and should I do it?

Q) 2.6  Which is faster, a DX-50 or DX2-66

Q) 2.7  *What is the P24T/Overdrive?

Q) 2.8  What are the differences between the 80x87 co-processors?

Q) 2.9  Would a math co-processor speed up my machine?

Q) 2.10  Can I use a x387 with my 486?

Q) 2.11  Memory terminology, what does it mean?

Q) 2.12  What happen to my 384k?

Q) 2.13  How do I tell how big/fast my SIMMs are?

Q) 2.14  What speed SIMMs do I need?

Q) 2.15  Will 9 chip and 3 chip SIMMs work together?

Q) 2.16  What are "single-sided" and "double-sided" 72-pin SIMMs?

Q) 2.17  Can I use Mac or PS/2 SIMMs in my PC?

Q) 2.18  What do wait states and burst rates in my BIOS mean?

Q) 2.19  Cache terminology, what does it mean?

Q) 2.20  How do I upgrade the size of my cache?

Q) 2.21  Do I need to fill the "dirty tag" RAM socket on my motherboard?

Q) 2.22  How fast do my cache RAMs have to be?

Q) 2.23  Which is the best cache policy, write-through or "write-back?"

Q) 2.24  What about an n-way set associative cache, isn't it better?

Q) 2.25  Which is better, ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI/etc?

Q) 2.26  *What are the (dis)advantages of ISA/VLB/EISA SCSI?

Q) 2.27  Will an ISA card work in an MCA (PS/2) machine?

Q) 2.28  *What does the "chip set" do?

Q) 2.29  How do I enter the CMOS configuration menu?

Q) 2.30  What is bus mastering and how do I know if I have it?

Q) 2.31  Can I put an ISA cards in EISA or VLB slots?

Q) 2.32  How should I configure ISA/VLB cards in the EISA config utility?

Q) 2.33  What is the difference between EISA Standard and Enhanced modes?

Q) 2.34  Is there any point in putting more than 16M in an ISA machine?

Q) 2.35  What disadvantages are there to the HiNT EISA chip set?

Q) 2.36  *Should I change the ISA bus speed?

Q) 2.37  Why is my PC's clock so inaccurate?

Q) 2.38  How can I automatically set my PC's clock to the correct time?

Q) 2.39  What is the battery for and how do I replace it?

Q) 2.40  Can I use IRQ2 or is it special?

Q) 2.41  Where do all the IRQ's go?


Index IO controllers/interfaces
IO controllers/interfaces

Q) 3.1  *How do IDE/MFM/RLL/ESDI/SCSI interfaces work?

Q) 3.2  *How can I tell if I have MFM/RLL/ESDI/IDE/SCSI?

Q) 3.3  Do caching controllers really help?

Q) 3.4  Do IDE controllers use DMA?

Q) 3.5  Why won't my two IDE drives work together?

Q) 3.6  Which is better, VLB or ISA IDE?

Q) 3.7  How do I install a second controller?

Q) 3.8  Which is better, SCSI or IDE?

Q) 3.9  Can MFM/RLL/ESDI/IDE and SCSI coexist?

Q) 3.10  What's the difference between SCSI and SCSI-2? Are they compatible?

Q) 3.11  Can I share SCSI devices between computers?

Q) 3.12  What is Thermal Recalibration?

Q) 3.13  How do I swap A: and B:

Q) 3.14  My floppy drive doesn't work and the light remains on, why?

Q) 3.15  What is a 16550 and do I need one?

Q) 3.16  *Are there any >4 serial port cards?

Q) 3.17  Should I buy an internal or external modem?

Q) 3.18  What do all of the modem terms mean?

Q) 3.19  What kinds of sound cards are avalable?

Q) 3.20  Where can I find EISA/VLB sound and IO cards?

Q) 3.21  How does the keyboard interface work?

Q) 3.22  Can I fake a keyboard so my computer will boot without it?


Index Storage/Retrieval Devices
Storage/Retrieval Devices

Q) 4.1  Why do I lose x Meg on my hard drive?

Q) 4.2  *Should I get an IDE/floppy/SCSI/parallel port tape drive?

Q) 4.3  I have two floppies. Can I add a floppy based tape drive?

Q) 4.4  How fast is a tape drive? Will a dedicated controller improve this?

Q) 4.5  What is QIC80, QIC40?

Q) 4.6  How come I can't fit as much stuff on my tape drive as they claim?

Q) 4.7  Are Colorado/Conner/Archive/... tapes compatible with each other?

Q) 4.8  How does the drive/software know how long the tape is?

Q) 4.9  What are all those QICs?

Q) 4.10  Which QICs are read/write compatible?

Q) 4.11  What is the CMOS/jumper setting for my hard drive?


Index Video
Video

Q) 5.1  Can I use two video cards in the same system?

Q) 5.2  *What kinds of monitors are available?

Q) 5.3  *Can I get an RGB monitor to work with my PC?

Q) 5.4  *How can I hook more than one monitor to my video card?

Q) 5.5  *Which video card is best for DOS/Windows/X11/OS2?

Q) 5.6  *What is the black horizontal line on my monitor?


Index Systems
Systems

Q) 6.1  *What should I upgrade first?

Q) 6.2  Do I need a CPU fan / heat sink

Q) 6.3  What does the turbo switch do?

Q) 6.4  How does the front panel LED display measure the system's speed?

Q) 6.5  Should I turn my computer/monitor off?

Q) 6.6  Are there any manufacturers/distributers who read the net?


Index Diagnostics
Diagnostics

Q) 7.1  What do the POST beeps mean?

Q) 7.2  What do the POST codes mean?

Q) 7.3  *I think my cache is bad. What's a good diagnostic?


Index Misc
Misc

Q) 8.1  What is the pin out for ...?

Q) 8.2  *Where are benchmark programs located. What do they mean?

Q) 8.3  What is Plug and Play?

Q) 8.4  What size should I set my DOS partitions to be?

Q) 8.5  Why won't my system boot from the hard drive?

Q) 8.6  How do I clean my computer?

Q) 8.7  *What OS's are available for the PC? Which are free?

Q) 8.8  *How can I transfer files between my PC and a Unix system?

Q) 8.9  What tape backup software is available?

Q) 8.10  Why doesn't my new device work as fast as it should?

Q) 8.11  My drive lists a MTBF of 300,000 hours. Will it really last 34 years?

Q) 8.12  How do I find pin 1 on my chip/card/cable/connector?

Q) 8.13  I've run out of power connectors, what can I do?


Index References
References

Q) 9.1  What other FAQ's are out there?

Q) 9.2  What do the industry acronyms stand for?

Q) 9.3  Where can I get the ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI/etc specs?

Q) 9.4  What books are available for the PC architecture?

Q) 9.5  What books are available on network programming?

Q) 9.6  What's the phone number for...


 Copyright

The comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.* Frequently Asked Questions is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.  No author or distributor accepts responsibility to anyone for the consequences of using it or for whether it serves any particular purpose or works at all, unless he says so in writing.  Refer to the GNU General Public License for full details.

Everyone is granted permission to copy, modify and redistribute this FAQ, but only under the conditions described in the GNU General Public License.  Among other things, the copyright notice and this notice must be preserved on all copies.

Where section authors are noted, the copyright is held by that author.  Where no author is noted, the copyright is held by the FAQ editors Willie Lim (wlim@lehman.com) and Ralph Valentino (ralf@wpi.wpi.edu).

Changes, additions, comments, suggestions and questions to:

Ralph Valentino	ralf@wpi.edu

The FAQ ( 1994/11/10) was converted to this help file by:

Jean-Claude Cuenat	jcc@ezinfo.vmsmail.ethz.ch


 Introduction

Q) 1.1  What does this FAQ cover?

This FAQ covers Frequently Asked Questions from all groups in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.* hierarchy.  Software topics are only included if they are directly related to hardware or hardware interfacing.

Q) 1.2  Where can I find the latest copy of this FAQ?

If you haven't done so, new users on the net should read news.announce.newusers. In particular, the following posts are a good idea:

A Primer on How to Work With The Usenet Community

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Usenet

Hints on Writing Style for Usenet

Introduction to The *.answers Groups

This FAQ is currently posted to news.answers, comp.answers,

comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips,

comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc,

comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage,

comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems, and comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video.

All posts to news.answers are archived and are available via anonymous

FTP, uucp and e-mail from the following locations:

FTP:

FTP is a way of copying file between networked computers. If you need help in using or getting started with FTP, send e-mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with

send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq

as the body of the message.

location:  rtfm.mit.edu [18.70.0.224]

directory: /pub/usenet/news.answers/pc-hardware-faq

filenames: part1 to part5

location:  ftp.uu.net [137.39.1.9]

directory: /archive/usenet/news.answers/pc-hardware-faq

filenames: part1.Z to part5.Z [use uncompress]

location:  nic.switch.ch [130.59.1.40]

directory: info_service/Usenet/periodic-postings

filenames: [Check info_service/Usenet/00index]

UUCP:

location:  uunet!/archive/usenet/news.answers/pc-hardware-faq/

filenames: part1.Z to part5.Z

E-mail:

Send email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu containing these lines:

send usenet/news.answers/pc-hardware-faq/part1

send usenet/news.answers/pc-hardware-faq/part5

You can find a dozen or more sites in the US, Europe and Japan that store the FAQ and archives for this various newsgroups by using the Internet search programs, Archie or Wais.


Where to sell, buy and where to post
 Introduction

Q) 1.3  Is it ok to (sell/buy/job-offer/advertise) things here?

No, none of the above fit within the charter of the comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.* hierarchy, therefore such posts are considered unacceptable.  For buying/selling things, use groups with the words 'wanted' or 'forsale', and for job offers, use groups with the words 'jobs'.  All of these can be found in the misc.* hierarchy.  For commercial advertisements, use only the biz.* hierarchy as per the guidelines of USENET.  (refer to the news.* groups for more information).

Q) 1.4  Where should I post?

[From: grohol@alpha.acast.nova.edu (John M. Grohol)]

This Pointer will help you find the information you need and get your questions answered much quicker than if you were to simply crosspost to every hardware newsgroup in existence. It is provided as a public service. Post your article in the most appropriate newsgroup according to its topic.

Comments & suggestions are always welcome!

Question on...	Post to...

----------------------------------	--------------------------------

Networking/networks 	comp.sys.novell

comp.dcom.lans.* (where * equals:ethernet; fddi; misc; token-ring)

comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc

comp.os.os2.networking.misc

comp.os.os2.networking.tcpip

PC Networking

hardware/cards/cables	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.networking

Servers	comp.dcom.servers

Modems	comp.dcom.modems

Printers	comp.periphs.printers

SCSI devices	comp.periphs.scsi

Other peripherals	comp.periphs

PCMCIA devices	alt.periphs.pcmcia

----------------------------------	--------------------------------

Dell users & support	alt.sys.pc-clone.dell

Gateway 2000 users 	alt.sys.pc-clone.gateway2000

Zeos users & sypport	alt.sys.pc-clone.zeos

----------------------------------	--------------------------------

Technical topics on soundcards    	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech

Advocacy of soundcards	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.advocacy

Using soundcards with games	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.games

Music & sound using soundcards	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.music

Soundcards in general 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc

----------------------------------	--------------------------------

Non-commercial sale of hardware	misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone

Commercial sale of hardware	biz.computers.hardware

----------------------------------	--------------------------------

Monitors/video cards	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video

Modems/fax cards/comm questions 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm

Hard/floppy/tape drives & media  	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

CD-ROM drives & interfaces 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom

Computer vendors & specific system	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems

System chips/RAM chips/cache   	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips

----------------------------------	--------------------------------

Other hardware questions	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc

---------------------------------	--------------------------------

This Pointer may be duplicated or retransmitted in any form as long as it remains fully intact. Copyright retained by author.

Send comments/questions/suggestions regarding this Subject Pointer

to John M. Grohol (grohol@alpha.acast.nova.edu).

Q) 1.5  How come no one answers my questions?

If you don't give enough information when asking your question, then people will not be able to answer it.  If you're not willing to take the time to look up the necessary information, then why should you expect people to take the time to answer your question?  For instance, if you're asking a question about SCSI, it is very important to know what type of SCSI host adapter (controller) you have. Some other important things to mention are which device drivers/tsr's you are loading, what other similar devices you have in your system, and exactly what in your setup has changed since it last worked.

Q) 1.6  What are the going prices for...?

If you're looking for new equipment, pick up a copy of Computer Shopper.  This is the "bible" for buying new equipment.  Skim through it for the best prices and give these distributers a call.  In most cases, the advertisements must be placed months in advance; the actual price may be even lower than the advertised price!  Two other things to note are the warranty, return policy and location of the company (companies within the same state as you may be required to add extra sales taxes).

If you're looking for the expected price of used equipment, then scan the newsgroup misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone for similar items.  This will give you the best idea as what to expect.  Don't make assumptions that the price of used equipment will follow the market trends of new equipment.  For instance, when new memory prices nearly doubled, the used prices were barely effected.

Q) 1.7  Who makes/Where can I find [some obscure piece of hardware]?

[From: uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod (Ron Bean)]

You can ask on the net, but you'll get a better response if you do some investigating on your own first. Try calling vendors who advertise similar or related hardware, they often have things that aren't in the ads. Vendors who specialize in parts rather than complete systems are a good bet. You can also ask local dealers to check their wholesale sources.


History of the IBM PC
Introduction

Q) 1.8  What is the history of the IBM PC?

[From:]

Around 1978 and '79, the market served by IBM's Data Entry Systems division began to change.  Instead of terminals and minicomputers or mainframes, customers began demanding autonomous, low cost, single-user computers with minimal compute power or connectivity, but compliance to standards like the ASCII alphabet and the BASIC programming language.  The closest product in IBM's line was the 5110, a closed, BASIC-in-ROM machine with a tiny built-in character display.  The 5110 was uncompetitive, and IBM started losing bids from key customers, mostly government agencies.

Data Entry commissioned a consulting firm (Boca Associates?) to design a stop-gap machine to fill what was perceived within IBM as a short-lived, specialized niche.  It was intended that the stop-gap machine would only be offered for a couple of years until it would be replaced in "The Product Line" by an internal IBM design.  Some IBM executives believed the single-user desktop system was a fad which would die out when the shortcomings of such systems became appreciated.

The motherboard design was based very closely on a single-board computer described in a 1978 (?) Intel application note.  (Anybody got an original copy of this collector's item?  Among other things, Intel argues that 640KB is more memory than single-user applications will ever need, because of the efficiency of segmented memory "management"!)  The expansion slot "bus" is based on an Intel bus called Multibus 1, which Intel introduced in its microprocessor software development equipment in the mid '70s.  The Monochrome and Color Graphics Display Adapters are based on application notes for the Motorola 6845 video controller chip, except that the strangely interlaced pixel addresses in the CGA appears to have been extremely short sighted.  The "event driven" keyboard is an original design, but the concept is from the Xerox Alto and Star graphics workstations.  The keyboard noise and "feel" are intended to emulate those of the IBM Selectric typewriter.  The Cassette Interface design is original, but similar in concept to the one on the Radio Shack TRS-80.

Data Entry Division approached Digital Research Inc. to offer its popular CP/M-86 operating system on the machine, but DRI rebuffed them.  IBM's second choice was BASIC-in-ROM vendor Microsoft, which had no OS product at the time but quickly purchased a crude disk operating system called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products to offer it to IBM.  Its command interpreter was an imitation of Unix' Bourne Shell, with the special characters changed to avoid infringing AT&T's rights.

Data Entry Division began bidding this system in various State procurements, without any plan to offer it to the public.

It became obvious that the Cassette Interface and optional 360KB Flexible Disk Drive were inadequate.  The Cassette Interface was dropped, and an optional Fixed Disk Drive offered on a revised model known as the IBM Personal Computer XT.  (A fixed, or "hard" disk had been offered on the PC by special order, with a Xebec controller, but few were sold.)  The disk controller was designed around the Western Digital 1010 chip, and its design is taken directly from a WD application note.

The XT succeeded beyond all expectations.  IBM offered the system to the public after it became clear that no other division was going to come up with anything timely.  IBM published complete schematics and ROM listings, encouraging clones.

In 1984, IBM introduced an upwardly compatible model based on the Intel 80286.  The expansion slot "bus" was extended to 16-bit data path width the same way Intel had extended Multibus: by adding data and address bits, a signal for boards to announce their capability to perform 16-bit transfers, and byte swapping on the motherboard to support the 8-bit boards.


Motherboards
Motherboards: CPU

Q) 2.1  What are the differences between the 80x86 CPUs?

This section is posted separately as the "Personal Computer Chiplist" and archived along side this FAQ.  Refer to section one for instructions on retrieving this file.

Subject: Personal Computer CHIPLIST *.* (Part * / *)

From: offerman@einstein.et.tudelft.nl (A. Offerman)

Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips

Summary: This list contains the various CPU's and NPX's and their features,

used in the IBM PC, IBM PC/XT, IBM PC/AT, IBM PS/2 and compatbles,

and the differences between them.

Archive-name: pc-hardware-faq/chiplist/part*

Q) 2.2  How do I pick the right processor?

[From: jabram@ichips.intel.com (Jeff Abramson)]

This is a hard question.  You have tradeoffs between price, performance, compatibility, upgradebility, and power consumption.  As a desktop unit owner, you probably have less concerns about power, but as a laptop owner, this is very important.

The frequency of the CPU defines how fast its internal clock runs.  This defines how fast instructions are executed.  In many ways, this is meaningless, because a RISC machine (MIPS) running at 100MHz may in reality be slower than a 50Mhz i486 because a RISC system must execute more instructions to perform the same function (in some cases).  Even when comparing processors in the same family, this info can be misleading.  For example, an Intel486-25 is faster than an AMD386-40, since the 486 has microarchitectural advancements over the 386.  The same can be said for the Pentium, where a 66Mhz Pentium is twice as fast as a 66MHz 486.

For compatibility, keep in mind that the Intel parts are the basis for all of these processors.  Therefore you always run the risk that an imitator's part may not be compatible.  AMD chips are compatible because they are copied.  For some of you, these factors may be important.

As far as upgradability goes, this depends on both your motherboard and the processor.  If you purchase a 486DX, then you can upgrade to a DX2 and double your internal clock simply by buying an overdrive chip if your motherboard has the ZIF socket.  If it doesn't then you can replace the CPU with a DX2.  Many new 486 motherboards contain overdrive sockets for the not-yet-released Pentium chip that is pin compatible.

Q) 2.3  What is the difference between the 386SX/386DX and 486SX/486DX?

[From: jabram@ichips.intel.com (Jeff Abramson)]

The Intel386DX contains full 32 bit buses for external data, internal data, and address.  The Intel386SX contains a smaller 16 bit external data bus, and a smaller 24 bit address bus.

The Intel486DX contains a floating point unit, the Intel486SX does not.  A common rumor is that the 486SX is simply a DX part that has a failure in the floating point unit, so it has been disabled and the part has been produces as an SX.  This was true for early production parts and samples, but not for the mass produces SX parts that we see today.

Q) 2.4  What is a ZIF socket?

[From: jabram@ichips.intel.com (Jeff Abramson)]

ZIF stands for Zero Insertion Force, and describes a socket on your motherboard that supports an upgrade processor (overdrive processor).  In general, an overdrive upgrade works in conjunction with your original processor so you cannot remove the original processor after upgrade.  NOTE: Some motherboards do not have a ZIF socket so you must replace the existing processor to upgrade.

Q) 2.5  What is over clocking and should I do it?

[From: jabram@ichips.intel.com (Jeff Abramson)]

Overclocking is a term generally used to describe how you have increased the clock frequency on your board to run your system at a higher speed.  For example, if you plug a 25MHz i486 into a board that is configured to run a 33MHz i486, then you are overclocking your CPU.  Most boards allow you to configure your clocking via jumpers, and others require a new clock oscillator.

Although users have had success with overclocking, it is a dangerous practice for two reasons.  First, the chip has been designed to meet a certain speed.  Therefore, some circuits do not have the margin to operate at a higher frequency.  The chips coming from a wafer have various speed specs (statistical distribution), so you may be lucky and own a CPU that has the circuit margins you need to overclock.  But you don't know - and if you overclock, you may get data failure.  The data failure may be reproducable - and therefore avoidable, but most likely not.

Second, you have reliability concerns when overclocking.  Overclocking means faster frequency, which means more current and power.  This can lead to real failures in your CPU.  Electromigration is one such failure where metal lines in your CPU will actually break or connect if they get too much current.  This is irreversable, and most likely not covered under warranty.

So when can you overclock?  Really only if you don't care about burning out your CPU and you don't care if you get wrong data every now and then.  If you own a machine and you use it just for games, then overclocking may be something to try - and you simply upgrade to a new CPU when you burn out the current one.  Otherwise, it's not worth the small performance gain.

Q) 2.6  Which is faster, a DX-50 or DX2-66

The two processors are relatively close for overall usage.  The DX-50 has more I/O bandwidth and the DX2-66 has more computational power.

Q) 2.7  *What is the P24T/Overdrive?

Q) 2.8  What are the differences between the 80x87 co-processors?

See reference in: "What are the differences between the 80x86 CPUs?"

Q) 2.9  Would a math co-processor speed up my machine?

[From: jruchak@mtmis1.mis.semi.harris.com (John Anthony Ruchak)]

If you do a lot of number-crunching with CAD/CAM applications, spreadsheets, and the like, a math co-processor is likely to increase performance.  If on the other hand, your primary work is word processing, a math co-processor will have barely any effect at all.  Also, a math co-processor will not provide any benefit if your CPU already has one built-in (486/586-DX chips).  In addition, a math co-processor is not likely to improve the over-all performance of Microsoft Windows, except when you are running the afore-mentioned number-crunching programs.

Q) 2.10  Can I use a x387 with my 486?

[From: Shaun Burnett (burnesa@cat.com)]

No, they are not pin compatible.  The 486DX and above contain an on-chip floating point unit. Therefore, a 387 (SX or DX) math coprocessor is not needed.  All software written for a 387 coprocessor will run on your 486.

If you want a math coprocessor for a 486SX, you need to purchase the 487SX or a 486 Overdrive processor.

While we're talking about math coprocessors, I'll make a brief note about the Weitek.  Some motherboards may have a socket for a Weitek math coprocessor.  These coprocessors are not compatible with the Intel 387 math coprocessor and should only be used if your software requires it.  The Weitek 3167 replaced the Weitek 1167 and is for the 386 while the Weitek 4167 is for a 486.


Memory terminology
Motherboards: Memory

Q) 2.11  Memory terminology, what does it mean?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Read/write memory in computers is implemented using Random Access Memory chips (RAMs).  RAMs are also used to store the displayed image in a video board, to buffer frames in a network controller or sectors in a disk controller, etc.  RAMs are sold by their size (in bits), word width (how many bits can you access in one cycle), and access time (how fast you can read a location), among other characteristics.

SRAMs and DRAMs

RAMs can be classified into two types: "static" and "dynamic."

In a static RAM, each bit is represented by the state of a circuit with two stable states.  Such a "bistable" circuit can be built with four transistors (for maximum density) or six (for highest speed and lowest power).  Static RAMs (SRAMs) are available in many configurations.  (Almost) all SRAMs have one pin per address line, and all of them are able to store data for as long as power is applied, without any external circuit activity.

In a dynamic RAM (DRAM), each bit is represented by the charge on a *very* small (30-50 femptofarads) capacitor, which is built into a single, specialized transistor.  DRAM storage cells take only about a quarter of the silicon area that SRAM cells take, and silicon area translates into cost.

The cells in a DRAM are organized into rows and columns.  To access a bit, you first select its row, and then you select its column.  Unfortunately, the charge leaks off the capacitor over time, so each cell must be periodically "refreshed" by reading it and writing it back.  This happens automatically whenever a row is accessed.  After you're finished accessing a row, you have to give the DRAM time to copy the row of bits back to the cells: the "precharge" time.

Because the row and column addresses are not needed at the same time, they share the same pins.  This makes the DRAM package smaller and cheaper, but it makes the problem of distributing the signals in the memory array difficult, because the timing becomes so critical.  Signal integrity in the memory array is one of the things that differentiate a lousy motherboard from a high quality one.

SIMMs and SIPPs

Through the 1970s, RAMs were shipped in tubes, and the board makers soldered them into boards or plugged them into sockets on boards.  This became a problem when end-users started installing their own RAMs, because the leads ("pins") were too delicate.  Also, the individual dual in-line package (DIP) sockets took up too much board area.

In the early 1980s, DRAM manufacturers began offering DRAMs on tiny circuit boards which snap into special sockets, and by the late '80s these "single in-line memory modules" (SIMMs) had become the most popular DRAM packaging.  Board vendors who didn't trust the new SIMM sockets used modules with pins: single inline pinned packages (SIPPs), which plug into sockets with more traditional pin receptacles.

PC-compatibles store each byte in main memory with an associated check bit, or "parity bit."  That's why you add memory in multiples of nine bits.  The most common SIMMs present nine bits of data at each cycle (we say they're "nine bits wide") and have thirty contact pads, or "leads."  (The leads are commonly called "pins" in the trade, although "pads" is a more appropriate term.  SIMMs don't *have* pins!)

At the high end of the PC market, "36 bit wide" SIMMs with 72 pads are gaining popularity.  Because of their wide data path, 36-bit SIMMs give the motherboard designer more configuration options (you can upgrade in smaller chunks) and allow bandwidth-enhancing tricks (i.e. interleaving) which were once reserved for larger machines.  Another advantage of 72-lead SIMMs is that four of the leads are used to tell the motherboard how fast the RAMs are, so it can configure itself automatically.  (I do not know whether the current crop of motherboards takes advantage of this feature.)

"3-chip" and "9-chip" SIMMs

In 1988 and '89, when 1 megabit (1Mb) DRAMs were new, manufacturers had to pack nine RAMs onto a 1 megabyte (1MB) SIMM.  Now (1993) 4Mb DRAMs are the most cost-effective size.  So a 1MB SIMM can be built with two 4Mb DRAMs (configured 1M x4) plus a 1Mb (x1) for the check-bit.

VRAMs

In graphics-capable video boards, the displayed image is almost always stored in DRAMs.  Access to this data must be shared between the hardware which continuously copies it to the display device (this process is called "display refresh" or "video refresh") and the CPU.  Most boards do it by time-sharing ordinary, single-port DRAMs.  But the faster, more expensive boards use specialized DRAMs which are equipped with a second data port whose function is tailored to the display refresh operation.  These "Video DRAMs" (VRAMs) have a few extra pins and command a price premium.  They nearly double the bandwidth available to the CPU or graphics engine.

(As far as I know, the first dual-ported DRAMs were built by Four-Phase Systems Inc., in 1970, for use in their "IV-70" minicomputers, which had integrated video.  The major DRAM vendors started offering VRAMs in about 1983 [Texas Instruments was first], and workstation vendors snapped them up.  They made it to the PC trade in the late '80s.)

Speed

DRAMs are characterized by the time it takes to read a word, measured from the row address becoming valid to the data coming out.  This parameter is called Row Access Time, or tRAC.  There are many other timing parameters to a DRAM, but they scale with tRAC remarkably well.  tRAC is measured in nanoseconds (ns).  A nanosecond is one billionth (10 e-9) of a second.

It's so difficult to control the semiconductor fabrication processes, that the parts don't all come out the same.  Instead, their performance varies widely, depending on many factors.  A RAM design which would yield 50 ns tRAC parts if the fab were always tuned perfectly, instead yields a distribution of parts from 80 to 50.  When the plant is new, it may turn out mostly nominal 70 ns parts, which may actually deliver tRAC between 60.1 ns and 70.0 ns, at 70 or 85 degrees Celcius and 4.5 volts power supply.  As it gets tuned up, it may turn out mostly 60 ns parts and a few 50s and 70s.  When it wears out it may get less accurate and start yielding more 70s again.

RAM vendors have to test each part off the line to see how fast it is.  An accurate, at-speed DRAM tester can cost several million dollars, and testing can be a quarter of the cost of the parts.  The finished parts are not marked until they are tested and their speed is known.


Memory: SIMM
Motherboards: SIMM

Q) 2.12  What happen to my 384k?

The memory between 640k and 1Meg is used for the BIOS, the video aperture, and a number of other things.  With the proper memory manager, DOS can take advantage of it.  Many systems, however, won't identify its existence on boot.  This does not mean it isn't there.

Q) 2.13  How do I tell how big/fast my SIMMs are?

Individual DRAMs are marked with their speed after they are tested.  The mark is usually a suffix to the part number, representing tens of nanoseconds.  Thus, a 511024-7 on a SIMM is very likely a 70 ns DRAM.  (vendor numbering scheme table to be added)

Q) 2.14  What speed SIMMs do I need?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

There is no reliable formula for deriving the required RAM speed from the clock rate or wait states on the motherboard.  Do not buy a motherboard that doesn't come with a manual that clearly specifies what speed SIMMs are required at each clock rate.  You can always substitute *faster* SIMMs for the ones that were called out in the manual.  If you are investing in a substantial quantity of RAM, consider buying faster than you need on the chance you can keep it when you get a faster CPU.

That said, most 25 MHz and slower motherboards work fine with 80 ns parts, most 33 MHz boards and some 40 MHz boards were designed for 70 ns parts, and some 40 MHz boards and everything faster require 60 ns or faster.  Some motherboards allow programming extra wait states to allow for slower parts, but some of these designs do not really relax all the critical timing requirements by doing that.  It's much safer to use DRAMs that are fast enough for the no-wait or one-wait cycles at the top end of the motherboard's capabilities.

Q) 2.15  Will 9 chip and 3 chip SIMMs work together?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Almost always.  But there are exceptions.

1.	Some motherboards do not supply enough refresh address bits for a 4Mb x1 or a 1Mb x4 DRAM.  These old motherboards will not work with 4 MB 9-chip SIMMs or 1 MB 3-chip SIMMS.

2.	Some EL CHEAPO motherboards do not have proper terminations on the lines which drive the DRAM array.  These boards may show only marginal compatibility with various SIMMs, not working with all prefectly good SIMMs you try, favoring SIMMs with parameters skewed towards one end or another of the allowed ranges.  In some cases, most of the SIMMs you happen to try might be 9-chip modules, and in other cases they might be 3-chip modules.  A random selection of a dozen SIMMs might lead you to conclude the motherboard doesn't "work" with 3-chip modules, or with a "mixture" of 3-chip and 9-chip modules.

You might find the real solution is to use SIMMs one speed faster than the manual calls for, because the particular motherboard design just cuts too many things too close.

Q) 2.16  What are "single-sided" and "double-sided" 72-pin SIMMs?

[From: uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod (Ron Bean)]

   All 72-pin SIMMs are 32 bits wide (36 with parity), but double-sided SIMMs have four RAS (Row Address Strobe) lines instead of two. This can be thought of as two single-sided SIMMs wired in parallel. But since there is only one set of data lines, you can only access one "side" at a time.

   Usually, 1Mb, 4Mb, and 16Mb 72-pin SIMMs are single-sided, and 2Mb, 8Mb, and 32Mb SIMMs are double-sided. This only refers to how the chips are wired-- SIMMs that are electrically "single-sided" may have chips on both sides of the board.

   Most 486 motherboards use memory in banks of 32 bits (plus parity), and may treat a double-sided SIMM as "two banks" (see your motherboard's manual for details). Some can take four SIMMs if they're single-sided, but only two if they're double-sided. Others can take four of either type.

   Pentium (and some 486) motherboards use pairs of 72-pin SIMMs for 64-bit memory. Since double-sided SIMMs can only access 32 bits at a time, you still need to use them in pairs to make 64 bits.

Q) 2.17  Can I use Mac or PS/2 SIMMs in my PC?

Yes, just about all SIMMs are compatible, be they from another personal computer, a mainframe, or even a laser printer, though are a few some odd systems out there.  There are three significant issues: speed, parity and number of pins (data width).  Speed is obvious, check the rating, ie: 70ns, to make sure they meet the minimum requirements of your system.  Parity either exists or doesn't exist and can be identified by an extra bit per byte, ie: 9 bits or 36 bits.  If your system does not require parity, you can still use SIMMs with parity.  If, however, your system does require parity, you can't use SIMMs without parity.  For this case, many PC's have an option to disable the parity requirement via a jumper or BIOS setting; refer to your motherboard manual.  The final issue is the number of pins on the SIMM; the two most common are 30 pins (8 or 9 bit SIMMs) and 72 pins (32 or 36 bit SIMMs); the second is physically larger thus the one can not be used in the other.  A few motherboards have both types of sockets.

Q) 2.18  What do wait states and burst rates in my BIOS mean?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Modern motherboards are equipped with variable clocks and features for tuning board performance at each speed.  The BIOS knows how to program the register bits which control these options.

1.	Wait states may be adjustable to allow for slower DRAMs or cache RAMs.  If you don't have a motherboard manual, or it doesn't say, then you will just have to experiment.

2.	Sometimes a wait or two on a write is required with write-through cache.  The programming allows for slower DRAMs.  The extra wait state may cost you enough time that you would do better running at a slower clock rate where the wait state is not required.

3.	Burst rates refer to the number of wait states inserted for each longword access in the cache fill cycle.

Bob Nichols (rnichols@ihlpm.ih.att.com) adds:

These numbers refer to the number of clock cycles for each access of a "burst mode" memory read.  The fastest a 486 can access memory is 2 clock cycles for the first word and 1 cycle for each subsequent word, so "2-1-1-1" corresponds to "zero wait states."  Anything else is slower.

How fast you can go depends on the external clock speed of your CPU, the access time of your cache SRAMs, and the design of the cache controller.  It can also be affected by the amount of cache equipped, since "x-1-1-1" is generally dependent on having 2 banks of cache SRAMs so that the accesses can be interleaved.  With a 50MHz bus (486DX-50), few motherboards can manage "2-1-1-1" no matter how fast the SRAMs are.  At 33MHz or less (486DX-33, 486DX2-66), many motherboards can achieve "2-1-1-1" if the cache SRAMs are fast enough and there are 2 banks equipped (cache sizes of 64KB or 256KB, typically).


Memory: Cache terminology
Motherboards: Cache

Q) 2.19  Cache terminology, what does it mean?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Why cache improves performance

Today's microprocessors ("uPs") need a faster memory than can be made with economical DRAMs.  So we provide a fast SRAM buffer between the DRAM and the uP.  The most popular way to set it up is by constructing a "direct mapped cache," which is the only setup I'll describe here.

Generic motherboard cache architecture

The direct mapped cache has three big features:

1. a "data store" made with fast SRAMs,

2  a "tag store" made with even faster SRAMs, and

3. a comparator.

The data store is the chunk of RAM you see in the motherboard price lists.  It holds "blocks" or "lines" of data recently used by the CPU.  Lines are almost always 16 bytes.  The address feeding the cache is simply the least significant part of the address feeding main memory.  Each memory location can be cached in only one location in the data store.

There are two "policies" for managing the data store.  Under the "write-back" (or "copy-back") policy, the master copy of the data is in cache, and main memory locations may be "stale" at times.  Under "write-through", writes go immediately to main memory as well as to cache and memory is never "stale."

The tag store mantains one "word" of information about each line of data in the data store.

In a "write-back" or "copy-back" cache, the tag word contains two items:

1.	the part of the main memory address that was *not* fed to the data store, and

2.	a "dirty" bit.

A write-through cache doesn't need a dirty bit.  The tag store is addressed with the most significant address bits that are being fed to the data store.  The tag is only concerned with the address bits that are used to select a line.  With a 16 byte line, address bits 0 through 3 are irrelevant to the tag.

An example: The motherboard has 32 MB main memory and 256 KB cache.  To specify a byte in main memory, 25 bits of address are required: A0 through A24.  To specify a byte in data store, 18 bits (A0 through A17) are required.  Lines in cache are 16 bytes on 16 byte boundaries, so only A3 through A17 are required to specify a line.  The tag word for this system would represent A18 through A24 (plus dirty bit).  The tag store in this system would be addressed by A3 through A17, therefore the tag store would require 16 K tag words seven bits wide.  The dirty bit is written at different times than the rest of the tag, so it might be housed separately, and this tag store might be built in three 16K x4 SRAMs.

What happens when it runs

Each motherboard memory cycle begins when the uP puts out a memory address.  The data store begins fetching, and simultaneously the tag begins fetching.  When the tag word is ready, the Comparator compares the tag word to the current address.

If they match, a cache hit is declared and the uP reads or writes the data store location.  If the hit is a write, the copy-back cache marks the line "dirty" by setting its dirty-bit in the line's tag word.  The write-through motherboard simultaneously stores the write data in data store and begins a DRAM write cycle.  The uP moves on.

If the tag word doesn't match, what a bummer, it's a cache miss.  If the line in cache is dirty, double bummer, the line must be copied back to main memory before anything else can happen.  All 16 bytes are copied back, even if the hit was a one-byte write.  This data transfer is called a "dirty write flush."

On a read-miss, the motherboard has to copy a line from main memory to cache (and update the tag, the whole operation is called a "cache fill"), and the uP can stop waiting as soon as the bytes it wants go by.  On a write-miss, the caches I've worked with ignore the event (that's an oversimplification) and the main memory performs a write cycle.  I've heard of systems that fill on a write-miss, that is they replace the cache line whenever it misses, read or write, dirty or not.  I've never seen such a system.

Terms

The 486, the 68020, and their descendants have caches on chip.  We call the on-chip cache "primary" and the cache on the motherboard "secondary."  The 386 has no cache, therefore the cache on a 386 motherboard is "primary."  I like to call the DRAM array "core" for brevity.  Motherboard = "mb."  Megabyte = "MB."

Problems

I added "core" and I had to disable my secondary cache to get the board running.  Or, I added core and performance took a dive.  Disabling secondary cache improved it, but still real slow.

What happened?

Whenever you are adding memory and you cross a power-of-2 address boundary, another address bit becomes interesting to the tag.  That is, the tag does not care when you add your 8th MB (MB) but it cares a lot about the new address bit 24 when you add your 9th MB, or your 17th (bit 25).  Evidently, at the low-price end of the mb market there are boards with not enough tag RAM sockets to support all the core they can hold.  Most of these EL CHEAPO mbs don't even try to use cache in the region beyond the tag's coverage.  Some of them don't have the logic to stay out or the BIOS doesn't know to enable it.  These boards just don't run right.

Do not buy a mb if you are not sure it can cache all of core.  The worst case is with core fully stuffed with whatever the board claims to hold, and the smallest cache configuration.  Some motherboards ask you to add cache when you add core, so that they don't have to provide for that worst case tag width.  These motherboards may ask you to move some jumpers in the tag area.  The jumpers control which address bits the tag looks at.  Do not buy a motherboard if you don't know how to set all the jumpers.

Q) 2.20  How do I upgrade the size of my cache?

Look in your motherboard manual.  Each motherboard is different.

You will have to add or replace cache RAMs and move jumpers.


Memory: Cache RAM
Motherboards: Cache RAM

Q) 2.21  Do I need to fill the "dirty tag" RAM socket on my motherboard?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Perhaps you don't *have* to for the board to run, but the missing RAM will cost you performance.  Most "write-back" mbs cope with the missing RAM by treating all lines as dirty.  You get a lot of unneccessary write cycles; you might even do better with write-through.

Your bargain-basement no-documentation no-brand mb might not have the pullup resistor on that socket, and it might run for a second, ten minutes, or ten years with that pin not driven.  I think it's a pointless risk to leave the socket empty.

Q) 2.22  How fast do my cache RAMs have to be?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Only the person who designed your mb knows for sure.  There is no simple formula related to clock rate.  However, most people tell me their 33 MHz mbs' manuals call for 25 ns data store and 20 ns tag store, and their 40 and 50 MHz mbs want 20 ns data store and 15 or 12 ns tag.  Tqhe tag has to be faster than data store to make time for the comparator to work.  Do not buy a motherboard if you do not know what speed and size of cache RAMs it requires in all its speeds and configurations.

If you're not sure, it doesn't hurt to use faster RAMs than your manual calls for.  If your manual says 20 ns for location x and you happen to have 15 ns parts, it's ok to "mix" the speeds.  It's ok to "mix" RAMs from more than one manufacturer.  However, the faster RAMs will not buy you more performance.

Q) 2.22  Which is the best cache policy, write-through or "write-back?"

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

For most applications, copy-back gives better performance than write-through.  The amount of win will depend on your application and may not be significant.  Write-through is simpler, but not by much any more.

Q) 2.24  What about an n-way set associative cache, isn't it better?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

At the high end of the mb market, caches are available with more than one set.  In these caches, the data store is broken into two or four parts, or sets, with a separate tag for each.  On a miss, clever algorithms (such as Least Recently Used) can be used to pick which set will be filled, because each set has a candidate location.  The result is a higher hit rate than a direct mapped (single set) cache the same size can offer.

The primary cache on the 486 is four-way set associative.


Bus systems
Motherboards: Bus System

Q) 2.25  Which is better, ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI/etc?

[From: ralf@wpi.wpi.edu (Ralph Valentino)]

Here is a quick overview of the various bus architectures available for the PC and some of the strengths and weaknesses of each.  Some terms are described in more detail at the bottom.

XT bus:

8 data bits, 20 address bits

4.77 MHz

Comments: Obsolete, very similar to ISA bus, many XT cards will work in ISA slots.

ISA bus: Industry Standard Architecture bus (aka. AT bus)

8/16 data bits, 24 address bits (16Meg addressable)

8-8.33MHz, asynchronous

5.55M/s burst

bus master support

edge triggered TTL interrupts (IRQs) - no sharing

low cost

Comments: ideal for low to mid bandwidth cards, though lack of IRQs can quickly become annoying.

MCA bus: Micro Channel Architecture bus

16/32 data bit, 32 address bits

80M/s burst, synchronous

full bus master capability

good bus arbitration

auto configurable

IBM proprietary (not ISA/EISA/VLB compatible)

Comments: Since MCA was proprietary, EISA was formed to compete with it.  EISA gained much more acceptance; MCA is all but dead.

EISA bus: Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture bus

32 data bits, 32 address bits

8-8.33MHz, synchronous

32M/s burst (sustained)

full bus master capability

good bus arbitration

auto configurable

sharable IRQs, DMA channels

backward compatible with ISA

some acceptance outside of the PC architecture

high cost

Comments: EISA is great for high bandwidth bus mastering cards such as SCSI host adaptors, but its high cost limits its usefulness for other types of cards.

P-EISA: Pragmatic EISA (also Super-ISA)

(see the description of the HiNT chipset elsewhere in this FAQ)

VLB: VESA Local Bus

32 data bits, 32 address bits

25-40MHz, asynchronous

130M/s burst (sustained is closer to 32M/s)

bus master capability

will coexist with ISA/EISA

slot limited to 2 or 3 cards typical

backward compatible with ISA

moderate cost

Comments: VLB is great for video cards, but its lack of a good bus arbiter limits its usefulness for bus mastering cards and its moderate cost limits its usefulness for low to mid bandwidth cards.  Since it can coexist with EISA/ISA, a combination of all three types of cards usually works best.

PCI:  Peripheral Component Interconnect local bus

32 data bits (64 bit option), 32 address bits (64 bit option)

up to 33MHz, synchronous

132M/s burst (sustained) (264M/s with 64 bit option)

full bus master capability

good bus arbitration

slot limited to 3 or 4 cards typical

auto configurable

will coexist with ISA/EISA/MCA as well as another PCI bus

strong acceptance outside of the PC architecture

moderate cost

Comments: The newest of the buses, combining the speed of VLB with the advanced arbitration of EISA.  Great for both video cards and bus mastering SCSI/network cards.

Terms

Auto configurable:  Allows software to identify the board's requirements and resolve any potential resource conflicts (IRQ/DMA/address/BIOS/etc).

Bus master support:  Capable of First Party DMA transfers.

Full bus master capability:  Can support any First Party cycle from any device, including another CPU.

Good bus arbitration:  Fair bus access during conflicts, no need to back off unless another device needs the bus.  This prevents CPU starvation while allowing a single device to use 100% of the available bandwidth.  Other buses let a card hold the bus until it decides to release it and attempts to prevent starvation by having an active card voluntarily release the bus periodically ("bus on time") and remain off the bus for a period of time ("bus off time") to give other devices, including the CPU, a chance even if they don't want it.

16Meg addressable:  This limits first party DMA transfers to the lower 16 Meg of address space.  There are various software methods to overcome this problem when more than 16 Megs of main memory are available.  This has no effect on the ability of the processor to reach all of main memory.

Backward compatible with ISA:  Allows you to place an ISA card in the slot of a more advanced bus.  Note, however, that the ISA card does not get any benefit from being in an advanced slot, instead, the slot reverts to an ISA slot.  Other slots are unaffected.

Q) 2.26  *What are the (dis)advantages of ISA/VLB/EISA SCSI?

Q) 2.27  Will an ISA card work in an MCA (PS/2) machine?

No, they will not.  MCA, unlike EISA and VLB, is not backward compatible with ISA.

Q) 2.28  *What does the "chip set" do?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

The motherboard "chip set" contains all the logic that's not in the microprocessor ("uP") and its coprocessor, or the memory. These functions always include:

 *  Address decoding and "memory mapping"

 *  keyboard interface controller (which includes reset generator)

 *  Direct Memory Access (DMA) channels

 *  interrupt controller

 *  bus controller(s)

 *  battery-powered "real time" clock/calendar circuit

 *  crystal-controlled clock oscillator(s)

 *  main memory controller

They almost always include:

 *  controller for cache external to the uP

 *  "turbo" switch logic

 *  programmable "wait state" logic

and some of them include:

 *  controller(s) for PCMCIA slots

 *  "green" power-conservation logic

 *  video display logic for CRT, LCD, or both

 *  serial ports, parallel ports, floppy, SCSI and/or IDE, etc. controllers

 *  network interface controllers (for Ethernet)

Some people consider the BIOS ROM part of the "chip set."

Sometimes part of an EISA or VLB bus controller is implemented in an optional, socketed integrated circuit.  A motherboard like that can be sold with the socket empty, and you have to go back and buy the "bus mastering option" later when you find out you need it.

"Chip sets" are usually a set of highly integrated, special purpose integrated circuits.  The keyboard interface controller is usually in a 40-pin dual-inline pin (DIP) package compatible with the Intel 8048 single-chip microcomputer which was used for that function in the IBMPC-AT.  The rest of the logic often fits in a single IC.  In the trade, you may see this single IC referred to as "the chipset," even though the keyboard interface and other logic is external.  The Asian data sheets often call the high-integration chips "LSIs."

The word "ChipSet" is a trademark of Chips and Technologies Inc. (San Jose, California), which introduced a 5-chip set of LSIs for AT-clone motherboards in early 1985.  CTI may also own "chipset" and "Chipset"; I don't know.

CTI was very successful at promoting the term "ChipSet," but less successful at associating it in the public mind with their particular brand.  People use the word to refer to any high integration chip used in PCs.  For example, you'll hear people talk about the "ET4000 video chipset."  The ET4000 is a single chip which integrates most of an SVGA controller.  The word "ASIC" (application-specific integrated circuit) would be more appropriate.

Single, high-integration ICs are not very good at driving heavily loaded signals, like the ones in the memory array and the expansion slots.  Better motherboards use buffer chips external to the LSI for this electrical function.  It may not show up in "WinMark" comparisons, but it shows in electrical compatibility.  Well-buffered motherboards are less likely to require SIMM "cherry-picking," and are more likely to work at high ambient temperatures.  The 74F245, which costs about 15 cents in high volume, is often used for this electrical buffering.

Q) 2.29  How do I enter the CMOS configuration menu?

[From: burnesa@cat.com (Shaun Burnet)]

AMI BIOS	Del key during the POST

Award BIOS	Ctrl-Alt-Esc

DTK BIOS	Esc key during the POST

IBM PS/2 BIOS	Ctrl-Alt-Ins after Ctrl-Alt-Del

Phoenix BIOS	Ctrl-Alt-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-S

Q) 2.30  What is bus mastering and how do I know if I have it?

Bus mastering is the ability of an expansion (ISA/EISA/VLB/MCA/etc) card to directly read and write to main memory.  This allows the CPU do delegate I/O work out to the cards, freeing it to do other things.  For all of the above busses, bus mastering capability is assumed.  Unless specifically stated otherwise, you should assume each slot has this capability.  For cards, this is not assumed.  If you want a bus mastering card, you should specifically request it and expect to pay more.  Note that some cards (RLL/MFM/IDE/com) are not available in bus mastering versions.

Q) 2.31  Can I put an ISA cards in EISA slots?

Yes, you can put ISA cards in EISA slots, the EISA bus was specifically designed to be 100% ISA compatible.  ISA cards will not directly effect the performance of EISA cards; a well balanced system will have both.  Note, however, that the total bandwidth of the bus will be split between all cards, so there is a strong advantage to using EISA cards for the high bandwidth devices (disk/video).

Q) 2.32  How should I configure ISA/VLB cards in the EISA config utility?

Only EISA cards matter in the ECU; ISA and VLB entries are only place markers.  While this is a good way to keep track of IRQ, DMA and BIOS conflictions, ISA and VLB need not be placed in the configuration at all, nor should it be assumed that the settings for them match the actual card settings.  If you wish to add them, you can use the "Generic ISA Card" configuration file for either.  Do not expect card vendors to supply them.

Q) 2.33  What is the difference between EISA Standard and Enhanced modes?

Many EISA cards support both Standard (ISA) and Enhanced (EISA) modes.  In Standard mode, the card will appear to be an ISA card to the OS; it will generate edge triggered interrupts and only accept ISA addressing (for bus mastering cards), for instance.  An important thing to note is that the card may still do EISA specific things like 32-bit data bus mastering and EISA configuration setup as this functionality is hidden from the OS.

Q) 2.34  Is there any point in putting more than 16M in an ISA machine?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

Sure.  Even inferior operating systems can use it for something.  The question is how much performance it buys.  In ISA, the DMA channels and bus-mastering IO cards can only address the first 16 MB.  Therefore the device drivers have to copy data up and down or just not use the space.  I am told the Linux SCSI drivers know how to do this.  I don't know about OS/2 or MSWindows.

Q) 2.35  What disadvantages are there to the HiNT EISA chip set?

[From: ralf@wpi.wpi.edu (Ralph Valentino)]

The HiNT Caesar Chip Set (CS8001 & CS8002) can come in three different configurations.  All three of these configurations have EISA style connectors and are (sometimes incorrectly) sold as EISA motherboards.  The differences should be carefully noted, though.

The rarest of these configuration uses a combination of the first HiNT chip (CS8001) and the Intel chip set.  This configuration can support the full EISA functionality: 32 address bits, 32 data bits, level sensitive (sharable) interrupts, full EISA DMA, watch dog (sanity) timer, and so forth.

The second configuration is called Super-ISA, which uses both of the HiNT chips.  This configuration is very common in low-end models.  It supports a very limited functionality: 24 address bits, 32 data bits, edge triggered (non-sharable) interrupts, ISA (16 data, 24 address) DMA, and no watch dog timer.  Some EISA boards, such as the Adaptec 1742A EISA Fast SCSI-2 host adapter, can be configured to work in this mode by hacking their EISA configuration file (.CFG) to turn off these features.  Other EISA cards require these features and are therefore unusable in these systems.

The final configuration is called Pragmatic EISA, or P-EISA.  Like Super-ISA, both HiNT chips are used but external support logic (buffers and such) are added to provide a somewhat increased functionality: 32 address bits, 32 data bits, edge triggered (non-sharable) interrupts, ISA (16 data, 24 address) DMA, and no watch dog timer.  The full 32 bits for address and data allow bus mastering devices access to the complete range of main memory.  As with Super-ISA, there may be incompatibilities with some EISA cards.

Q) 2.36  *Should I change the ISA bus speed?

Q) 2.37  Why is my PC's clock so inaccurate?

[From: uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod (Ron Bean)]

Usually this means that the clock crystal is not adjusted properly, or that it needs a new battery. The interrupt-based "DOS time" can also be affected by programs that disable interrupts for too long.

If your clock is just running at the wrong speed, you can compensate for it in software by measuring the drift rate and applying a correction factor. In the long run, this can be *very* accurate. One such program for DOS is adclk100.zip. An alternative is to run a program that periodically sets your clock to another one that's known to be accurate (see the question on setting your clock).

If your clock is more erratic (eg, it stops when the machine is turned off, or the date gets scrambled), try replacing the battery (but remember to write down your CMOS settings first!).  The CMOS RAM takes considerably less power than the clock, so it may keep working even though the battery is too weak to run the clock (see the question on replacing the battery for details).

A typical cheap quartz watch is rated at +/- 15 sec per month (3 minutes per year) which is about 5.7 ppm (parts per million).  Dallas Semiconductor rates their encapsulated clock modules for +/- 1 min per month, or 22.8 ppm. Clocks with external crystals can be "fine-tuned" with a trimmer capacitor-- if the motherboard designer included one (Note: there may be more than one crystal on the motherboard). The crystal's frequency will change slightly over time as the crystal "ages".

The original IBM AT used the Motorola MC146818, which is a real-time clock plus 50 bytes of CMOS RAM. This chip is discussed in the book "The Undocumented PC", from Addison-Welsey. The Dallas Semiconductor DS1285 is a drop-in replacement for the MC146818, and the DS1287 is the same chip encapsulated with its own battery and clock crystal. Other variants include larger amounts of CMOS RAM. Most software accesses the clock through the BIOS.

Before the AT, there were various types of aftermarket clock cards, and some of them may still be available (even though every PC sold in the last several years "already has a clock").

Given the number of times this comes up on the net, there should be a market for accurate clock cards. On the other hand, most people don't seem to care whether their computers have anything close to the correct time. If your machine doesn't keep time correctly, and you think it should, you might consider complaining to the manufacturer about it.

Q) 2.38  How can I automatically set my PC's clock to the correct time?

[From: uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod (Ron Bean)]

If you're on the internet, you can use ntp (network time protocol) to set your clock to another machine that's known to be accurate (see RFC 1129, Internet Time Synchronization).

ACTS, the Automated Computer Time Service, is available by modem at (303)494-4774 (note this is NOT a toll-free call). There are programs that will dial this number and set your clock automatically. This service is run by NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly the National Bureau of Standards).

In Germany, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) broadcasts a coded time signal on 77.5 kHz from a transmitter near Frankfurt, and inexpensive receivers are available that can plug into a serial port (this signal should cover most of Europe). In the US, NIST runs a similar station (WWVB) on 60 kHz, but the data is encoded differently and receivers are expensive and hard to find.

Other coded time signals are available from WWV and WWVH on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz (shortwave), and from the GOES and GPS satellites. CHU Canada on 3.33, 7.335, and 14.670 MHz broadcasts time codes using Bell 103 FSK (300 baud modem tones) during seconds 31 through 39 of each minute. If you don't have a shortwave receiver, the WWV audio time announcement can be heard by dialing (303)499-7111 (again, this is NOT a toll-free call).

NIST publishes a 30-page booklet (NIST Special Publication 432) that explains all of their time services in detail. They also have a partial list of companies that make receivers, but it appears to be somewhat out of date. Both are available from:

          NIST/Radio Station WWV

          2000 East County Road 58

          Fort Collins, CO  80524-9499

You may have heard about Heathkit's "Most Accurate Clock", which decodes the time signal from WWV and has a serial port.  Heath no longer sells kits, but they still sell the factory-built version of the clock (it's not cheap, though). Their address is P.O. Box 1288, Benton Harbor, MI 49023.

Q) 2.39  What is the battery for and how do I replace it?

[From: uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod (Ron Bean)]

   The battery maintains power to the CMOS RAM and the real-time clock when your PC is turned off. You may have a small lithium "coin" battery soldered to the motherboard, or a larger external one plugged into a connector. Some motherboards have a jumper to select either type, and a few have a NiCd battery that recharges automatically, or a lithium battery encapsulated in the clock chip.

   NOTE: Always write down your CMOS settings before you mess with the battery! In fact, you should write them down now anyway, in case the battery fails later.

   The batteries that are soldered in or encapsulated with the clock chip are supposed to last 10 years or more, but your mileage may vary. Some people find that the external type has to be replaced every couple of years. Self-recharging NiCds that get power from a disk drive cable are available as aftermarket items.  A few people have tried to save money by substituting 4 alkaline AA batteries for the expensive external lithium battery, but they have to be replaced more often.

   If you need to replace a soldered-in battery, have a repair shop install a socket (you shouldn't attempt this yourself, unless you're experienced at soldering on expensive multi-layer circuit boards). If the battery is encapsulated in the chip, there is no way to replace it without replacing the chip-- again, consult a repair shop if it's not socketed. These chips can be "turned off" via software to extend battery life during storage, and are shipped from the factory that way.


IRQ
Motherboards: IRQ

Q) 2.40  Can I use IRQ2 or is it special?

IRQ2 is used to cascade the second interrupt controller on AT machines.  This has one and only one side effect: from a software point of view, IRQ2 = IRQ9.  You can freely use IRQ2 on any hardware device, provided you are not already using IRQ9.  Your associated software driver can be set to IRQ2 or IRQ9, which ever it happens to prefer.  Note that many video cards have an IRQ2 enable jumper for very, very old backward compatibility reasons; you should disable this before attempting to use the IRQ for something else.  There are no unexpected side effects.

Q) 2.41  Where do all the IRQ's go?

[From: wlim@lehman.com (Willie Lim)]

Default settings:

IRQ	DMA	IO BASE	Card or Device
		Addr. (HEX)
0	*	*	timer (reserved)
1	*	*	keyboard (reserved)
2	*	*	interrupt 8-15 (cascade)
2	*	330	MPU-401 Emulation (PAS 16)
3	*	2F8	COM2:
3	*	2F8	COM4:
3	*	300	3Com Etherlink II, II/TP, II/16, II/16TP, 16/16TP
3	*	300	Novell NE2000
3	*	300	SMC/Western Digital 8003EP, 8013EWC, 8013WB
4	*	3F8	COM1:
4	*	3F8	COM3:
5	*	278	LPT2:
5	*	368	Ungermann-Bass Ethernet NIUpc (long), NIUpc/EOTP (short)
5	*	???	DEC etherWORKS LC, Turbo, Turbo/TP
5	*	1220	Sound Blaster Emulation (PAS 16)
5	*	5A20	Proteon P1390
6	*	*	floppy disk controller
7	*	378	LPT1: (PRN:)
7	3	*	Pro Audio Spectrum 16 (PAS 16)
8	*	*	clock (reserved)
9	*	*	reserved
9	5	300	Boca Ethernet (BEN100, BEN102, BEN300)
10	*	*	unassigned
11	*	*	unassigned
12	*	*	unassigned
13	*	*	math co-processor
14	*	*	hard-disk
15	*	*	secondary disk controller


IO controllers/interfaces

Q) 3.1  *How do IDE/MFM/RLL/ESDI/SCSI interfaces work?

Q) 3.2  *How can I tell if I have MFM/RLL/ESDI/IDE/SCSI?

Q) 3.3  Do caching controllers really help?

[From: backbone!wayne@tower.tssi.com (Wayne Schlitt)]

The short answer, is that if you are using a multi-tasking operating system with a good memory manager, caching controllers should be ignored.  If you are running DOS or Windows, then *maybe* they will help, but I am not sure that they are a good buy.

There are lots of people who have said "I put a caching controller in my computer, and it runs faster!".  This is probably true, but they never have measured the speed increase compared to putting the same memory into main memory instead.  More importantly, the caching controllers cost more money than non caching controllers, so you should be able to add _more_ main memory instead of buying a caching controller.

The following is a shortened up version of a much longer article.  If

you want a copy of the longer article, send me email at

"wayne@cse.unl.edu".

*** 	Why a multi-tasking operating system?

A multi-tasking operating system can allow the application to continue immediately after it does a write, and the actual disk write can happen later.  This is known as write behind.  The operating system can also read several blocks from the file when the application requests just part of the first block.  This is known as read a head.  When the application requests the block later on, the block will already be there and the OS can then schedule some more reads.

A multitasking operating system is required because these operations can cause interrupts and processing when control has been given back to the application.

Basically, operating systems such as DOS, MS-Windows, MacOS and such do not allow true preemptive multitasking and can not do the read a heads and the write behinds.  For these systems, the latency of a disk drive is the most important thing.  The application does not regain control until the read or write has finished.

*** The controller can't speed up the disk.

Remember, the bottleneck is at the disk.  Nothing that the controller can do can make the data come off the platters any faster.  All but the oldest and slowest controllers can keep up with all but the newest and fastest disks.  The SCSI bus is designed to be able to keep *several* disks busy without slowing things down.

Speeding up parts of the system that are not the bottleneck won't help much.  The goal has to be to reduce the number of real disk accesses.

*** 	First, isn't the caching controller hardware and isn't hardware always faster than software?

Well, yes there is a piece of physical hardware that is called the caching controller, but no, the cache is not really "in hardware".  Managing a disk is a fairly complicated task, complicated enough that you really can't implement the controller in combinatorial logic.

So, just about all disk controllers and for that matter all disk drives have a general purpose computer on them.  They run a little software program that manages the communication between the main cpu and the disk bus, or the disk bus and the disk.  Often this cpu is put in with a bunch of other logic as part of a standard cell custom chip, so you might not see a chip that says "Z80" or such.

So, we are really not comparing "hardware" with "software", we are comparing "software on the controller" with "software on the main cpu".

*** 	Ok, why can the OS win?

Assume that you have a bunch of memory that you can either put into main memory and have the OS manage the cache, or put on a caching controller.  Which one will be better?  Let us look at the various cases.

For a cache hit you have:

If the OS does the caching, you just have the OS's cache checking latency.

If the card does the caching, you will have the OS's cache checking latency, plus the I/O setup time, plus the controller's cache checking latency, plus you have to move the data from the card to main memory.  If the controller does DMA, it will be taking away from the memory bandwidth that the main CPU needs.  If the controller doesn't have DMA, then the main CPU will have to do all the transfers, one word at a time.

For a cache miss, you have:

If the OS does the caching, you have the OS's cache checking latency plus the set up time for the disk I/O, plus the time it takes for the disk to transfer the data (this will be a majority of the time), plus the cost of doing either the DMA or having the CPU move the data into main memory.

The caching controller will have all of the above times, plus it's own cache checking latency.

As you can see, the caching controller adds a lot of overhead no matter what.  This overhead can only be offset when you get a cache hit, but since you have the same amount of memory on the controller and the main cpu, you should have the same number of cache hits in either case.  Therefore, the caching controller will always give more overhead than an OS managed cache.

*** 	Yeah, but there is this processor on the controller doing the cache checks, so you really have a multi-processor system. Shouldn't this be faster than a single processor?  Doesn't this allow the main cpu to do other things while the controller manages the cache?

Yes, this really is a multi-processor system, but multi-processors are not always faster than uni-processors.  In particular, multi-processor systems have communication overhead.  In this case, you are communicating with the controller using a protocol that is fairly expensive, with outb instructions and interrupts and such.  The overhead of communicating with this other processor is greater than the overhead of just checking the cache on main cpu, even if the main cpu is very slow.

The multi-processor aspect just doesn't help out when you are talking about managing a cache.  There is just too much communication overhead and too little processing for it to be a win.

*** 	Ok, but couldn't the caching controller do a better job of managing the cache?

Both the controller and the OS are going to be executing a piece of software, so in theory there isn't anything that the slower cpu on the controller can do that the OS can't do, but the OS can do things that the controller can't do.

Here are some of the things that the OS can do better:

* 	When you read a block from a file, the OS can read several more blocks ahead of time.  Caching controllers often will read an entire track in order to simulate this file read a head, but the rest of the file isn't always on the same track, only the OS knows where the blocks are really going to be at.  This can lead to wasted time and cache memory reading data that will never be used.

* 	In order to improve file system reliability, some writes _must_ complete immediately, and _must_ complete in the order that they are given.  Otherwise, the file system structures may not be left in a coherent state if the system crashes.

Other writes can be completed as time is available, and can be done in any order.  The operating system knows the difference between these cases and can do the writes appropriately.

Caching controllers, on the other hand, don't know if the write that it was just given _must_ be written right away, or if it can wait a little bit.  If it waits when it shouldn't, you are risking your file system and data.

*	Sometimes, you want a large disk cache if you are accessing lots of data off the disk.  At other times, you want a small disk cache and more memory left to programs.  The operating system can balance these needs dynamically and adjust the amount of disk cache automatically.

If you put the memory on a caching controller, then that memory can _only_ be used for disk caches, and you can _never_ use more.  Chances are, you will either have too much or too little memory dedicated to the cache at any give time.

*	When a process closes a file, the operating system knows that the blocks associated with that file are not as likely to to be used again as those blocks associated with files that are still open.  Only the operating system is going to know when files are closed, the controller won't.  Similar things happen with processes.

*	In the area of Virtual Memory, the OS does an extremely better job of managing things.  When a program accesses a piece of memory, the CPU will do a hardware level check to see if the page is in memory.  If the page is in memory, then there will basically be no delay.  It is only when the page isn't in memory that the OS gets involved.

Even if all of those extra pages are sitting in the caching controller's memory, they still have to be moved to main memory with all the overhead that that involves.

This is why dynamic caches vs program memory is so important.

***	What is the "Memory Hierarchy" and how does this relate to caching controllers?

The basic idea of a memory hierarchy is to layer various types of memory, so that the fastest memory is closest to the cpu.  Faster memory is more expensive, so you can't use only the fastest type and still be cheap.  If a piece of data isn't in the highest (fastest) level of the hierarchy, then you have to check the next level down.

In order for a memory hierarchy to work well, you need to make sure that the each level of the hierarchy has much more storage then the level above it, otherwise you wont have a high hit rate.

The hierarchy on a 486 goes something like this:

8 regs << 8k on chip cache << 256k off chip cache << main memory << disk

If you are going to put something between main memory and disk, it needs to be much larger than main memory in order for it to be effective.

***	What about all these neat things that a caching controller can do such as elevator seeking, overlapping seeks with reads and writes, scatter/gather, etc...

These are nice features, but they are all done by either the OS or a good SCSI controller anyway.  None of these things are at all related to supporting the cache, so you shouldn't buy a caching controller for just these features.

*** 	Ok, you have talked about things like Unix, OS/2 and Windows NT, but what about DOS and MS-Windows?

Well, here things get a lot grayer.  First, older versions of DOS have notoriously bad disk cache programs.  Since neither DOS nor MS-Windows are preemptive multi-tasking systems, it is much harder to do read a head.  Also, since DOS/MS-Windows users are used to being able to power off their computers at any time, doing write behind is much more dangerous.  DOS and MS-Windows also can crash much easier than these other OS's, so people might reboot for many reasons.

Caching controllers usually leave the hard disk light on when they have data that hasn't been written out, and people don't usually power their computer off until that light goes out.  This lets the controllers do write behind fairly safely.  (But you can still loose power, so this isn't risk free.)  They also do crude read a heads by prereading entire tracks.

DOS also runs in real mode and real mode can only access 640K of memory.  This mean that a disk cache can be real helpful.  Unfortunately, to do a software based disk cache, the cpu has to be switched into protected mode in order to access memory beyond the 640K boundary and then you have to switch back into real mode.  Intel, however forgot to make it easy to switch back to real mode.   All in all, this switching back and forth ends up being real expensive.  This _might_ be more expensive than just using a caching controller, I don't know.

So, it is possible that if you configure DOS to not use a cache, and get a caching controller, then you might be a head.  I really don't know much about this area.  I have not done any real timings of this.

*** 	So, when would you ever want to buy a caching controller?

The answer is not too often, but there are a few cases that I can think of:

* 	You have filled up all your SIMM slots on your motherboard and in order to add more memory you would have to throw some out.  This is a real shaky reason.  You can always sell your old memory, or move it to another computer.  The jump from 4 1MB SIMMs to 4 4MB SIMMs is large, but you will be much better off in the long run with more main memory.

* 	You have maxed out your memory and you need it all for programs and data.  If you can't put any more memory on the mother board, then you don't have many choices.

* 	If you have a bunch of slow (100ns-120ns) memory left over from say a 286 or something and you can't use it on your motherboard because it is too slow, then maybe adding it to a caching controller will help.  Be careful however, if your hit rates on the caching controller are too low, then you may be just adding overhead without getting any benefits.

*	If you are stuck with a bad OS because that's what your applications run on, then you might be better off with a caching controller.

*** 	What about those disk drives that come with caches, are they bad too?

Don't confuse caching disk controllers with cache on disk drives.  The latter is actually useful.  The little cpu on the disk drive has to read every byte that comes off the disk in order to see when the sector that you are interested in has come under the heads and to do any error detection and correction.  The disk also has to have buffers in case the bus is busy, and to sync up the speeds of the bus and the heads.

Since all this data is going though the cpu on disk drive and you have to have a buffer anyway, just making the buffer larger and saving the entire track is an easy win.  Saving a couple of the most frequent tracks is also a win.

Most of these caches on the disk drives are fairly small (64k-256k), and a single memory chip will give you about that amount of memory anyway, so you aren't wasting many resources.  This also allows the OS to always assume that interleaving is not necessary to get full disk throughput, even if it does a fair amount of processing between disk requests.


IDE controllers
IO controllers/interfaces: IDE

Q) 3.4  Do IDE controllers use DMA?

No, they do not.  This is a rumor that keeps popping up.  This may

change on the next revision of the standard.

Q) 3.5  Why won't my two IDE drives work together?

[From: jruchak@mtmis1.mis.semi.harris.com (John Anthony Ruchak)]

Assuming that the drives are attached to the same controller and they work properly when attached one-at-a-time, you probably don't have them configured properly for Master/Slave operation.

When operating 2 IDE drives, one must be designated as "Master" and the other as "Slave."  There are jumpers on every IDE drive to configure this.  Check your hard drive manuals for the jumper settings for your drives.  In general, it doesn't matter which is which - just pick one as master, and make the other slave.

In your CMOS configuration, Drive 1 should have the parameters (heads, cylinders, etc.) that match the drive you set as "Master" and Drive 2's parameters should match those of the "slave" drive.  In operation, the Master will appear as drive C: and the slave as drive D:.

Because not all hard drive manufacturers follow the IDE specifications closely enough, drives from 2 different manufacturers may not work well together.  In this case, changing master -> slave and slave -> master (along with the appropriate CMOS changes) may help.  If it doesn't, then trying two drives from the SAME manufacturer is the only avenue you have left.

Q) 3.6  Which is better, VLB or ISA IDE?

[From: pieterh@sci.kun.nl]

If a simple answer is what you want, then yes, in general VLB IDE controllers are better than ISA ones.  If you are purchasing or putting together a computer, the relatively small price difference makes the choice for a VLB controller a sensible one.

However, if you already have an ISA controller and are wondering whether it's worth upgrading to VLB, it's not that easy.  VLB may be faster in principle, the question is if you're going to notice it.

 *** The Bottlenecks

Let's take a look at what the limiting factors are in the path the data travels from your drive platter to the CPU.

1.	Raw data transfer from the drive platter.

To find out what this rate is, you need the spec sheet for your drive.  Remember that it is dependent on the cylinder, so a single drive can give different results depending on where on the drive you're testing.  Anyway, this transfer rate is 1 to 2 MB/s on most IDE drives, depending on data density and rotational speed.

2.	The data has to be digested by the drive's onboard controller, which not only mediates between the drive hardware and the IDE bus, but also manages the buffer cache.  Let's hope it's both fast and intelligent (not always the case *sigh*).

3.	Data transfer over the IDE/ATA bus (2-3MB/s with standard timing).

The actual speed depends on the timing used; some drives and controllers support faster timing.  Enhanced IDE (IDE-2) can transfer up to 11 MB/s.

4.	Transfer from the interface to the CPU (ISA: max 5 Mb/s, VLB: 10-80 MB/s depending on CPU clock, wait states, interface...)

A generic IDE interface is usually not able to get the most out of the ISA and IDE bandwidths (3 and 4); a typical upper limit is about 2 MB/s if you use block transfers (see below), 2.5 MB/s if you're willing to push the ISA bus clock a little (more about that later on).

Still, it's clear that on all but the fastest drives the raw data transfer rate to/from the drive platter (1) will determine the maximum performance you're going to get.  If you're getting transfer rates near this limit, you can't significantly improve your throughput whatever you do.

 *** Tuning Your Harddisk

Suppose your harddisk throughput is lower than you think is possible with your drive.  How can you tune your system to improve hard disk performance?  I'll go through points 1-4 again and indicate what you can do to widen up the bottlenecks a little.

1.	Drive platter to head transfer.

Sorry, there's nothing you can do short of getting a new drive.

2. 	The drive controller.

Many modern drives understand "block transfer", also known as multi-sector I/O or read/write multiple.  Although the newest BIOSes have this feature built in, most of us will have to use a driver.  More about that at the end of this section.

What is block transfer?  Normally, for each sector the computer wants to read from or write to the drive, it has to issue a separate command.  When you're transfering 2 MB/s, that means you're sending the drive 4,000 commands each second.  Each command has to be issued by the CPU, transferred over the ISA and IDE buses, interpreted and acted upon by the drive's onboard controller.  Every such command takes a little time.

By using block transfer mode, it is possible to read or write more than one sector (usually 4 to 32) using a single command.  This greatly cuts down command overhead, as you can imagine, and may very well have a dramatic effect on a badly performing system.  In most cases, it will improve performance by 5-20%.

Unfortunately some older drives have inferior support of this feature and actually slow down...  or in exceptional cases even hose your data.

3.	The IDE bus.

With most drives you can use faster IDE bus timing, but your interface has to support this.  Modern IDE interface chips often have completely programmable timing; these can be exceptionally fast if the software supports this feature and, of course, if the drive can keep up.  Some controllers use jumpers to configure timing.

The last word in IDE bus bandwidth is of course the Enhanced IDE bus, which allows exceedingly fast transfers if both drives and interface support it.

If you cannot use improved timing with a new VLB interface, the IDE bus will prove to be as much as a bottleneck as the ISA bus was.

Not all interfaces are created equal, some are better engineered.  With the current VLB hype, there's bound to be a friend who has an old (ISA) interface gathering dust; try that one.

4.	The ISA bus.

The official speed of the ISA bus is about 8 MHz, but most cards, especially modern ones, will work fine on 11 MHz or more (some will even take as much as 20 MHz).  If you don't mind experimenting, it may be worthwhile to see if your ISA cards run reliably at a higher bus clock.  This is especially interesting if your drive nears the 2MB/s mark.

The BIOS setup has to support this, of course.

*WARNING* Pushing the ISA bus clock beyond spec often works well, but there is always the risk that it DESTROYS YOUR DATA.  Make a backup before attempting this and thoroughly verify correct operation before entrusting critical jobs to a "pushed" system.

Finally, if you need more than the 2.5-3 MB/s or so you can squeeze out of a good ISA controller, VLB is the way to go.  Be aware that the controllers on the market are of variable quality; VLB alone isn't going to be enough if you need the highest performance.  It has occurred that a VLB interface proved to be, all things equal, slower than the ISA one it replaced!

Take special note of the drivers: they must be stable and support whatever software you intend to use (DOS, Windows 32-bit VxD, OS/2).  Without a driver loaded, the VLB interface will perform no better than an ISA controller.

A final word about block transfer drivers.  VLB controllers are usually shipped with a TSR that, among other things, enables block transfers (usually designated "Turbo" mode)---this is often where most of the performance gain actually comes from.  But block mode is equally possible using ISA based interfaces.  Popular block transfer drivers are Drive Rocket and DiskQwik.  You can get a crippled version of the latter from Simtel:

pub/msdos/diskutil/dqwik110.zip

If you're using Linux, you can use Mark Lord's IDE performance patches to enable block mode.  In true multitasking operating systems, block transfers have the additional advantage of greatly reducing CPU load.


How to install a second controller
IO controllers/interfaces: Second Controller

Q) 3.7  How do I install a second controller?

[From: strople@ug.cs.dal.ca (PAUL LESLIE STROPLE)]

The following should solve about 95% (9.5?) of second controller problems, if only to tell you it can't be done!

Generic Second Controller Installation:

1)	Normally the MFM/IDE/RLL controller is set up as the primary, and the ESDI/SCSI as the secondary; One reason for this is because the ESDI/SCSI controller cards are usually more flexible in their set up and secondly this method seems to work (probably due to reason one).

2)	Your primary controller is set up using all the normal defaults:

- Floppy  at primary address(3F0-3F7).

- Hard disk enabled, at primary addresses (1F0-1F7),  BIOS address C800 and interrupt 14.

3)	Your secondary controller is set up as:

- Floppy drives disabled

- Hard disk controller enabled, secondary address(170- 177) and interrupt 15.

- NOTE: onboard bios set to D400, or D800 can be used, if there is a conflict.

4)	Computer BIOS Setup:

- Any drive(s) on the primary controller (MFM/IDE), should be entered in the BIOS setup as usual.

- You DO NOT enter the drive types for the hard disks on the secondary controller, even if there are only two drives in the entire system i.e., if one drive on each controller you only enter the drive type of the hard disk on the primary controller -- the 2nd drive type is left as not installed (0).

Operating System:

If you do the above steps you now have the hardware setup correctly; your only other problem may be with the operating system.

Different OSs handle secondary controllers differently; as well, different controllers handles same OSs differently (scared yet?).

For example: with DOS you may require a device driver (available from the manufacture or through third party companies, such as Ontrack Computer Systems -- more on Ontrack later). Some flavors of UNIX handle a mixture of controllers better than others (e.g., IA 5.4 had probs mixing ESDI and SCSI controllers under certain conditions).

Procedure:

You should verify that your secondary controller, and associated hard drives, are working properly (you can try this by installing it as the primary system -- removing existing system first!).  Follow above steps 1 to 4, pray, and turn on system! If it still won't work you may need additional drivers. First check with the supplier or manufacture (I know, for example, a DTC ESDI controller comes with the DOS drivers included, and it works perfectly).

I am not sure of operating systems supported by Ontrack Data Systems.  I know that their DOS driver can assist secondary controllers, even allowing two IDEs to co-exist. Likewise, the drivers can also install virtually any drive, regardless of what is supported by the BIOS.

BIG NOTE: The features required in a secondary controller a normally not found on a $30.00 IDE controller. The best thing to do it, if possible, is to get a guarantee from the supplier/manufacture that if it doesn't work (and they can't make it) then they will take it back.

Ontrack supplies a complete range of hard disk products and services -- from driver software, data recovery services, to media and data conversions (including tape backups).  The product I know them from is DiskManager.

Disk Manager is a utility for hard disk management. It will allow you to setup and install virtually any hard disk, regardless of disk's layout and BIOS options available. Disk Manager (version greater than 5.2.X, or there abouts) includes a driver for co-resident controllers.  For driver to work the co-res board must be able to hit the above addresses and must be WD1003 AT command set compatible (this includes most IDE and ESDI boards).

DM contains a number of features, including full diagnostics.  You may not need to know the disk's geometry, as there are numerous layouts stored internally. All you need to do is select the correct model and DM does the rest.

To contact Ontrack: U.S.  (800)-872-2599; UK 0800-24 39 96 this is either an address or phone number! outside U.K. (but NOT U.S.)

44-81-974 5522


SCSI
IO controllers/interfaces: SCSI

Q) 3.8  Which is better, SCSI or IDE?

[From: ralf@wpi.wpi.edu (Ralph Valentino)]

IDE vs SCSI

Non-issues:

1)	SCSI and IDE devices cost approximately the same for the same features (size, speed, access time).  Shop around for good prices.

Advantages of IDE:

1)	faster response time (low request overhead)

2)	hard drive interface is compatible with RLL/MFM/ESDI: any driver for one (including the main system BIOS) will run the other.

3)	IDE controllers are considerably cheaper ($150 and up) than SCSI host adapters.

4)	Will always be the boot device when mixed with SCSI.

Advantages of SCSI:

1)	Supports up to 7 devices per host adapter.  This saves slots, IRQ's, DMA channels and, as you add deviceds, money.

2)	Supports different types of devices simultaneously the same host adapter (hard drives, tape drives, CDROMs, scanners, etc).

3)	SCSI devices will work in other systems as well (Mac, Sparc, and countless other workstations and mainframes).  If you change platforms in the future, you will still be able to use your SCSI devices.

4)	Automatically configures device type, geometry (size), speed and even manufacturer/model number(SCSI-2).  No need to look up CMOS settings.

5)	Busmastering DMA (available in all but a few cheap SCSI host adapters) decreases amount of CPU time required to do I/O, leaving more time to work on other tasks (in multitasking OS's only).

6)	Software portability - drivers are written for the host adapter, not the specific device.  That is, if you have a CDROM driver for your host adapter, you can purchase any brand or speed SCSI CDROM drive and it will work in your system.

7)	Will coexist with any other type of controller (IDE/RLL/MFM/ESDI) or host adapter (other SCSI cards) without any special tricks.  SCSI host adapters do not take up one of the two available hard drive controller port addresses.

8)	greater bandwidth utilization (higher throughput) with multiple devices.  Supports pending requests, which allows the system to overlap requests to multiple devices so that one device can be seeking while the second is returning data.

9)	Ability to "share" devices between machines by connecting them to the same SCSI bus.  (note: this is considerably more difficult to do than it sounds).

10)	Bridges are available to hook RLL and ESDI drives to your SCSI host adapter.  (note: these tend to be prohibitively expensive, though).

Warnings:

1)	With otherwise equal drives, IDE will perform better in DOS due to low command overhead.  SCSI, however, will perform better in multitasking OS's (OS/2, Unix, NT, etc).  If you see speed comparisons (benchmarks), make sure you know what OS they were run under.

2)	Most benchmarks only test one aspect of your system at a time, not the effect various aspects have on each other.  For instance, an IDE drive may get faster throughput but hurt CPU performance during the transfer, so your system may actually run slower.  Similar confusions arise when comparing VLB and EISA host adapters.

3)	When comparing two systems, keep in mind that CPU, memory, cache, and bus speed/type will all effect disk performance.  If someone gets great I/O performance with a particular controller/drive combination on his Pentium, you should not expect your 386SX-25 to get such I/O performance even with the exact same controller/drive combination.

4)	Similarly sized or even priced drives may not perform equally, even if they're made by the same manufacturer.  If you're going to compare two drives, make sure they have the exact same model number.  (IDE drives usually have an 'A' and SCSI drives usually have an 'S' appended to their model number).

Q) 3.9  Can MFM/RLL/ESDI/IDE and SCSI coexist?

The PC is limited to two drive controllers total.  SCSI, however, is a "host adapter" and not a drive controller.  To the rest of your system, it appears more like an ethernet card than a drive controller.  For this reason, SCSI will always be able to coexist with any type dive controller.  The main drawback here is that on most systems, you must boot off a disk on the primary drive controller, if you have one.  That means if you have SCSI and IDE in your system, for example, you can not directly boot from the SCSI drive.  There are various ways to get around this limitation, including the use of a boot manager.

Q) 3.10  What's the difference between SCSI and SCSI-2? Are they compatible?

The main difference between SCSI and SCSI-2 are some new minor features that the average person will never notice.  Both run at a maximum 5M/s.  (note: Fast and Wide SCSI-2 will potentially run at faster rates).  All versions of SCSI will work together.  On power up, the SCSI host adapter and each device (separately) determine the best command set the speed that each is capable of.  For more information on this, refer to the comp.periphs.scsi FAQ.

Q) 3.11  Can I share SCSI devices between computers?

There are two ways to share SCSI devices.  The first is removing the device from one SCSI host adapter and placing it on a second.  This will always work if the power is off and will usually work with the power on, but for it to be guaranteed to work with the power on, your host adapter must be able to support "hot swaps" - the ability to recover from any errors the removal/addition might cause on the SCSI bus.  This ability is most common in RAID systems.

The second way to share SCSI devices is by connecting two SCSI busses together.  This is theoretically possible, but difficult in practice, especially when disk drives are on the same SCSI chain.  There are a number of resource reservation issues which must be resolved in the OS, including disk caching.  Don't expect it to 'just work'.


Thermal Recalibration
IO controllers/interfaces: Thermal Recalibration

Q) 3.12  What is Thermal Recalibration?

When the temperature of the hard drive changes, the media expands slightly.  In modern drives, the data is so densely packed that this expansion can actually become significant, and if it is not taken into account, data written when the drive is cold may not be able to be read when the drive is warm.  To compensate for this, many drives now perform "Thermal Recalibration" every degree C (or so) as the drive warms up and then some longer periodic interval once the drive has reached normal operating temperature.  When thermal recalibration takes place, the heads are moved and the drive may sound like you are accessing it.  This is perfectly normal.

If you're attempting to access the drive when thermal recalibration occurs, you may experience a slight delay.  The only time this becomes important is when you're doing real-time operations like recording / playing sound or video.  Proper software buffering of the data should be able to hide this from the application, but software seldom does the proper thing on its own.  Because of this, a few companies have come out with special drive models for audio/video use which employ special buffering techniques right on the drive.  These drives, of course, cost significantly more than their counterparts.  Some other drives offer a way to trigger thermal recalibration prematurely (thus resetting the timer), so if your real-time operation is shorter than the recalibration interval, you can use this to assure your operation goes uninterrupted.  Disabling or delaying recalibration is dangerous and should be completely avoided.  For more information on the thermal recalibration characteristics of a drive, contact the drive manufacturer directly.


Floppy
IO controllers/interfaces: Floppy

Q) 3.13  How do I swap A: and B:

[From: rgeens@wins.uia.ac.be (Ronald Geens)]

To swap A: and B: drives :

1)	open up your machine and look at the cable that interconnects the 2 drives.

2)	if the cable is twisted, there is no problem, just switch the connectors from 1 drive to the other, and change the bios-setup.

3)	if the cable isn't twisted (which is very,very rare), it's a little harder: leave the cables as they are, but change the jumpers on the drive. (this sounds a lot tougher, but it can usually be done without to much hassle.  When the cable connecting the 2 drives is just a flat one (like the harddisk cable) then you must play with the jumpers on the drives: Most of the time, there is a jumper with 4 pins, with the following layout:

                               _

                              |1|

                             |2*3|

                              ---

Where the * is the 4th unnumbered pin. Normally the A: drive will have a jumper on pin 2 & 4 and the B: drive on 1 & 4. Just change these jumpers around, (i.e. new A: 2&4, new B: 1&4) and change the BIOS configuration.

4)	Don't panic if it doesn't work, just make sure all cables are conected properly and if that doesn't work just restore everything to its old state.

PS. By twisted cable, I mean that between the A: and B: drive, a few wires of the flat cable are turned around.

[From: sward+@CMU.EDU (David Reeve Sward)]

I have found two ways to do this: I originally switched their positions on the cable attached to the controller, and changed the BIOS to reflect this.  I recently got a gsi model 21 controller for my IDE drive, and this controller allows you to specify which drive is A: and B: in software (it lights the LEDs in turn and asks which is A: and which is B:).  This did not require a cable change (but I still changed by BIOS).

Q) 3.14  My floppy drive doesn't work and the light remains on, why?

If you've played around with the floppy cables at all, chances are you put one of them on backwards.  In general, floppy cables aren't keyed to prevent this.  Carefully find pin 1 on all floppy drives and the floppy controller and make sure they all line up with pin 1 on the cable.  If you have trouble with this, "How do I find pin 1..." elsewhere in this FAQ may be of some help.


Serial Ports
IO controllers/interfaces: Serial Ports

Q) 3.15  What is a 16550 and do I need one?

The 16550 is a UART with two 16 byte FIFOs.  A UART is the part of a serial port that takes byte-wide (characters) data and converts it to bit-wide (serial) data, and visa versa.  The FIFO is a buffer which can hold characters until the CPU is ready to remove it or until the serial line is ready to transmit it.  The 'normal' UART in the PC (the 8250 or 16450) only has 1-byte FIFOs.  The additional 15 bytes can be useful when the CPU is busy doing other things - if the CPU isn't able to remove data fast enough, it will be lost.  The OS or program has to explicitly support 16550 to make full use of its advantages.

A very important thing to note is that under DOS, the CPU doesn't have anything else to do, so the 16550 is wasted.  Only under multitasking operating systems does it really become useful.  The 16550 will *not* make your file transfers any faster, it will only prevent data from being lost and relieve your CPU of some overhead.  If you notice system performance dropping like a rock when file transfers are occurring, a 16550 may be helpful.  If you see re-transmissions (bad packets) or "FIFO overrun's" during file transfers under a multitasking OS, try the same thing under DOS - if the errors go away, then chances are a 16550 will be useful.  If they remain, then your problem is likely to be elsewhere.

Q) 3.16  *Are there any >4 serial port cards?


Modems
IO controllers/interfaces: Modems

Q) 3.17  Should I buy an internal or external modem?

[From: arnoud@ijssel.hacktic.nl (Arnoud Martens)]

While low speed modems are often only produced as an internal PC card, most modem manufacturers provide two versions of their higher speed modems:

1:	internal ISA bus card, specially designed to work with the standard PC bus. You just plug it in and configure it to use on port.

2:	external modem that has to be connected to the serial ports of your PC (com 1-4), using a serial RS232 cable.

In most cases the functionality of these two is equal. There are however some differences in using, maintaining and buying these modems. It is very difficult to give an definite answer as to which one is better, it completely depends on your own situation. Some of the points that are in favor of an external modem are:

*	It has lights showing the status of the connection, this can be useful in those (rare) cases that you have problems with the connection.

*	 It can be used on a wide range of systems. External modems are connected using a RS232 cable, a standard that most computer systems support. So you can as easily use your external modem on a Mac, Amiga or Unix box as on your PC.

* 	It doesn't consume power inside the PC (it uses a normal net adapter), and doesn't produce any heat inside your PC.

On the other hand the internal modem has also a couple of advantages compared to an external modem:

*	It is always cheaper, Somewhere in the order of 10% less compared to the same external modem.

*	It doesn't need special serial hardware since it has already been integrated on the board, which will make it even more cheaper.

So basically if portability of your modem is an issue, you are better of with an external modem. But if you only intend to use the modem with your PC and don't have any power problems, an internal modem is the best choice.

Q) 3.18  What do all of the modem terms mean?

[From: arnoud@ijssel.hacktic.nl (Arnoud Martens)]

A modem (MOdulator-DEModulator) is a device capable of converting digital data from your computer into an analog signal that is suitable for transmission over low band width telephone lines. A modem thus makes it possible to connect two computers over a telephone line and exchange data between them.

Basically a modem picks up the phone, and dails a number. A modem on the other side will pick up the phone and the two modems will negotiate which protocol to use. When they agree the actual transmission of data can begin.

The major feature of a modem is the speed that it can achieve connecting to other modems. This speed is often expressed in baud or bits per second. The first is a feature of the line and specifies how much of the bandwidth of the phone channel is used and is fixed to 2400 baud. A baud is defined as the number of lines changes per second. Bits per second is the actual amount of data transmitted in one second. Most modems are capable of sending more than one bit per line transition by using very intelligent signal modulation techniques. So the bps can be eight times higher compared to trhe baud rate.

The modulation techniques that a modem uses are standarized by the ITU-T ( former CCITT), so that modems of different brands can connect to each other as they use the same modulation schemes. These standards are often incorporated in a protocol definition that is referred to by the letter V followed by a number. The most common protocols are:

    V21: (300 baud)

    V22bis: (2400 baud)

    V32: (9600 baud)

    V32bis: (14400 baud)

A modem is often advertised only by its fastest protocol, most of these modems "speak" slower protocols as well.

There are also standards on using data compression by the modem, such as MNP5 and V42bis, and error control protocols (V42 and MNP4). These standards can reduce the transmitted data by a factor four, by using advanced compression techniques.

To give you an idea a how fast fast is in modem technology: V32bis transmits somewhat like 1600 characters per second (that is ~33% of 1 page of text). Transferring a file of 1Mb takes about 12 minutes. Using V42bis can speed up transmission to 4000 characters per second for uncompressed data.

Apart from these standardized protocols there are also faster protocols which are supported by some modem manufacturers. But remember anything faster than 14k4 is *not yet* standarized, and often different manufacturers use their own modulation scheme that allows only their own modems communicate at that speed. The most common high speed protocols are:

    V32 terbo (19200 baud)

    V34 (28800 baud) or Vfast.

The standard for V34 is being worked on, it will be released somewhere in 1994. Some modem manufacturers already sell modems with the (prelimenary) V34 standard. If you are serious about buying a fast modem, upgradability to this standard should be provided by the manufacturer.

When you use your modem it is important to differentiate between command status and connect status of your modem. When you are connected to an another modem everything you send to the modem, will be transmitted to the other modem. In command mode everything you type will be recieved and interpreted by the modem. Command mode allows you to change the default settings for youyr modem.

In command mode it is likely that your modem will respond to the Hayes AT command set. "AT commands" all have prefix AT, and can be used to change the (default) settings of your modem. To check if your modem works, fire up a terminal program (such as kermit), connect to your modem (in kermit c [ENTER]) and issue AT [ENTER], if your modem works it should respond with OK. For a list of all "AT commands" see the manual of your modem, as most AT commands are modem specific.

If you buy a fax-modem, you should pay attention to a couple of things. First the modem must support Class 2 fax commands, furthermore automatic fax mode selection is a big pro. That means if you receive a call the modem is capable of detecting a fax message or a modem connection and act properly (start up a fax receiving program or spawn something like a login process on the connection).

Finally there is no best modem to get, brands and qualities change very fast, as do the prices. If you are interested in buying one, subscribe to the newsgroup comp.dcom.modems, most postings in this group are very brand oriented and you will recognize fast enough which users are satisfied over their modems and which are not.


Cards
IO controllers/interfaces: Cards

Q) 3.19  What kinds of sound cards are avalable?

This is covered in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard FAQ, archive name:

PCsoundcard/soundcard-faq.  Please refer to this document for more information.

Q) 3.20  Where can I find EISA/VLB sound and IO cards?

Chances are that you won't be able to find them anywhere, and if you do, they won't be worth the money.  Sound and IO cards have very low bandwidth requirements, over 10 times lower than the ISA bandwidth and over 60 times lower than the EISA bandwidth.  For this reason, there is no advantage in placing them on the more expensive EISA/VLB cards when the less expensive ISA will more than suffice, especially considering than all ISA cards will work in an EISA/VLB slot.


Keyboard
IO controllers/interfaces: Keyboard

Q) 3.21  How does the keyboard interface work?

[From: jhallen@world.std.com (Joseph H Allen)]

The IBM keyboard is connected to the computer through a serial interface similar to a COM port.  When you press a key, the keyboard sends a "scan-code" for that key to the computer.  When you release the key, the keyboard sends a release code to the computer.  If you hold down one key and press and release another key, the computer will receive the scan-code for the held key and a scan and release code for the other key.  Since the release code for the held key was not received, the computer knows that the held key was down while the other key was pressed.  In this way, the computer can handle the Shift, Alt and Ctrl keys (and any key could work like a shift key, since all keys work alike).  The ROM BIOS in the computer buffers the data from the keyboard, translates the scan-codes to ASCII and handles the operation of the shift and lock keys.  The keyboard itself also has a small buffer and there is hardware flow-control for preventing overruns.  All of this seems simple and quite elegant, but by the time we get to the AT keyboard the details of the implementation are so complicated as to ruin an otherwise ideal keyboard.

The XT keyboard's interface almost captures the above elegance (indeed it is the only elegant thing about the XT, IMHO).  The interface uses a 5-pin DIN connector with these signal assignments:

     1     CLK/CTS (open-collector)

     2     RxD

     3     RESET

     4     GND

     5     +5V

When the keyboard has a byte to send to the computer, it shifts 9 bits out to the data line (RxD) with nine clock pulses on the CLK line.  The data format is 1 start bit, followed by 8 data bits.  The baud rate is roughly 2000 bits per second and is not precisely defined.  Once a byte is completely transmitted, the computer holds the Clear-To-Send (CTS) line low to prevent the keyboard from sending any more bytes until the keyboard interrupt handler reads the current one.  Usually a simple 9-bit clearable TTL shift register is used to receive keyboard data.  The 9th bit of the shift register is used to drive an open-collector buffer connected to the CTS line.  When the start-bit gets all of the way through the shift register, it holds the CTS line low itself.  Once the CPU reads the assembled byte, it has only to clear the shift register to release the CTS line and allow another byte to be received.  Three TTL chips or a single PAL can implement an entire XT keyboard interface.

The data bytes which the XT sends are also simple.  Codes 0-127 are the scan-codes.  Codes 128-255 are the release codes- they're the same as the scan codes, but with the high bit set.  The XT keyboard has only 84 keys, so not all of the scan-codes are used.

The only problems with the XT keyboard are the lock-status lights (Caps-lock, Scroll-lock and Num-lock) and the key repeat mechanism.  The lock-status lights can get out of sync with the computer's idea of which lock keys are activated, but this only happens if someone resets the keyboard by unplugging it temporarily.  When you hold a key down long enough, the keyboard starts repeating the scan-code for that key.  The release code is still only transmitted once, when the key is released.  The problem here is that the delay to the start of the repeats and the repeat rate were made too slow.  Of course, the keyboard really doesn't have to handle repeat at all, since the computer knows when keys are pressed and released and has a timer itself.  Old XT keyboard TSRs allowed you to adjust the repeat delay and rate by duplicating the key repeat mechanism in the computer.

Once IBM found that it had a nearly perfect keyboard it, of course, decided that it had to be almost completely redesigned for the AT.  The keyboard didn't have to be redesigned- there were enough extra scan-codes for the AT's 101 key keyboard and the repeat mechanism could simply have been moved to the BIOS.  But no, they had to redesign everything.  Sigh.

The AT uses a 5-pin DIN and the PS/2 uses a smaller connector with the same

signals:

     1     CLK/CTS (open-collector)

     2     RxD/TxD/RTS (open-collector)

     3     Not connected or Reset

     4     GND

     5     +5V

Now the interface is bi-directional.  When the computer wants to send a byte to the keyboard, it asserts RTS and releases CTS.  If you're lucky, the keyboard isn't deciding to transmit at the same time and it responds by giving 10 clock pulses (at about 10000 baud) on the CLK line.  The computer shifts a frame out on TxD on rising clock edges.  The frame format is now 1 start bit, 8 data bits and 1 odd parity bit.  The keyboard takes RTS being held low as the first start bit, and the first data bit should be sent on TxD after the first clock edge is received.  Yes, now you need a full UART for the keyboard interface since you have to both transmit and receive and generate and check parity (but it's still not RS-232- that would have been too logical).  Why do you need parity checking on a three foot long keyboard cable?  Because collisions can occur since the lines are so overloaded with signals with different meanings and parity provides the means for detecting these collisions.

The AT documentation says that pin 3 is "reserved", so the keyboard has to provide its own reset.  But on the original AT, pin 3 was still Reset and IBM's own keyboards at that time needed Reset (original AT keyboards won't work on some old clones because of this).  Don't ask me... I don't understand why they did this.

The protocol on the keyboard interface is now much more complicated.  These bytes are defined:

Commands

ED <byte>	Set leds depending on byte

bit 0 is Scroll lock

bit 1 is Num lock

bit 2 is Caps lock

EE	Echo EE (for testing?)

F0 <mode> 	Select mode 1, 2 or 3

F2	Send keyboard I.D.

F3 <byte> 	Set repeat delay and rate

byte is: 0ddbbaaa

delay is (dd+1)*250 msec

rate is (8+aaa)*2^bb*4 msec

F4	Clear buffer

F5	Restore default settings and wait for enable

F6	Restore default settings

FA	Acknowledge

FE	Error- please retransmit

FF	Reset keyboard

Status returns

00	Buffer overflow

AA	Self-test passed

F0 <scan-code>	Release code

FA	Acknowledge last command

FD	Self-test failed

FC	Self-test failed

FE	Last command in error; re-send

E0 scan/release code	Extended keys in Mode 2

The computer and keyboard must acknowledge each command and key code with either FA if there was no error, or FE if the last command/key-code should be re-sent.  There are three modes of operation for the keyboard, depending on which scan code assignments you want (these can often be set by a switch on the back of keyboard, except that if mode 1 is selected from the switch, the protocol is eliminated an the keyboard works exactly like an original XT keyboard- newer keyboards only support modes 1 and 3).  In mode 1, the keyboard gives XT scan-codes.  The keyboard handles the cursor keypad (which didn't exist on the XT) by simulating pressing or releasing a shift key (depending on whether shift or num-lock are pressed) and sending codes from the numeric keypad.  Mode 2 works like mode 1, except that when the keyboard does the weird stuff with the numeric keypad it prefixes everything with E0 and the release codes are the scan-codes prefixed with F0.  In mode 3, each key gets a unique code and the release codes work as in mode 2: the release are the scan-codes prefixed by F0.

When the AT keyboard is first reset it's supposed to send an AA if its self-test passed or FD or FC if it failed.  But before it does this, it sends a continual stream of AAs with the parity incorrect.  Once the computer sends an FE to indicate that there is a parity error, the keyboard stops sending bad AAs and sends a correct AA or an FD or FC.  This sounds like someone made a quick fix in the keyboard firmware for mis-matched reset timing (the keyboard always finishes resetting before the computer so the computer could miss the AA/FD/FC).

Q) 3.22  Can I fake a keyboard so my computer will boot without it?

[From: jhallen@world.std.com (Joseph H Allen)]

() The IBM Keyboard - how do you use a computer without a keyboard?

Sometimes a PC needs to be set up as a "turn-key" system with no keyboard for security reasons, or simply because the application doesn't need a keyboard.  This causes a dead-lock problem when the system is booting: The BIOS will detect that there is no keyboard and display the message "keyboard failure - press F1 to continue," and the system becomes stuck.

There is usually a BIOS set-up option for disabling the keyboard test.  Check the manual for your motherboard.  If your BIOS does not have this option, you're essentially screwed because there's no simple solution.  You can't wire the DIN to fake the existence of a keyboard since the BIOS checks for a self-test result code generated by the keyboard.  In fact, you would have to implement a small protocol (byte-by-byte handshaking and ACK/NAK) to simulate a keyboard up to its self test. It's conceivable that someone could make a DIN connector with a small microcontroller in it to do this, but I have never seen such a thing.  Another solution is to replace your BIOS with one which has the keyboard test disable option.  However, you have to find one which matches your motherboard.


Storage/Retrieval Devices

Q) 4.1  Why do I lose x Meg on my hard drive?

[From: Mike Long <mike.long@analog.com>]

The problem here is that there are two different measures of hard drive storage, both called megabytes.  Computer hardware works on the basis that one megabyte equals 2^20, or 1048576 bytes.  Hard drive manufacturers, on the other hand, use a megabyte that has 1000000 bytes, because it makes the drive looks larger.  When buying a hard drive, you should expect to lose almost 5% of what the manufacturer claims the drive size to be.

The manufacturers are not totally at fault.  The first track of the drive is used for the partition table and master boot record.  The amount of data lost here depends on your drive parameters; usually there are between 32 and 64 sectors (512 bytes/sector) on this first track, so you lose between 16384 and 32768 bytes that way.

Additional space is taken up by two hidden files on your boot drive.  If you are running MS-DOS, these files are IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS.  If you are running PC-DOS, the names are IBMIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM.

[From: ralf@wpi.wpi.edu (Ralph Valentino)]

Many drives these days advertise unformatted capacity.  The actual formatted capacity may be significantly lower than this as space is taken up marking tracks, sectors, CRC's, etc.  Exactly how much lower depends on the the size of the sectors.  For instance, placing 1k sectors on the disk instead of the usual 512 byte ones may slightly increase the usable storage space on the disk.  Note, however, that many OS's insist you stick to the 512 byte sectors so this option is best left alone.

A large number of drives also do auto-mapping of bad sectors; when a sector goes bad, it will automatically use a spare it kept aside during the format.  This is very handy as the OS never needs to deal with the problem and some OS's, like DOS, will mark a whole cluster bad when a single sector goes bad.  These spare sectors, as many as one per track, remain hidden from the OS but still take up space on your hard drive.

When you get to drives larger than 1.0 gig (SCSI), many host adapter BIOS's can not deal with this as the BIOS was never designed to handle more than 1024 cylinders, 64 heads, and 32 sectors per track. (1024 * 64 * 32 * 512bytes/sec = 1.0 gig).  Luckily, some OS's (like OS/2) ignore the BIOS all together and read the actual geometry from the disk itself.  If, however, you're not using such an OS and you notice that you only have 1.0 gig available, you may want to check with the manufacturer of your SCSI host adapter to see if a newer BIOS is available.


Tape drives
Storage/Retrieval Devices: Tapes

Q) 4.2  *Should I get an IDE/floppy/SCSI/parallel port tape drive?

Q) 4.3  I have two floppies. Can I add a floppy based tape drive?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

It depends. On all modern tape drives: yes. Some old tape drives cannot do this (my old Jumbo). If you have one of these, you will have to buy either a 4-floppy controller or a dedicated tape controller.

Q) 4.4  How fast is a tape drive? Will a dedicated controller improve this?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

The tape connected through a floppy interface is limited to the floppy speed.  On ATs 500Kbit/S. On old XT 250Kbit/S. With card support for 2.88MB floppy, 1Mbit/S. Many of the newer cards support this transfer rate.

If the card operates at 500Kbit/S, a dedicated controller card will speed up the tape by a factor of two.  In many cases, those cards do hardware compression, helping even more.

Q) 4.5  What is QIC80, QIC40?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

QIC stands for Quarter-Inch Cartridge. QIC80 is the standard for 80MB tapes, QIC40 for 40MB tapes. Both standard allows for extended length cassettes of 300ft which gives 120MB and 60MB respectively.

Q) 4.6  How come I can't fit as much stuff on my tape drive as they claim?

Most tape drives these days advertise capacity with an expected compression ratio of 2:1.  If you are backing up compressed files (.Z,.ZIP, .ARC, .JPEG, and so forth) then the drive's own compression scheme will not be as effective.  For these cases, the actual capacity of the tape will be closer to the "uncompressed" capacity.

A table from herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR) shows:

stated capacity	standard	tape length	# tracks
80MB	QIC40	200ft (normal)	15
120MB	QIC40	300ft (extended)	15
160MB (rarely)	QIC80	200ft	28
250MB	QIC80	300ft	28

For all the recording density is 12500 ftpi; max tape speed is 90 ips.

A second reason is that some tapes assume you will be taking full advantage of their "streamers".  Streaming collects a number of tape blocks and writes them all at once, preventing the need for backing up the tape after each block.  This positions the blocks closer together on the tape.  If your backup program is slow, some streamers won't be quite as effective.  If you hear the tape drive motor backing up the tape alot on writes, this could be the case.

Q) 4.7  Are Colorado/Conner/Archive/... tapes compatible with each other?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

If you use the same software: Yes. If you want to use different software, then turn compression off. Compression done in software on those drives is not compatible.

Q) 4.8  How does the drive/software know how long the tape is?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

The magnetic tape has holes in it. Inside the cassette enclosure there

is a small mirror. The drive sends an IR beam through it. Near the end

of tape the drive receives it. If the IR receiver is dusted, the drive

may 'reel off' the cassette.

Q) 4.9  What are all those QICs?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

(Thanks to Karl-Peter Huestegge and Jan Christiaan van Winkel)

QIC-11 is not an Industry Standard and there exist some incompatible

versions.

Standard	Capacity	Tracks	Speed	Rec-density	Flux-Trans	Cartridges
QIC-11	15/30MB (300ft)	4/9	90ips
	20/40MB (450ft)	4/9	90ips		6400ftpi	DC300XL
					10000ftpi	DC300XLP
	27/60MB (600ft)	4/9	90ips		10000ftpi	DC600A
QIC-24	45MB (450ft/137m)	9	90ips	8000bpi	10000ftpi
	55MB (555ft/169m)	9	90ips	8000bpi	10000ftpi
	60MB (600ft/183m)	9	90ips	8000bpi	10000ftpi	DC600A
QIC-120	125MB (600ft/183m)	15	72ips	10000bpi	12500ftpi	DC600A
QIC-150	155MB (600ft/183m)	18	72ips	10000bpi	12500ftpi	DC600XTD
						DC6150
QIC-150	250MB (1000ft/305m)	18	72ips	10000bpi	12500ftpi
QIC-320	320MB (600ft/183m)	26	72ips	16000bpi	20000ftpi	DC6320
QIC-525	525MB (1000ft/305m)	26	72ips	16000bpi	20000ftpi	DC6525
* QIC-1000	1000MB (760ft)
* QIC-2GB
* QIC-10GB

Q) 4.10  Which QICs are read/write compatible?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

 The left column should be read: "Tape drives designed for the QIC-???

 standard *should* be able to read/write the following Tape formats:"

TAPE-DRIVES	Tape - Formats
designed for:	QIC-11	QIC-24	QIC-120	QIC-150	QIC-320	QIC-525
QIC-11	R  W
QIC-24	R  W	R   W	R
QIC-120	R  -	R   -	R   W	R
QIC-150	R  -	R   -	R   W	R   W
QIC-320	R  -	R   -	R   W	R   W	R   W	?   ?
QIC-525	R	R	R   W	R   W	R   W	R   W


Hard Disk Settings
Storage/Retrieval Devices: Hard Disk Settings

Q) 4.11  What is the CMOS/jumper setting for my hard drive?

[From: Carsten Grammes (cagr@rz.uni-sb.de)]

Configuration of IDE Harddisks

last update: 24 March 1994

collected by Carsten Grammes (cagr@rz.uni-sb.de)

and published on comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware as part of the FAQ.

There is explicitly NO WARRANTY that the given settings are correct or harmless. (I only collect, I do not check for myself!!!). There is always the possibility that the settings may destroy your hardware!

Since I hope however that only well-minded people undergo the effort of posting their settings the chance of applicability exists. If you should agree or disagree with some setting, let me know immediately in order to update the list.

If you possess a HD not mentioned here of which you know BIOS and/or jumper settings, please mail them to me for the next update of the list!

Only IDE (AT-Bus) Harddisks will be accounted for.  If not specified the Landing Zone should be set equal to the number of cylinders. If not specified the 'Write Precompensation' should be set 65535. (There are BIOSes that don't even ask for it).  On most IDE disks these values are dummies, relicts from old MFM times.

The capacity given here is sometimes in Megabytes (1000000 bytes) and sometimes in MB (1048576 bytes). Don't worry! The only right way to calculate the capacity is

    cyl * heads * sec/tr * 512

which gives the capacity in bytes!  Dividing by 1000000 or 1048576 gives the capacity in Megabytes or MB respectively.

If you get problems when installing 2 HD's with correct BIOS and jumper settings, try to swap drive 1 and 2, often that helps.

Please don't flame me because of the 'layout' of the list. Since the available information is so strongly varying I often only pack _YOUR_ mail to me into the list. If someone feels encouraged to improve this, I would be glad to receive a 'lifted' version. But there should be all info contained!

Since the list is rather long, I give here a summary of all drives described therein.

Useful telephone numbers.

and more telephone numbers

Alps

DR311C

CDC

BJ7D5A  94155-48   94335-100  94166-141   94171-300  736 SABRE

BJ7D5A  94295-51   94355-55   94166-182   94171-344  850 SABRE

BJ7D5A  94155-57   94355-100  94186-383   94181-574  1230 SABRE

94155-21 94155-67   94155-135  94186-383H  94208-51

94155-25 94155-77   94205-77   94186-442   94211-91

94155-28 94155-85   94355-150  94216-106   94221-190

94155-36 94155-86   94335-150  94356-200   94351-172

94155-38 94205-51   94156-48   94161-86    368 SABRE

94335-55 94156-67   94166-101  94161-121   500 SABRE

Conner

CP342  CP2034  CP2084   CP3044  CP3104  CP3204  CP30084

CP344  CP2044  CP3000   CP2124  CP3111  CP3204F CP30104

CP2024  CP2064  CP3024   CP3184  CP3114  CP30064 CP30084E

CP30174E  CP30174E  CP3304  CP3544

CP30204   CP30204   CP3364  CP3554

CP30254   CP30254   CP3504  CP30101

Fujitsu

M2611T  M2612ET  M2613ET  M2614ET  M2618T  M2622T  M2623T  M2624T

Hewlett Packard, HP

C2233

IBM

WDA-L160   WDA-L42   IBM 85 MB IDE (number not known)

JVC

JD-E2085M

Kalok

KL3100 KL3120

Maxtor

LXT-200A  2585A  7120A

LXT-213A  7040A  7131AT

LXT-340A  7060A  7213A

LXT437A   7080A  7245A

LXT535A

Micropolis

2105A	  2112A

Microscience

7100-00  8040-00  7070-20  7100-00  7100-20  8040

Miniscribe

8225AT	8051AT	8450AT

NEC

D3735  D3755  D3756  D3741

Quantum

40AT    LPS52AT      ELS42AT

80AT    LPS80AT      ELS85AT

120AT    LPS105AT     ELS127AT

170AT    LPS120AT     ELS170AT

210AT    LPS170AT     LPS540A

425AT    LPS240AT

Rodime

RO3058A  RO3088A  RO3095A  RO3128A  RO3135A  RO3059A  RO3089A

RO3129A  RO3139A  RO3209A  RO3259A

Samsung

SHD-3101A  SHD-3061A  SHD-3062A

Seagate

ST1057a     ST1144a   ST138a       ST274a   ST3283a

ST1090a     ST1156a   ST1400a     ST280a   ST351ax

ST1102a     ST1162a   ST1401a     ST3051a   ST9051a

ST1111a     ST1186a   ST1480a     ST3096a   ST9077a

ST1126a     ST1201a   ST157a       ST3120a   ST9096a

ST1133a     ST1239a   ST2274a     ST3144a   ST9144a

ST3243A     ST125a   ST2383a     ST325ax

ST351AX

ST9235A     (maybe others)

Teac

SD-3105

Toshiba

MK1122FC  MK2024FC  MK2124FC  MK2224FC  MK234FCH  MK234FCF

Western Digital

WDAC140  WDAC280  WDAC1170  WDAC2120  WDAC2170  WDAC2200  WDAC2250

WDAC2340 WDAC2420 WD93044-A WDAH260   WDAH280  WDAP4200

WD93048A

*******************   last but not least   *****************

If I could help you with my little collection and if you live in a

part of the world far away from me, how about a postcard for my pinboard?

I will surely answer!

Carsten Grammes

Saarbruecker Str. 47

D-66292 Riegelsberg

Germany


Hard Disks: Alps
Hard Disk Settings: Alps

Manufacturer: ALPS ELECTRIC Co.

BIOS settings:

Model   Heads  Cylinders  Sectors  L-Zone Size

DR311C   14      868        17      868   105 MB

(Real geometry of drive:   2108 cyl.  2 heads  49 sectors/track   32k internal cache)

Jumpers:

  C/D

 -ACT

 -DSP

 -HSP

  MS3

  SYNC

  DC

  MS0

  MS1

  MS2

Master drive & no slaves present: jumpers on C/D and -ACT.

No other jumpers installed, function unknown.

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: CDC
Hard Disk Settings: CDC

I have the feeling that not all of these are IDE...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MODEL   ST-506           CAP  CYL  H  RWC  WPC ENC  RATE ACCESS  SPT COMMENTS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BJ7D5A  77731614 5.25FH  23   670  4  375  375 M    5             17

BJ7D5A  77731608 5.25FH  29   670  5  375  375 M    5             17

BJ7D5A  77731613              733  5  -    -        5             17

94155-21 WREN-1 5.25FH   21   697  3  698  698 M    5    28 MS    17

94155-25                 24   697  4  698  128 M    5             17

94155-28                 24   697  4  698  128 M    5             17

94155-36 WREN-1 5.25FH   36   697  5  698  698 M    5    28 MS    17

94155-38                 31   733  5  734  128 M    5             17

94155-48 WREN-2 5.25FH   40   925  5  926  926 M    5    28 MS    17

94295-51 WREN-2 5.25FH   43   989  5  990  990 M    5    28 MS    17

94155-57 WREN-2 5.25FH   48   925  6  926  926 M    5    28 MS    17

94155-67 WREN-2 5.25FH   56   925  7  926  926 M    5    28 MS    17

94155-77 WREN-2          64   925  8  926  926 M    5             17

94155-85 WREN-2 5.25FH   71  1024  8   -    -  M    5    28 MS    17

94155-86 WREN-2 5.25FH   72   925  9  926  926 M    5    28 MS    17

94205-51       5.25HH    43   989  5  990  128 M    5    32 MS    17

94335-55        3.5"     46  -     5   -    -  M    5    25 MS    17

94335-100       3.5"     83  -     9   -    -  M    5    25 MS    17

94355-55   SWIFT-2 3.5"  46  -     5   -    -  M    5    16.5 MS  17

94355-100       3.5"     83  -     9   -    -  M    5    16.5 MS  17

    ST-506 RLL

94155-135 WREN-2 5.25HH  115  960  9   -    -  R    7.5  28 MS    26

94205-77  WREN-2 5.25HH  63   989  5   -    -  R    7.5  28 MS    26

94355-150        3.5"    128 -     9   -    -  R    7.5  16.5 MS  26

94335-150        3.5"    128 -     9   -    -  R    7.5  25 MS    26

    ESDI

94156-48   WREN-2        40   925  5  926  926 N    5    28 MS

94156-67   WREN-2        56   925  7  926  926 N    5

94156-86   WREN-2        72   925  9  926  926 N    5

94166-101  WREN-3 5.25FH 86   969  5  970  970 N    10   16.5 MS

94166-141  WREN-3 5.25FH 121  969  7  970  970 N    10   16.5 MS

94166-182  WREN-3 5.25FH 155  969  9  970  970 N    10   16.5 MS

94186-383  WREN V 5.25FH 383 1412 13   -    -  R/N  10   8.3 MS

94186-383H WREN V 5.25FH 383 1224 15   -    -  R/N  10   14.5 MS

94186-442  WREN V 5.25FH 442 1412 15   -    -  R/N  10   16 MS

94216-106  WREN-3 5.25FH 91   969  -   -    -  N    10   16.5 MS

94356-200  SWIFT 3 3.5"  172 -     9   -    -  R/N  10   16.5 MS

WREN III          5.25HH 106  969  5   -    -  R/N  10   18 MS

    SCSI

94161-86   WREN-3 5.25FH 86   969  -   -    -            16.5 MS

94161-121  WREN-3 5.25FH 121  969  -   -    -            16.5 MS

94171-300  WREN-4 5.25FH 300 1365  9   -    -  R         16.5 MS

94171-344  WREN V 5.25FH 344 1549  9   -    -  Z    9-15 17.5 MS

94181-574  WREN V 5.25FH 574 1549 15   -    -  Z    9-15 16 MS

94208-51

94211-91   WREN-3 5.25FH 91   969  -   -    -            16.5 MS

94221-190  WREN V 5.25HH 190 1547  5   -    -  R    10-15 8.3 MS

94351-172  SWIFT 4 3.5"  172 -     9   -    -       10   16.5MS

WREN III         5.25HH  106  969  5   -    -  R/N  10   18 MS

    SMD

368 SABRE  8"            368 -    10   -    -       1.8  18 MS

500 SABRE  8"            500 -    10   -    -       2.4  18 MS

736 SABRE  8"            741 -    15   -    -       1.8  16 MS

850 SABRE  8"            851 -    15   -    -       2.4  16 MS

1230 SABRE 8"           1236 1635 15   -    -       2.4

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAP   	capacity in formatted megabytes

CYL   	maximum number of cylinder

H     	number of data heads

RWC   	start reduced write current

WPC   	start write precomp

ENC   	encoding method r = rll, m = mfm,z = zbr

RATE  	transfer rate in megabits/sec

ACCESS	average access time

SPT   	sectors/track * 512 bytes

FH    	full high form factor

HH    	half high form factor

R     	RLL (run length limited)

N     	NRZ (non return to zero)

M     	MFM (modified frequency modulation)

SA    	stand alone

Z     	zbr

Jumpers are not known (yet).

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Conner
Hard Disk Settings: Conner

Conner drives are low level formatted at the factory. It is only necessary to r

un SETUP, FDISK and DOS FORMAT.

Model	Hds	Cyls	Sec	Pcomp	L-Zone	Type	Table	LED
CP342	4	805	26	0	805	17	n/a	A
CP344	4	805	26	0	805	17	1	A
CP2024	2	653	32	0	653	2	3	n/a
CP2034	2	823	38	0	823	*UT	3	n/a
CP2044	4	552	38	0	552	17	3	n/a
CP2064	4	823	38	0	823	*UT	3	n/a
CP2084	8	548	38	0	548	*UT	3	n/a
CP3000	2	1047	40	0	1047	17	1	A
CP3024	2	636	33	0	636	2	1	A
CP3044	1	1047	40	0	1047	17	1	A
	5	980	17		(also reported)
CP2124	8	560	53	0	560	*UT	3	n/a
CP3184	6	832	33	0	832	*UT	1	A
CP3104	8	776	33	0	776	*UT	1	A
CP3111	8	833	33	0	833	*UT	1	A(?)
CP3114	8	832	33	0	832	*UT	1	A
CP3204	16	683	38	0	683	*UT	2	B
CP3204F	16	683	38	0	683	*UT	3	B
CP30064	4	762	39	0	762	*UT	2	B
CP30084	8	526	39	0	526	*UT	2	B
CP30104	8	762	39	0	762	*UT	2	B
CP30084E4	903	46	0	903	*UT	4	C
CP30174E8	903	46	0	903	*UT	4	C
CP30204	16	683	38	0	683	*UT	4	C
CP30254	see below
CP3304	16	659	63	0	659	*UT	4	D
CP3364	16	702	63	0	702	*UT	4	C
CP3504	16	987	63	0	987	*UT	4	D
CP3544	16	1024	63	0	1024	*UT	4	C
CP3554	16	1054	63	0	1054	*UT	3	B

Table 1 jumper settings:

     Single drive = Jumper ACT and C/D

     Master drive = Jumper ACT, C/D and DSP.

     Slave drive = No jumpers installed.

Table 2 jumper settings:

     Single drive = Jumper E2

     Master drive = Jumper E1 & E2

     Slave drive = No jumpers installed.

Table 3 jumper settings:

     Single Drive = Jumper C/D

     Master Drive = Jumper C/D and DSP

     Slave Drive = No jumpers installed

Table 4 jumper settings:

     Single and Master drive = Jumper C/D

     Slave drive = no jumper

All conner 20 mbyte drives use drive type 2. All conner 40 mbyte drives use drive type 17. *

UT = Universal translate. Select a drive type that is close to, but does not exceed the megabyte capacity of the drive. The drive will translate to the megabyte capacity you have selected.

LED

A: J-4	B: J-1	C: J-5	D: J-3
Pin 1 = +	Pin 3 = +	Pin 3 = +	Pin 3 = +
Pin 2 = -	Pin 4 = -	Pin 4 = -	Pin 4 = -

Conner drives are low level formatted at the factory. It is only necessary to run SETUP, FDISK, and DOS FORMAT.

Comment concerning CP3000 jumpers:

According to your list, all Conners should be 2 or 3 jumpers only.

That's why I'm puzzled with the 4-jumper Conner CP-3000.  In addition to the common jumpers present in Conner - C/D, DSP & ACT, there is an extra one: HSP By trial and error, HSP seems to follow DSP setting.

When I installed a Conner CP3204F (203 MB) as master and a WD Caviar 2200  (203 MB) as slave, both with and without the "CP" jumper, the Caviar had seemingly normal behaviour. However, when doing writes to the Caviar, once in a while it would overwrite directories etc. Using FASTBACK was almost impossible.

The workaround is to install the Caviar as the master, and the Conner as the slave.

and:

information: I am slaving a Conner CP3000 40Meg to a Western Digital Caviar 2200 212 Meg.

the results: I first found out that pin 1 on the CP3000 was LABELED INCORRECTLY on the PC board....had to flip the IDE cable (which made the cable install much more cleanly- no flips....shoulda been my first clue that something was not correct, oh well)

next: I had to DOS-format the CP3000 ALONE on the PC system before it wanted to work with the WD caviar.... weird also: the WD Caviar is partitioned: C:\ was the first 100 Meg and D:\ was the second 100 Meg.  After the CMOS was correctly configured and the drives brought online, the PC AUTOMATICALLY assigned the drives as thus:

C:\ first 100 Meg partition on the WD

D:\ 40 Meg Conner

E:\ second 100 Meg partition on the WD

even FDISK reports the above.

Conner CP 30254

Capacity: 250 MB

Dimensions: 3,5 inch, lowprofile (1 inch)

IDE interface

	Cylinders	Heads	Sectors
Physical specs.:	1985	4	62
Logical specs.:	895	10	55

seek time 12 ms

Rotation speed 4542 rpm

jumpers  	C/D

1 drive master	Y

2 drive master	Y

2 drive slave	N/Y

Subject: Re: Conner CP 30254

I tried several combination and even called Conner for info on configuring two Conner drives as master (301??, a 300+ M Connder drive) and slave (30254).  The jumpers that worked are:

	Pins	Jumpers
Master	1-2	Y (factory setting)
	3-4	Y (factory setting)
Slave	1-2	N
	3-4	Y (factory setting)

So the C/D should mape to Y/N instead of N/Y in the table.

--

Some notes made whilst configuring a pair of Conner IDE drives for Master/Slave operation from Hyundai Super-LT6 Laptop 386sx-20.

Final Working Configuration

Drive 1:  CP3000  40 Mb  Type 17

977 cyl 5 hds  17 sec/trk  Pre 300 LZ 977

Verified configuration as per Grammes' list. HSP does need to follow DSP (empirically) - failure to do so produced behaviour such as LCD screen display scrambling on ROM boot.

Single, Master and Slave configurations all checked out.

Drive 2:  CFA170A 170 Mb  Unknown type

332 cyl  16 hds  63 sec/trk  Pre --- LZ ---

Did not appear on Grammes' list. Successful configuration resulted close to that shown as Table 3 for Conner drives, as follows:

Single	2 links 	(not C)/D and (not A)/(?)

Master	1 link	(not C)/D

Slave	0 links

One link is listed here as (not A)/(?) due to a hole being drilled through the (?) part of the silk screening ...

The drives worked together as either slave or master ...

--

Connor CP30101

760 cyl, 8 hds, Precomp -1, Landing 760, Sec/Track 39, ECC 7 Capacity 121.41M

Model CP342 disk (40 Meg IDE drive)

  Single Drive: E5, E7 jumpers IN

  Master Drive: E6, E7 jumpers IN

  Slave Drive:  E7 jumper IN

In addition, this is an old disk drive.  It was factory configured to use 3:1 interleave.  This can cause timing problems with newer disk drives that are configured for 1:1 interleave when using the same IDE controller.  The CONNER tech support person suggested I only use the CONNER drive as a SLAVE with the newer disk as the MASTER.

This configuration (MAXTOR 7345A as MASTER and CONNER CP342 as SLAVE) has now been in use for over a week and seems to be working fine.

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Fujitsu
Hard Disk Settings: Fujitsu

DETAILS OF FUJITSU DRIVES M261xT (Standard)

	M2614ET	M2613ET	M2612ET	M2611T
Heads (physical)	8	6	4	2
Cyl (physical)	1334	1334	1334	1334
Sec/trk	33	33	33	33
Speed (rpm)	3490	3490	3490	3490
Capacity	180MB	135MB	90MB	45MB
          +-----------------------------------------------+

          |                                               |

          +--+                                            |

    PSU   |  |      CNH-2                                 |

          +--+          1                                 |

        1 |  |          .                    LED          |

          |  | CNH-1    9      CNH-3      Connector       |

          |  |   1           6..1            o o          |

  40-way  |  |   .                           | |          |

    IDE   |  |   .                                        |

          |  |   .                                        |

          |  |  12                                        |

          +--+                                            |

          +-----------------------------------------------+

		Pin	Function
		Position
	*	1- 2	Active mode
		2- 3	Slave present mode
		4- 5	Pin 27=IOCHRDY
CNH-1 JUMPERS	*	5- 6	Pin 27=RESERVED
		7- 8	2 drive system
	*	8- 9	1 drive system
		10-11	Pin 29=IRQ14 : Pin 31=RESERVED
	*	11-12	Pin 31=IRQ14 : Pin 29=RESERVED
		1- 2	SLAVE drive mode
CNH-2 JUMPERS	*	4- 5	MASTER drive mode
		7- 8	ECC 4 bytes
	*	8- 9	ECC 7 bytes
		1- 2	Write protect enabled
CNH-3 JUMPERS	*	2- 3	Write protect disabled
		4- 5 -6	Reserved

Key:  * (I guess!) marks factory default setting for jumper

BIOS SETTINGS

BIOS setting for the M2614ET in my system is 667 cylinders, 33 sectors

and 16 heads.

> I was trying to set my IDE drive in the subject above to a slave drive for

> A Conner 170MB drive and contacting the support company gave me this answer (which works). The factory default on SW2 is On Off Off Off Off Off (1-6). This sets the drive to be a single drive. Setting SW2 to Off On On Off Off Off makes it a slave drive. SW1 has been set to On Off Off On (1-4) all along.

Model	Cylinders	Heads	Sectors	Capacity (million bytes)
M2622T	1013	10	63	326.75
M2623T	1002	13	63	420.16
M2624T	995	16	63	513.51

There are 6 switches on the switch block on these drives.  Only 4 of

them have a use that I am aware of (from my M2624T manual):

Master/Slave	Master (*)	SW1-5 OFF
	Slave	SW1-5 ON
ECC bytes	4 bytes (*)	SW1-4 OFF
	7 bytes	SW1-4 ON
Write Protect	Disabled (*)	SW1-3 OFF
	Enabled	SW1-3 ON
IO Channel Ready	Disabled (*)	SW1-1 OFF
	Enabled	SW1-1 ON

I have no idea about the function of SW1-2 and SW1-6.  The values

listed with a (*) are the factory default settings.

M2618T	202MB  Cyl/hd/spt  718  12  48

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Hewlett Packard
Hard Disk Settings: Hewlett Packard

C2233  	227 MB  Cyl/hd/spt  733 12 53

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: IBM
Hard Disk Settings: IBM

WDA-L160 	163MB	Cyl/hd/spt  984 10 34

WDA-L42	42MB	Cyl/hd/spt  977 5 17

Jumpers for IBM WDA-L160:

Fit JP2 for Master or single drive

Remove JP2 and fit JP3 for Slave

JP1 appears to be always fitted.

Functions of other jumpers unknown at present.

Position of jumpers:

-----------------------------------------

|          Drive Mechanism              |

|                                       |

-----------------------------------------

             PCB              . . . .

                              . . . .

                      JP      4 3 2 1

Also:

IBM 85 M IDE (number not known)

10 Heads  984 Cylinders  17 Sectors  0 WPC  984 LZ

Patches as for L160 above

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: JVC
Hard Disk Settings: JVC

JD-E2085M	79 MB  Cyl/hd/spt  973 4 43

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Kalok
Hard Disk Settings: Kalok

KALOK	KL3100	105 MB
BIOS:	cyl 979	heads 6	sectors 35
KALOK	KL3120	120 MB
BIOS:	Cyl 981	heads 6	sectors 40

The following jumper settings have been reported for KL3100 but are probably

also valid for other Kalok drives.

Single HD:

o o o o o

o o o o-o    <-- same row as pin 1 of the IDE connector.

Master (disk 1):

o o o o o

    |

o o o o o

Slave:

o o o o o

      |

o o o o o

These 5 pairs of pins are at the righthand side of the disk.

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Maxtor
Hard Disk Settings: Maxtor

Model	Cyls	Heads	Sectors	Precomp	Landing Zone
LXT-200A	816	15	32	0	816
LXT-213A	683	16	38	0	683
LXT-340A	654	16	63	0	654
LXT437A	842	16	63	0	842
LXT535A	1036	16	63	0	1024

Jumpers are as follows:

The bottom of the drive looks like this (well, sort of):

|        o o 1-2             |

|        o o 3-4             |

|        o o 5-6             |

|        o o 7-8             |

|        o o 9-10            |

|                            |

+[POWER] [IDE CONNECTOR]-----+

		Single drive	Dual Drive System
Pin numbers	Jumper	System	Master	Slave
1-2	Slave Drive	remove	remove	install
3-4	Activity LED	optional	optional	optional
5-6	Slave Present	remove	remove	optional
7-8	Master Drive	remove	install	remove
9-10	Sync Spindle	remove (n/a)	optional*	remove

* only one drive (the master) in an array should have this jumper installed.

	Hd	Cyl	spt
Maxtor 2585A	10	981	17
Maxtor 7060A	16	467	17	62,0 J14 closed, J13 closed
Maxtor 7060A	7	1024	17	59,5 J14 open, J13 open
Maxtor 7060A	4	762	39	58,0 J14 closed, J13 open
Maxtor 7060A	8	925	17	57,9 J14 open, J13 closed
Maxtor 7120A	16	936	17	124,3 J14 closed, J13 closed
Maxtor 7120A	14	1024	17	119,0 j14 open, J13 open
Maxtor 7120A	8	762	39	116,0 J14 closed, J13 open
Maxtor 7120A	15	900	17	112,0 J14 open, J13 closed
Maxtor 7120A	8	824	33	106,2 J14

Jumpers for the above 2 drives:

                  J11  I/O-channel ready ( open: disabled; close: enabled )

                  J13  see above

                  J14  see above

                  J15  operation-status ( open: normal; close: factory )

       J J J J J

       2 1 1 1 1

       0 9 8 7 6

Power  data-cable

J16: Idle mode latch ( open: disabled; close: enabled )

J17: drive model ( open: 7060A; close 7120A )

J18: ECC Bytes ( open: 7 bytes; close: 4 bytes )

Master/Slave: 	drive is master and alone: 	J20 closed 	J19 closed

drive is master of two drives: 	J20 closed	J19 open

drive is slave of two drives : 	J20 open 	J19 closed

Maxtor 7213A

Default (power-up) AT BIOS Translation Parameters (others possible)

Cyl   Hds  SpT  MBytes

683   16   38   212

There are two sets of jumpers. A set of 5 and a set of 4. With the power and IDE connector toward you, the set of 5 is numbered (left to right) J16 - J20  , and the set of 4 is numbered (bottom to top) J22-J25.

The only jumper of normal interest is J20. Jumper it for only drive in a single drive system, or master drive in a dual drive system.

Remove the jumper J20 for slave drive in a dual drive system.

J19 is a dummy and may be used to store the spare shunt if the drive is configured for a slave mode.

Jumpers J17, J18, J24, J25 are factory reserved. Abnormal operation may occur if jumpered.

Jumper 22 is sync spindle enabled/disabled  (open=disabled)

Jumper 23 is sync slave/master              (open=slave)

Jumper 16 is I/O Channel Ready              (open=disabled)

Maxtor 7245A (245Mb IDE; self-parking; Universal Translate):

Drive type : User defineable

Cyl	Hds	WPC	LZ	S/T
967	16	0	0	31(WPC and LZ optional)

Master(2):  J20 closed

Slave(2):   J20 open (use J19 for shunt storage)

Single:     J20 closed

Basic Specifications

	Formated	Data			Sect.		Average
Model	Capacity	Cylinders	Heads	Disks	Track	Cache	Seek Time
7080A	82.2 MB	1.170	4	2	36	32k	17ms
7040A	41.1 MB	1.170	2	1	36	32k	17ms

 AT BIOS Translation Parameters

Model	Cyls	Heads	Spt	MB
7080A	1039	9	18	82.1
	981	10	17	81.4
	832	6	33	80.4
	497	10	33	80.0
	1024	9	17	76.5
7040A	524	4	40	40.9
	981	4	17	40.7
	977	5	17	40.5

 Technical Notes:

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 * The WPC and Landing Zone BIOS entieres do not need a specific number

   for proper operation. Maxtor AT interface hard drives will ignore and

   override any numbers programmed.

 * Drive is low-level formated with 1:1 interleave at factory, with any

   defects retired to a dedicated non-destructive zone.

 * The drive's on-board controller will auto-translate every cylinder,

   head, and SPT combination listed in the parameters table. Therefore,

   configuration jumpers J13 and J14 are not required for most AT BIOS

   setup applications.

 * The 7080A is shipped with J17-J20 jumered and the 7040A is shipped

   with J18-J20 jumpered to operate as single AT IDE drives. J20 and J19

   control master/slave operation.

 7080A / 7040A Jumper Designation

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Jumper   |               21111    1111  |  J3 1 +12V DC      J7 1 +5V

 Position |               09876    5431  |     2 +12V Ground     2 +12V

          |                              |     3 +5V Ground      3 Ground

 Pins     +[4321]--[1            ]--[321]+     4 +5V DC

         J3 Power     Data Cable   J7 Power

 J20 J19  Master/Slave Select    (*) Single Drive   closed, closed

                                     Master (Dual)  closed, open

                                     Slave (Dual)   open, closed

 J18      ECC Bytes              (*) closed 4 Bytes / open 7 Bytes

 J17      Drive Model                open 7040A / closed 7080A

 J16      Idle Mode Latch        (*) open disabled / closed enabled

 J15      Reserved for Factory   (*) open normal / closed factory

 J11      I/O Channel Ready      (*) open disabled  /  closed enabled

 J14 J13  Default Configuration at Power Up

          Cyls  Heads  SpT  MB     J14     J13     (J17)

 40MB (*)  981    5    17   40.7   open    open    open

           524    4    40   40.9   open    closed  open

 80MB (*)  981   10    17   81.4   open    open    closed

           832    6    33   80.4   open    closed  closed

          1024    9    17   76.5   closed  open    closed

 (60MB)    762    4    39   58.0   closed  closed  closed

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 (*) = Default      Note:  A spare jumper is supplied across J13 and J14.

>I have a 7131AT maxtor in my machine and setup info as follows:

>

>                1002 cylinders

>                8 heads

>                32 sectors

>                0 precomp

>                1002 LZ

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Micropolis
Hard Disk Settings: Micropolis

Drive	2105A	2112A
Unformatted MB	647	1220
Formatted MB	560	1050
Platters	5	8
Heads	8	15
Cylinders	1760	1760

Performance (both):

	Track to track (read)	1.5 msec
	Track to track (write)	2.5 msec
	Average	10 msec
	Max	25 msec
	Avg Rotational Latency	5.56 msec
	Rotational speed	5400 rpm (+/- 5%)
	Data Transfer Rate	upto 5Mbytes/sec
	Internal data rate	24-40 Mbits/sec

BIOS Settings:

2105A		1084 cyl	16 heads	63 sectors
2112A*	master	1024 cyl	16 heads	63 sectors
	slave	1010 cyl	16 heads	63 sectors

* the 2112A emulates both master and slave

Jumpers (labelled J6 on the drive)

----

|oo| W1\ only these 2 are used

|oo| W2/

|oo|

|oo|

|oo|

----

W2	W1
in	in	2112A only - drive emulates both master + slave
in	out	Drive is master, slave is present
out	in	Drive is slave
out	out	Drive is master, no slave present (ie single drive)
Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Microscience
Hard Disk Settings: Microscience

Model: 7100-00

Heads: 7

Cylinders: 855

S/T: 35 (?)

Size: 105M

Model # 8040-00.

Size 40M  5hd/17sec/977cyl

Model	# cyls	# heads	spt	lz	precomp	cap (formatted)
7070-20	960	5	35	960	960	86 MB
7100-00	855	7	35	855	855	107 MB
7100-20	960	7	35	960	960	120 MB
8040	1024	2	40	1024	1024	41 MB

(NOTE: I have no jumper information on the model 8040)

On the 7xxx series the jumper pins are bent parallel to the board. When

they are pointing toward you #1 is on the left, there are 8 altogether.

single drive	all open
master drive	1-2 shorted
slave drive	7-8 shorted
Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Miniscriber
Hard Disk Settings: Miniscribe

MODEL   AT	CAP	CYC	H	RWC	WPC ENC	RATE	ACCESS	SPT  COMMENTS
8225AT          3.5"	21	745	2	-	-	8	28 MS	28
8051AT          3.5"	42	745	4	-	-	8	28 MS	28
8450AT          3.5"	42	745	4	-	-	8	40 MS	28

Master(2):  5-6

Slave(2):   1-2

Single:     1-3 (shunt storage)

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: NEC
Hard Disk Settings: NEC

Model	Cap	Cyl	Hd	Sect	WPcom	LZone
D3735	40 MB	537	4	41
D3755	105 MB	625	8	41
D3756	105 MB	1005	12	17
D3741	44 MB	423	8	26	0	424
Jumper	JP12	JP13	(for all above NEC drives)
Single	0	0
Master	1	0
Slave	1	1

There have been reported difficulties in using WD Caviar as Master and

NEC drives as slave - the other way it works.

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Quantum
Hard Disk Settings: Quantum

Logical Specs for Quantum AT Drives

COMPLIMENTS OF COMPUTER BROKERS OF CANADA

Model	Cap	Avg Acc	Cylinders	Heads	Sectors/Track
	(MB)	(ms)
40AT	42	19	965	5	17
80AT	84	19	965	10	17
120AT	120	15	814	9	32
170AT	168	15	968	10	34
210AT	209	15	873	13	36
425AT	426	14	1021	16	51
LPS 52AT	52	17	751	8	17
LPS 80AT	83	17	611	16	17
LPS 105AT	105	17	755	16	17
LPS 120AT	122	16	901	5	53
LPS 170AT	160	15	968	10	34
LPS 240AT	245	16	723	13	51
LPS 540A	see below

Legend:  1=Jumper Installed  0=No Jumper:

40 & 80 AT Jumpers

DS	SS	Meaning
1	0	Single drive configuration
1	1	Master of dual drive
0	0	Slave of dual drive
0	1	Self-Seek Test

120, 170, 210 & 425 AT Jumpers

DS	SP	SS	Meaning
0	0	0	Slave when the Master is Quantum PRODRIVE other than 40/80A
0	0	1	Slave in PRODRIVE 40/80A mode
0	1	0	Slave when Master is non Quantum Drive
0	1	1	Not Used
1	0	1	Master drive PDIAG mode checking DASP for slave
1	1	0	Master in PDIAG mode using SP to check if slave present
1	1	1	Master in 40/80A mode using SP to check if slave present
1	0	0	Single drive

LPS 52, 80, 105, 120, 170 & 240 AT Jumpers

DS	SP	DM*	Meaning
0	0	0	Slave in standard PDIAG mode for compatibility with drives that use PDIAG-line to handle Master/Slave communications
0	0	1	Slave in PRODRIVE 40/80A mode compat. without using PDIAG line
0	1	0	Self Test
0	1	1	Self Test
1	0	0	Master in PDIAG mode using DASP to check for Slave
1	0	1	Master in 40/80A Mode using DASP to check for Slave
1	1	0	Master in PDIAG mode using SP to check for Slave without checking DASP
1	1	1	Master in 40/80A mode using SP to check for Slave without checking DASP

* While my Spec form marked the jumper name DM, it is labeled as CS on

  my LPS 240AT drive.

Quantum LPS540A:

1120 cyl.    16 hds.     59 sec/trck    541MB

1024 cyl.    16 hds.     63 sec/trck    528MB

The second option is for those that will use the drive under DOS (1024 limit

without driver support).

9-12ms avg. access time

ECC Reed Solomon, 4,500 rpm, local bus support, fast multiword DMA, 128k cache

(of this 32k is used by firmware), read/write caching.

The QUANTUM ELS series:

Model	Cap	Avg Acc	Cylinders	Heads	Sectors/Track
	(MB)	(ms)
ELS42AT	42	-	968	5	17
ELS85AT	85	-	977	10	17
ELS127AT	127	-	919	16	17
ELS170AT	170	-	1011	15	22

Write precomp = 0 for all Quantum drives ( probably no significance)

Landing Zone = Cylinders

Straps: If an ELS drive is

master only, use DS

master with slave, DS or, DS and SP in some cases

slave, no strap

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Rodime
Hard Disk Settings: Rodime

Information for RO 3008A and RO 3009A series hard disk drives:

Drive Types

Model	Cyls	Hds	Sectors/Trk	No. blocks	Formatted Cap.
RO3058A	868	3	34	88,536	45.33 MByets
RO3088A	868	5	34	147,560	75.55 MByets
RO3095A	923	5	34	156,910	80.33 MByets
RO3128A	868	7	34	206,584	105.77 MByets
RO3135A	923	7	34	219,674	112.47 MByets
RO3059A	217	15	28	91,158	46.67 MByets
RO3089A	325	15	28	136,737	70.00 MByets
RO3129A	492	15	28	206,645	105.80 MByets
RO3139A	523	15	28	219,735	112.50 MByets
RO3209A	759	15	28	319,053	163.35 MByets
RO3259A	976	15	28	410,211	210.02 MByets

Link Options

In order to install the Rodime Ro 3000A series drives the dumpers for the single/dual drive and LED operation on the drive need to be set as described in the relevant product specification.

In a single drive environment the drive is described as a Master.

In a dual drive environment the drives are described as a Master and a Slave. This is due to the protocal the takes place between the two drives when performing diagnostics.

There are four links, LK1, LK2, LK4 and LK5, adjacent to the 40 way interface connector. They have the following functions and are described in order as viewed from the end of the drive, with the first jumper described nearest the 40 way interface connector.

LK2: LED
When fitted, this jumper connects the LED drive to pin 39 of the interface. This allows a LED to be connected to the interface. An external current limiting resistor needs to be fitted in series with the LED when this option is selected. The value of the resistor will be dependant on the LED type chosen but will be in the range of 130 Ohms ot 220 Ohms.

LK1: Dual Drives
This jumper must be fitted when two drives are attached to a single bus. It fallows communication across the 40 way interface connector, indicating, to the Master drive, the presence of a Slave.

LK4: Master
When fitted this signifies that the drive jumpered is a Master. If there are two drives connected on a single bus then only one may be jumpered in this way.

LK5: IOChRdy
When fitted this connects the IOChRdy signal to the drive, it is  fitted when the drive is used in host systems that have a higher data transfer rate than the drive i.e. greater than 4 MBytes per second when using 1:1 interleave. This jumper is not normally fitted as most hosts transfer at a lower rate than 4 MBytes per second.

There are four possible Master/Slave configurations in which a drive(s) may be jumpered:

Master, single drive with LED on interface	LK2 & LK4 fitted.
Master, single drive without LED on interface	LK4 only fitted.
Master, dual drive without LED on interface	LK4 & LK1 fitted.
Slave, dual drive without LED on interface	No jumpers fitted.
Master, dual drive with LED on interface	LK4, LK1 & LK2 fitted.
Slave, dual drive with LED on interface	LK2 only fitted.

The Master drive will delay power-up for approximately two seconds to reduce power surges in applications where dual drives are used.

The other connections for a LED will be found close to the 28 way connector at the other end of the drive. This LED driver is not affected by the link options. An internal current limiting resistor is on the drive for this LED driver. Refer to the product specification for further details.

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Samsung
Hard Disk Settings: Samsung

	Cyl	Hd	Sect
SHD-3101A	776	8	33	(100 MB)(MB = 1024 bytes)
SHD-3061A	977	7	17	(56.76 MB)
SHD-3062A	917	15	17	(114 MB)

for drive SHD-3101A, SHD-3061A and SHD-3062A

Jumper	1 drive	2 drives
		Master	Slave
C/D	J	J	NJ
DSP	NJ	J	NJ
ACT	J	(1)	(1)
HSP	NJ	NJ	2)
                       J = Jumpered

                      NJ = No Jumpered

(1) In a two-drive system,it is possible to drive one LED with both drives. An external current limiting resister is required

(2) If the drive is connected to a host that requires that the - DIRVE SLAVE PRESENT be supplied from the slave drive via the interface signal - HOST SLV/ACT, then this jumper must be installed, the ACT jumper must not be installed because the two jumpers are mutually exclusive

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Seagate
Hard Disk Settings: Seagate

There is a list of most Seagate HD (including MFM, SCSI, ESDIand IDE) on

every Simtel mirror under

/msdos/dskutl/1seagate.zip

It contains info about the following drives:

st1144a	st138a	st274a	st3283a
st1057a	st1156a	st1400a	st280a	st351ax
st1090a	st1162a	st1401a	st3051a	st9051a
st1102a	st1186a	st1480a	st3096a	st9077a
st1111a	st1201a	st157a	st3120a	st9096a
st1126a	st1239a	st2274a	st3144a	st9144a
st1133a	st125a	st2383a	st325ax

additional info:

ST3243A	204 MB	Cyl/Hd/spt	1024/12/34
ST351AX	41 MB		820/6/17
ST9235A	200 MB		985/13/32

and also...

pd1:<msdos.info>	(on SIMTEL mirrors)

1SGATHTX.ZIP    Seagate tech support's disk ref (needs HHV20)

This is a concise and complete source of information for all hard disks that Seagate makes, including MFM, RLL, IDE, and SCSI types.  This information includes:

- Detailed technical specifications for each drive

- Switch and Jumper settings for each drive (more than just settings for BIOSs and low--level formatting routines)

- Miscellaneous notes about each drive

This is the most up-to-date information that Seagate provides on its BBS. It is dated 05/14/93.

This file is a hypertext version of file 1SEAGATE.ZIP and requires HHV20.ZIP to view it.

Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Teac
Hard Disk Settings: Teac

Model: SD-3105

	Cyls.	Hd	Sect/T	PCmp	LZone	Capacity
Physical	1282	4	40	-	-	105021440
BIOS (AMI)	641	8	40	0	0	105021440 (100.2M)
(Award)	926	13	17	0	0	104778752(99.9M)
(Phoenix)	776	8	33	0	0	104890368 (100.0M)

Connectors and Jumpers:

   +----+                    1           Jumper  Function

   |....| +---+ +-------/ /---+   2 0       0    ON:  -ACT selected (ext.LED)

   |    | |...| |::::::/ /::::|  ::::            OFF: -SLV PRESENT selected

   +----+ +---+ +-----/ /-----+  3 1        1    ON:  Two HDD's

     J2     J7  40    J1         ----            OFF: Single HDD

   Power (Power)    Signal      Jumpers     2    ON:  Master (/Single)

                                                 OFF: Slave (with 2 units used)

                                            3    ON:  -I/O CH RDY not output

                                                 OFF: -I/O CH RDY is output

Master Slave Settings:

Jumper no.:	1	2
Single	0	1	1, ON= jumpered
Master	1	1	0, OFF = not jumpered
Slave	1	0
Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Toshiba
Hard Disk Settings: Toshiba

	Cap	Cyl	Hd	Spt
MK1122FC	41	977	2	43
MK2024FC	82	977	4	43
MK2124FC	124	934	16	17
MK2224FC	203	684	16	38
MK234FCH	101	845	7	35

Toshiba MK 234FCF.

845	Cyl

7	Head

0	Pre

845	LZ

35	Sectors

101	Size

The jumpers settings I got from Toshiba.  They refer to

connector PJ10, the 1st being the pair of pins closet to the

outside of the drive and the 6th being the pair closest to

center of the drive.

	configuration	jumpers on
	single drive	1st and 3rd
	master w/ slave	1st, 3rd, and 4th
	slave	1st
Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Western Digital
Hard Disk Settings: Western Digital

Caviar series:

Model	Size (Mb)	Cyl	Heads	Sectors
WDAC140	40.7	980	5	17
WDAC280	81.3	980	10	17
WDAC1170	163	1010	6	55
WDAC2120	119.0	1024	14	17
WDAC2170	162.7	1010	6	55
WDAC2200	202.8	989	12	35
WDAC2250	244	1010	9	55
WDAC2340	325.4	1010	12	55
WDAC2420	405.6	989	15	56

> My 1st HD was a Quantum (LPS) 105AT (I assume th LPS, as I haven't any

> docs.)

> >LPS 105AT   105       17           755         16            17

> The second was a Western Digital Caviar 340Mb:

> >WDAC2340    325.4        1010           12        55

> Using the information from your document, I set up the Quantum as master

> and the WDC as slave. This worked fine most of the time, but when booting

> sometimes HDD-controller errors occured. When I switched the drives (WDC

> as master, Quantum as slave) it worked perfectly, as has done ever since.

Manufacturer: Western Digital

Serie:        Caviar

Name:         WDAC2420

Size(Mb):     405.6

Cylinders:    989

Heads:        15

Sectors:      56

(uses dynamic translation)

Jumpers:      CP MA SL

The drive runs as a slave with a WDAC2200 as master just fine.

Please note that these are the *recommended* CMOS parameters. All the disks support so-called dynamic translation, and should thus be able to work with any parameters having fewer sectors than the total number of sectors on the disk.

Now, according to the manual, the jumper settings are as follows:

Jumper	CP	MA	SL
Single	0	0	0
Master	0	1	0
Slave	0	0	1
Slave with Conner CP342 or CP3022	1	0	1

Maybe there are 2 kinds of Caviar's floating around:

If your jumpers read MA SL and SI then use:

Jumper	SI	MA	SL
Single	1	0	0
Master	0	1	0
Slave	0	0	1

There have been reported difficulties in using WD Caviar as Master and

NEC drives as slave - the other way it works.

When I installed a Conner CP3204F (203 MB) as master and a WD Caviar 2200 (203 MB) as slave, both with and without the "CP" jumper, the Caviar had seemingly normal behaviour. However, when doing writes to the Caviar, once in a while it would overwrite directories etc. Using FASTBACK was almost impossible.

The workaround is to install the Caviar as the master, and the Conner as the slave.

I had a WD pirana 4200 (212 mb) IDE drive and added a Caviar 2340 (341 mb) drive.  No matter what I did with the CMOS settings, as soon as I define the D drive (as anything) and rebooted, it would hang for about 2 minutes and then report "D: drive failure".  I am using an intelligent IDE controller since my AMI bios was too old to support IDE drives.

The fix was to call the 4200 the slave and the 2340 the master.

All has been working fine since then.

WD93044-A  (40 MB)

BIOS-Settings

977 cyln, 5 heads, 17 sect, LZone: 977

+-------+ +---+---+---+  1: drive is master

| cable | | 1 | 2 | 3 |  2: drive is slave

+-------+ +---+---+---+  3: second drive is a conner-drive

No jumper set: this is the only drive.

--

WD93048-A

40 MB

Cyl 782

Heads 4

s/track 27

Jumper not known; try settings for WD93044-A

--

WDAH260	60MB	Cyl/Hd/spt	1024 7 17
WDAH280	82MB		980 10 17
WDAP4200	202MB		987 12 35
Hard disk index


Hard Disks: Useful telephone numbers
Hard Disk Settings: Useful telephone numbers

Conner:

  BBS: 408-456-4415

  Talk info: 1-800-426-6637

  FaxBack: 408-456-4903

The "Talk info" number above is now a Fax-on-demand system.  Very nice, considering both the incoming call and outgoing fax are paid for by them! You can also speak with a human for technical assistance at this number.

(Conner Europe (in UK)	+44 628 777277 (voice)

 	+44 628 592801 (fax))

Miniscribe:

  303-651-6000

Maxtor:

  Info/tech support: 800-262-9867

  FAX-back: 303-678-2618

  BBS: 303-678-2222

  They list their 800 number as 1(800)2-MAXTOR.

Quantum:

  408-894-4000

  408-944-0410 (Support)

  408-894-3218 (FAX)

  408-894-3214 (BBS)

Seagate:

  Info/tech support: 408-438-8222

  FAX-back: 408-438-2620

  BBS: 408-438-8771

Western Digital:

  Info/tech support: 	714-932-4900

  BBS:

  U.S. 1200/2400    	714-753-1234

  U.S. 9600         	714-753-1068

  France 1200/2400	-331-69-85-3914 (? French code is 33 not 331)

  Germany 1200/2400 	-49-89-922006-60

  U.K.  1200/2400   	-44-372-360387

The US Toll free number for Western Digital tech support is

800-832-4778

Hard disk index


Video

Q) 5.1  Can I use two video cards in the same system?

[From: uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod (Ron Bean)]

In the past, the only way to do this was to use one Hercules-type monochrome card and one color card (CGA, EGA, or VGA), because the color cards all used the same address space.  Most DOS software will only use one at a time (you can switch between them with the 'mode' command), but debuggers and CAD programs often support this type of dual-display system. You may have to change a setting on your VGA card to make it run in 8-bit mode in order for this to work.

Windows can also be set up this way. Include the line DualDisplay=TRUE (or ON) in your SYSTEM.INI file, in the 386enh section. If you open a DOS shell window and type MODE MONO, the shell will appear on the monochrome monitor.

There are now other types of video cards that don't share the VGA address space, but these combinations don't seem to be supported by software. Some types that have been suggested include TIGA, 8514A, Hercules InColor, and a few other "accelerated" cards. Many EISA video cards have fully addressable video apertures, and come with the appropriate drivers.

A few cards contain more than one VGA chipset and come with special drivers that make it behave like a single VGA card, but they may be expensive and hard to find.

If you just want to display the same image on several monitors, there are (expensive) signal splitters that will do this (try vendors that specialize in things like cables and switchboxes). Signal splitters for EGA/CGA are somewhat cheaper.

Q) 5.2  *What kinds of monitors are available?

Q) 5.3  *Can I get an RGB monitor to work with my PC?

Q) 5.4  *How can I hook more than one monitor to my video card?

Q) 5.5  *Which video card is best for DOS/Windows/X11/OS2?

Q) 5.6  *What is the black horizontal line on my monitor?


Systems

Q) 6.1  *What should I upgrade first?

Q) 6.2  Do I need a CPU fan / heat sink

[From: jruchak@mtmis1.mis.semi.harris.com (John Anthony Ruchak)]

This is highly debatable.  In general, if you buy from a good, self-respecting company, any additional cooling requirements would have been taken care of before your system was delivered to you.

I'm responsible for PC maintenance at my site, and I don't worry about additional cooling in any of the pre-packaged systems we receive.  All rebuilt and/or upgraded 486-33 (or higher) systems do, however, receive additional cooling because older cases may not provide adequate ventilation for today's technology.  Additional cooling on the infamously-hot Pentium (586) is always added.

So, do YOU need a CPU fan in YOUR system?  Probably not for "ready to run out of the box systems."  If you are _REALLY_ worried that your system is suffering from too much heat, consult with a reputable service center.  They will not only answer your questions, but they can also install any additional cooling systems that may be needed.  A good rule of thumb, though - "don't try to fix what isn't broken." In other words, if your system is working, don't look for trouble.

Q) 6.3  What does the turbo switch do?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)]

It slows your system down so you can play games that were written with timing mechanisms based on CPU execution rate.  I know of three implementations:

1.	A programmable divider delivers the clock signal at two different speeds.

2.	Extra wait states are inserted in all memory cycles.

3.	Dummy DMA cycles or extra referesh cycles are inserted. The first is by far the most common.

Q) 6.4  How does the front panel LED display measure the system's speed?

It doesn't.  The only useful information going to these displays is if you are in turbo mode.  They have jumpers or dials behind the display which you can use to set them to show any two arbitrary numbers (for turbo and non-turbo modes).

Q) 6.5  Should I turn my computer/monitor off?

Turning a device on/off causes thermal stress.  Leaving it on causes wear and tear (even on non moving parts).  The only thing you shouldn't do is quickly power cycle the computer.  If you turn it on/off, leave it that way for at least a few seconds.  Other than that, it's up to you.

Q) 6.6  Are there any manufacturers/distributers who read the net?

Yes, it is known that Zeos, Gateway 2000, Adaptec, HP and others all read the net to some extent.  However, for best results, use the support phone numbers.


Diagnostics POST Beep Codes
Diagnostics

Q) 7.1  What do the POST beeps mean?

This section contains information on the following:

IBM

AMI

Phoenix

DTK/ERSO XT BIOS

MR BIOS

Mylex 386 System BIOS

Quadtel AT Compatible BIOS

[From: Shaun Burnett (burnesa@cat.com)]

POST (Power-On Self Test) beeps signal something is wrong with your system.  The meaning of these beeps is BIOS dependent.  Below are the audio codes for, AMI, IBM and Phoenix BIOS's.

IBM

Beep(s) 	Errant device

No beep 	Power supply, system board

1 short beep	System OK

2 short beeps 	POST Error displayed on monitor

Repeating short beeps 	Power supply, system board

3 long beeps	3270 keyboard card

1 long, 1 short beeps 	System board

1 long, 2 short beeps 	Display adapter (MDA, CGA)

1 long, 3 short beeps 	EGA

Continuous beep 	Power supply, system board

AMI

Beep(s) 	Failure

1 short 	DRAM refresh

2 short 	Parity circuit

3 short 	Base 64K RAM

4 short 	System timer

5 short 	Processor

6 short 	Keyboard controller Gate A20 error

7 short 	Virtual mode exception error

8 short 	Display memory R/W test

9 short 	ROM BIOS checksum

1 long, 3 short 	Non-fatal--Conventional/extended memory

1 long, 8 short 	Non-fatal--Display/retrace test

PHOENIX

Beep	Fatal Failures* Beep code	Non-Fatal Failures* code
1-1-3	CMOS write/read(or real- time clock read/write)	4-2-1	Timer tick interrupt test (or in progress)
1-1-4	ROM BIOS checksum	4-2-2	Shutdown test (or in progress)
1-2-1	Programmable interval timer	4-2-3	Gate A20 failure
1-2-2	DMA initialization	4-2-4	Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
1-2-3	DMA page register write/read	4-3-1	RAM test in progress or address failure > FFFFh
1-2-4	SRAM test and configuration	4-3-3	Interval timer Channel 2 (or test)
1-3-1	RAM refresh verification	4-3-4	Time-of-day clock (or test)
1-3-3	1st 64kb RAM chip or data	4-4-1	Serial port (or test)
	line failure, multibit
1-3-4	First 64K RAM odd/even logic	4-4-2	Parallel port (or test)
1-4-1	Address line failure first 64K RAM	4-4-3	Math coprocessor (or test)
1-4-2	Parity failure first 64K RAM	low 1-1-2	System-board select
2-1-1	Bit 0 first 64K RAM	low 1-1-3	Extended CMOS RAM
2-1-2	Bit 1 first 64K RAM
2-1-3	Bit 2 first 64K RAM
2-1-4	Bit 3 first 64K RAM
2-2-1	Bit 4 first 64K RAM
2-2-2	Bit 5 first 64K RAM
2-2-3	Bit 6 first 64K RAM
2-2-4	Bit 7 first 64K RAM
2-3-1	Bit 8 first 64K RAM
2-3-2	Bit 9 first 64K RAM
2-3-3	Bit 10 first 64K RAM
2-3-4	Bit 11 first 64K RAM
2-4-1	Bit 12 first 64K RAM
2-4-2	Bit 13 first 64K RAM
2-4-3	Bit 14 first 64K RAM
2-4-4	Bit 15 first 64K RAM
3-1-1	Slave DMA register
3-1-2	Master DMA register
3-1-3	Master interrupt mask register failure
3-1-4	Slave interrupt mask register failure
3-2-4	Keyboard controller test failure
3-3-4	Screen initialization
3-4-1	Screen retrace
3-4-2	Search for video ROM in progress (not failure)
* Unless otherwise noted.

[From: Will Spencer (will@gnu.ai.mit.edu)]

DTK/ERSO XT BIOS

1 short	Begin POST and End POST

1 long, 1 short	Floppy Disk Drive or Controller Failure

Continuous short	Parity Error in First 64K RAM

Continuous tone	First 64K RAM failure

1 long	Keyboard Failed or Locked, Interrupt or other system board error

long short, long short, long short	Video Initialization Failure, or Invalid Video Switch Setting

MR BIOS

Beep Codes:

:POST Code 1A

low high, low high low high high	Real Time Clock is Not Updating

:POST Code 03

low high, low low low	ROM BIOS Checksum Test

:POST Code 04

low high, high low low	Page Register Test (Ports 81-8F)

:POST Code 05

low high, low high low	8042 Keyboard Controller Selftest

:POST Code 07

low high, high high low	Memory Refresh Circuit Test

:POST Code 08

low high, low low high	Master (16bit) DMA Controller Failure

low high, high low high	Slave (8 bit) DMA Controller Failure

:Post Code 0A

low high, low low low low	Memory Bank 0 Pattern Test Failure

low high, high low low low	Memory Bank 0 Parity Circuitry Failure

low high, low high low low	Memory Bank 0 Parity Error

low high, high high low low	Memory Bank 0 Data Bus Failure

low high, low low high low	Memory Bank 0 Address Bus Failure

low high, high low high low	Memory Bank 0 Block Access Read Failure

low high, low high high low	Memory Bank 0 Block Access Read/Write Failure

:POST Code 0B

low high, high high high low	Master 8259 (Port 21 ) Failure

low high, low low low high	Slave 8259 (Port A1) Failure

:POST Code 0C

low high, high low low high	Master 8259 (Port 20) Interrupt Address Error

low high, low high low high	Slave 8259 (Port A0) Interrupt Address Error

low high, high high low low	8259 (Port 20/A0) Interrupt Address Error

low high, low low high high	Master 8259 (Port 20) Stuck Intercept Error

low high, high low high high	Slave 8259 (Port A0) Stuck Intercept Error

low high, low high high high	System Timer 8254 CH0/IRQ0 Interrupt Failure

:POST Code 0D

low high, high high high high	8254 Channel 0 Test and Initialization

:POST Code 0E

low high, low low low low high	8254 Channel-2 (Speaker) Failure

low high, high low low low high	8254 OUT2 (Speaker Detect) Failure

:POST Code 0F

low high, low high low low high	CMOS RAM Read/Write Test Failure

low high, high high low low high	RTC Periodic Interrupt / IRQ8 Failure

:POST Code 10

low high, low low high low high	Video Initialization and (Cold-Boot) Signon Message

:POST Code 12

low high, high low high low high	Keyboard Controller Failure

:POST Code 17

low high, low low low high high	A20 Test Failure Due to 8042 Timeout

low high, high low low high high	A20 Gate Stuck in Disabled State

:POST Code 19

low high, low high high low high	Memory Parity Error

low high, high high high low high	IO Channel Error

Mylex 386 System BIOS

long	- Begin POST Beep Code

2 long	- Video Card Bad or No Video Card

long, short, long	- Keyboard Controller Error

long, 2 short, long	- Keyboard Error

long, 3 short, long	- Programmable Interrupt Controller

  (8259-1) Error

long, 4 short, long	- Programmable Interrupt Controller

  (8259-1) Error

long, 5 short, long	- DMA Page Register Error

long, 6 short, long	- RAM Refresh Error

long, 7 short, long	- RAM Data Test Error

long, 8 short, long	- RAM Parity Error

long, 9 short, long	- DMA Controller 1 Error

long, 10 short, long	- CMOS RAM Failure

long, 11 short, long	- DMA Controller 2 Error

long, 12 short, long	- CMOS RAM Battery Failure

long, 13 short, long	- CMOS Checksum Failed

long, 14 short, long	- BIOS ROM Checksum Failed

several long beeps	- Multiple failures

Quadtel AT Compatible BIOS

3 short	- Any Failure


POST codes

Q) 7.2  What do the POST codes mean?

This section contains information on the following:

IBM

Award Modular BIOS

Mylex 386 System BIOS

Quadtel AT Compatible BIOS

MR BIOS

(The post codes for MR BIOS are located with the post beeps)

Checkpoint Codes for AMI BIOS  pre-4/9/90 and after 4/9/90

AMI BIOS

AMI Color BIOS (after 2/1/91)

EuroBIOS

Q) 7.3  *I think my cache is bad. What's a good diagnostic?


POST Codes: IBM

[From: zz96sr@sdacs.ucsd.edu (Steve Rusk)]

All personal computer error codes for the Power On Self Test, General Diagnostics, and Advanced Diagnostics consist of a device number followed by two digits other than 00.  (The device number plus 00 indicates successful completion of the test.)

This list is a compilation from various sources, including USENET's Info-IBMPC Digest, IBM Technical Reference Manuals, and IBM Hardware, Maintenance and Service manuals.

01x	Undetermined problem errors.

02x	Power supply errors.

1xx	System board errors.

101	System board error - Interrupt failure.

102	System board error - Timer failure.

103	System board error - Timer interrupt failure.

104	System board error - Protected mode failure.

105	System board error - Last 8042 command not accepted.

106	System board error - Converting logic test.

107	System board error - Hot NMI test.

108	System board error - Timer bus test.

109	Direct memory access test error.

121	Unexpected hardware interrupts occurred.

131	Cassette wrap test failed.

152

161	System Options Error-(Run SETUP) [Battery failure].

162	System options not set correctly-(Run SETUP).

163	Time and date not set-(Run SETUP).

164	Memory size error-(Run SETUP).

199	User-indicated configuration not correct.

2xx	Memory (RAM) errors.

201	Memory test failed.

202	Memory address error.

203	Memory address error.

3xx	Keyboard errors.

301	Keyboard did not respond to software reset correctly, or a stuck key failure was detected.  If a stuck key was detected, the scan code for the key is displayed in hexadecimal.  For example, the error code 49 301 indicates that key 73, the PgUp key, has failed (49 hex = 73 decimal).

302	User-indicated error from the keyboard test, or AT keylock is locked.

303	Keyboard or system unit error.

304	Keyboard or system unit error; CMOS does not match system.

4xx	Monochrome monitor errors.

401	Monochrome memory test, horizontal sync frequency test, or video test failed.

408	User-indicated display attributes failure.

416	User-indicated character set failure.

424	User-indicated 80 X 25 mode failure.

432	Parallel port test failed (monochrome adapter).

5xx	Color monitor errors.

501	 Color memory test failed, horizontal sync frequency test, or video test failed.

508	User-indicated display attribute failure.

516	User-indicated character set failure.

524	User-indicated 80 X 25 mode failure.

532	User-indicated 40 X 25 mode failure.

540	User-indicated 320 X 200 graphics mode failure.

548	User-indicated 640 X 200 graphics mode failure.

6xx	Diskette drive errors.

601	Diskette power-on diagnostics test failed.

602	Diskette test failed; boot record is not valid.

606	Diskette verifysd function failed.

607	Write-protected diskette.

608	Bad command diskette status returned.

610	Diskette initialization failed.

611	Timeout - diskette status returned.

612	Bad NEC - diskette status returned.

613	Bad DMA - diskette status returned.

621	Bad seek - diskette status returned.

622	Bad CRC - diskette status returned.

623	Record not found - diskette status returned.

624	Bad address mark - diskette status returned.

625	Bad NEC seek - diskette status returned.

626	Diskette data compare error.

7xx	8087 or 80287 math coprocessor errors.

9xx	Parallel printer adapter errors.

901	Parallel printer adapter test failed.

10xx	Reserved for parallel printer adapter.

11xx	Asynchronous communications adapter errors.

1101	Asynchronous communications adapter test failed.

12xx	Alternate asynchronous communications adapter errors.

1201	Alternate asynchronous communications adapter test failed.

13xx	Game control adapter errors.

1301	Game control adapter test failed.

1302	Joystick test failed.

14xx	Printer errors.

1401	Printer test failed.

1404	Matrix printer failed.

15xx	Synchronous data link control (SDLC) communications adapter errors.

1510	8255 port B failure.

1511	8255 port A failure.

1512	8255 port C failure.

1513	8253 timer 1 did not reach terminal count.

1514	8253 timer 1 stuck on.

1515	8253 timer 0 did not reach terminal count.

1516	8253 timer 0 stuck on.

1517	8253 timer 2 did not reach terminal count.

1518	8253 timer 2 stuck on.

1519	8273 port B error.

1520	8273 port A error.

1521	8273 command/read timeout.

1522	Interrupt level 4 failure.

1523	Ring Indicate stuck on.

1524	Receive clock stuck on.

1525	Transmit clock stuck on.

1526	Test indicate stuck on.

1527	Ring indicate not on.

1528	Receive clock not on.

1529	Transmit clock not on.

1530	Test indicate not on.

1531	Data set ready not on.

1532	Carrier detect not on.

1533	Clear to send not on.

1534	Data set ready stuck on.

1536	Clear to send stuck on.

1537	Level 3 interrupt failure.

1538	Receive interrupt results error.

1539	Wrap data miscompare.

1540	DMA channel 1 error.

1541	DMA channel 1 error.

1542	Error in 8273 error checking or status reporting.

1547	Stray interrupt level 4.

1548	Stray interrupt level 3.

1549	Interrupt presentation sequence timeout.

16xx	Display emulation errors (327x, 5520, 525x).

17xx	Fixed disk errors.

1701	Fixed disk POST error.

1702	Fixed disk adapter error.

1703	Fixed disk drive error.

1704	Fixed disk adapter or drive error.

1780	Fixed disk 0 failure.

1781	Fixed disk 1 failure.

1782	Fixed disk controller failure.

1790	Fixed disk 0 error.

1791	Fixed disk 1 error.

18xx	I/O expansion unit errors.

1801	I/O expansion unit POST error.

1810	Enable/Disable failure.

1811	Extender card warp test failed (disabled).

1812	High order address lines failure (disabled).

1813	Wait state failure (disabled).

1814	Enable/Disable could not be set on.

1815	Wait state failure (disabled).

1816	Extender card warp test failed (enabled).

1817	High order address lines failure (enabled).

1818	Disable not functioning.

1819	Wait request switch not set correctly.

1820	Receiver card wrap test failure.

1821	Receiver high order address lines failure.

19xx	3270 PC attachment card errors.

20xx	Binary synchronous communications (BSC) adapter errors.

2010	8255 port A failure.

2011	8255 port B failure.

2012	8255 port C failure.

2013	8253 timer 1 did not reach terminal count.

2014	8253 timer 1 stuck on.

2016	8253 timer 2 did not reach terminal count, or timer 2 stuck on.

2017	8251 Data set ready failed to come on.

2018	8251 Clear to send not sensed.

2019	8251 Data set ready stuck on.

2020	8251 Clear to send stuck on.

2021	8251 hardware reset failed.

2022	8251 software reset failed.

2023	8251 software "error reset" failed.

2024	8251 transmit ready did not come on.

2025	8251 receive ready did not come on.

2026	8251 could not force "overrun" error status.

2027	Interrupt failure - no timer interrupt.

2028	Interrupt failure - transmit, replace card or planar.

2029	Interrupt failure - transmit, replace card.

2030	Interrupt failure - receive, replace card or planar.

2031	Interrupt failure - receive, replace card.

2033	Ring indicate stuck on.

2034	Receive clock stuck on.

2035	Transmit clock stuck on.

2036	Test indicate stuck on.

2037	Ring indicate stuck on.

2038	Receive clock not on.

2039	Transmit clock not on.

2040	Test indicate not on.

2041	Data set ready not on.

2042	Carrier detect not on.

2043	Clear to send not on.

2044	Data set ready stuck on.

2045	Carrier detect stuck on.

2046	Clear to send stuck on.

2047	Unexpected transmit interrupt.

2048	Unexpected receive interrupt.

2049	Transmit data did not equal receive data.

2050	8251 detected overrun error.

2051	Lost data set ready during data wrap.

2052	Receive timeout during data wrap.

21xx	Alternate binary synchronous communications adapter errors.

2110	8255 port A failure.

2111	8255 port B failure.

2112	8255 port C failure.

2113	8253 timer 1 did not reach terminal count.

2114	8253 timer 1 stuck on.

2115	8253 timer 2 did not reach terminal count, or timer   2 stuck on.

2116	8251 Data set ready failed to come on.

2117	8251 Clear to send not sensed.

2118	8251 Data set ready stuck on.

2119	8251 Clear to send stuck on.

2120	8251 hardware reset failed.

2121	8251 software reset failed.

2122	8251 software "error reset" failed.

2123	8251 transmit ready did not come on.

2124	8251 receive ready did not come on.

2125	8251 could not force "overrun" error status.

2126	Interrupt failure - no timer interrupt.

2128	Interrupt failure - transmit, replace card or planar.

2129	Interrupt failure - transmit, replace card.

2130	Interrupt failure - receive, replace card or planar.

2131	Interrupt failure - receive, replace card.

2133	Ring indicate stuck on.

2134	Receive clock stuck on.

2135	Transmit clock stuck on.

2136	Test indicate stuck on.

2137	Ring indicate stuck on.

2138	Receive clock not on.

2139	Transmit clock not on.

2140	Test indicate not on.

2141	Data set ready not on.

2142	Carrier detect not on.

2143	Clear to send not on.

2144	Data set ready stuck on.

2145	Carrier detect stuck on.

2146	Clear to send stuck on.

2147	Unexpected transmit interrupt.

2148	Unexpected receive interrupt.

2149	Transmit data did not equal receive data.

2150	8251 detected overrun error.

2151	Lost data set ready during data wrap.

2152	Receive timeout during data wrap.

22xx	Cluster adapter errors.

24xx	Enhanced graphics adapter errors.

29xx	Color matrix printer errors.

2901

2902

2904

33xx	Compact printer errors.

POST codes index


POST Codes: Award Modular BIOS

[From: Will Spencer (will@gnu.ai.mit.edu)]

Code	Meaning

01	- Processor Test 1: Processor Status Verification

02	- Determine Post Type

03	- Clear 8042 Keyboard Controller

04	- Reset 8042 Keyboard Controller

05	- Get Manufacturing Status

06	- Initialize Chips (DMA, 8259's)

07	- Processor Test 2: Read/Write/Verify Registers with Data Pattern FF and 00

08	- Initialize CMOS Timer

09	- EPROM Checksum

0A	- Initialize Video Controller Register 6845

0B	- Test Timer (8254) Channel 0

0C	- Test Timer (8254) Channel 1

0D	- Test Timer (8254) Channel 2

0E	- Test CMOS Shutdown Byte

0F	- Text Extended CMOS

10	- Test DMA Channel 0

11	- Test DMA Channel 1

12	- Test DMA Page Registers

13	- Test Keyboard Controller

14	- Test Memory Refresh

15	- Test 1st 64K of System Memory

16	- Setup Interrupt Vector Table

17	- Setup Video I/O Operations

18	- Test Video Memory

19	- Test 8259 Mask Bits - Channel 1

1A	- Test 8259 Mask Bits - Channel 2

1B	- Test CMOS Battery Level

1C	- Test CMOS Checksum

1D	- Set Configuration from CMOS

1E	- Size System Memory

1F	- Test Found System Memory

20	- Test Stuck 8259 Interrupt Bits

21	- Test Suck NMI Bits (Parity I/O Check)

22	- Test 9259 Working

23	- Test Protected Mode

24	- Size Extended Memory

25	- Test Found Extended Memory

26	- Test Protected Mode Exceptions

27	- Setup Cache Control or Shadow RAM

28	- Setup 8242

29	- Reserved

2A	- Initialize Keyboard

2B	- Initialize Floppy Drive and Controller

2C	- Detect and Initialize COM Ports

2D	- Detect and Initialize LPT Ports

2E	- Initialize Hard Drive and Controller

2F	- Detect and Initialize Math Coprocessors

30	- Reserver

31	- Detect and Initialize Option ROMs

3B	- Initialize Secondary Cache w/OPTi Chipset (486 only)

CA	- Micronics Cache Initialization

CC	- NMI Handler Shutdown

EE	- Unexpected Processor Exceptiom

FF	- INT 19 Boot Attempt

POST codes index


POST Codes: Mylex 386 System BIOS

Code 	Meaning

01	- CPU Test

02	- DMA Page Register Test

03	- Keyboard Controller Test

04	- BIOS ROM Checksum

05	- Send Keyboard Command Test

06	- CMOS RAM Test

08	- RAM Refresh Test

09	- First 64K Memory Test

0A	- DMA Controller Test

0B	- Initialize DMA

0C	- Interrupt Test

0D	- Determine RAM Size

0E	- Initialize Video of EGA/VGA Checksum

10	- Search for Monochrome Card

11	- Search for Color Card

12	- Word Splitter and Byte Shifter Test

13	- Keyboard Test

14	- RAM Test

15	- Timer Test

16	- Initialize Output Port of Keyboard Controller

17	- Keyboard Interrupt Test

POST codes index


POST Codes: Quadtel AT Compatible BIOS

Code 	Meaning

02	- Flag Test

04	- Register Test

06	- System Hardware Initialization

08	- Initialize Chip Set Registers

0A	- BIOS ROM Checksum

0C	- DMA Page Register Test

0E	- 8254 Timer Test

10	- 8254 Timer Initialization

12	- 8237 DMA Controller Test

14	- 8237 DMA Initialization

16	- Initialize 8259/Reset Coprocessor

18	- 8259 Interrupt Controller Test

1A	- Memory Refresh Test

1C	- Base 64KB Address Test

1E	- Base 64KB Memory Test

20	- Base 64KB Test (Upper 16 bits)

22	- 8742 Keyboard Self Test

24	- MC146818 CMOS Test

26	- Start First Protected Mode Test

28	- Memory Sizing Test

2A	- Autosize Memory Chips

2C	- Chip Interleave Enable Test

2E	- First Protected Mode Test Exit

30	- Unexpected Shutdown

32	- System Board Memory Size

34	- Relocate Shadow Ram if Configured

36	- Configure EMS System

38	- Configure Wait States

3A	- ReTest 64K Base RAM

3C	- CPU Speed Calculation

3E	- Get Switches From 8042

40	- Configure CPU Speed

42	- Initialize Interrupt Vectors

44	- Verify Video Configuration

46	- Initialize Video System

48	- Test Unexpected Interrupts

4A	- Start Second Protected Mode Test

4C	- Verify LDT Instruction

4E	- Verify TR Instruction

50	- Verify LSL Instruction

52	- Verify LAR Instruction

54	- Verify VERR Instruction

56	- Unexpected Exception

58	- Address Line 20 Test

5A	- Keyboard Ready Test

5C	- Determine AT or XT Keyboard

5E	- Start Third Protected Mode Test

60	- Base Memory Test

62	- Base Memory Address Test

64	- Shadow Memory Test

66	- Extended Memory Test

68	- Extended Address Test

6A	- Determine Memory Size

6C	- Display Error Messages

6E	- Copy BIOS to Shadow Memory

70	- 8254 Clock Test

72	- MC146818 Real Time Clock Test

74	- Keyboard Stuck Key Test

76	- Initialize Hardware Interrupt Vectors

78	- Math Coprocessor Test

7A	- Determine COM Ports Available

7C	- Determine LPT Ports Available

7E	- Initialize BIOS Data Area

80	- Determine Floppy/Fixed Controller

82	- Floppy Disk Test

84	- Fixed Disk Test

86	- External ROM Scan

88	- System Key Lock Test

8A	- Wait for F1 Key Pressed

8C	- Final System Initialization

8E	- Interrupt 19 Boot Loader

B0	- Unexpected Interrupt

POST codes index


Checkpoint Codes for AMI BIOS after 4/9/90
Checkpoint Codes for AMI BIOS

Release date 4/9/90 and after

Code 	Meaning

01	NMI disabled and 286 register test about to start.

02	286 register test passed.

03	ROM BIOS checksum (32K at F800:0) passed.

04	Keyboard controller test with and without mouse passed.

05	Chipset initialization over, DMA and Interrupt controller disabled.

06	Video disabled and system timer test begin.

07	CH-2 of 8254 initialization half way.

08	CH-2 of timer initialization over.

09	CH-1 of timer initialization over.

0A	CH-0 of timer initialization over.

0B	Refresh started.

0C	System timer started.

0D	Refresh link toggling passed.

10	Refresh on and about to start 64K base memory test.

11	Address line test passed.

12	64K base memory test passed.

15	Interrupt vectors initialized.

17	Monochrome mode set.

18	Color mode set.

19	to the optional video ROM if present.

1A	Return from optional video ROM.

1B	Shadow RAM enable/disable completed.

1C	Display memory read/write test for main display type as set in the CMOS setup program over.

1D	Display memory read/write test for alternate display type complete if main display memory read/write test returns error.

1E	Global equipment byte set for proper display type.

1F	Video mode set call for mono/color begins.

20	Video mode set completed.

21	ROM type 27256 verified.

23	Power on message displayed.

30	Virtual mode memory test about to begin.

31	Virtual mode memory test started.

32	Processor executing in virtual mode.

33	Memory address line test in progress.

34	Memory address line test in progress.

35	Memory below 1MB calculated.

36	Memory above 1MB calculated.

37	Memory test about to start.

38	Memory below 1MB initialized.

39	Memory above 1MB initialized.

3A	Memory size display initiated. This will be updated when the BIOS goes through the memory test.

3B	About to start below 1MB memory test.

3C	Memory test below 1MB completed and about to start above 1MB test.

3D	Memory test above 1MB completed.

3E	About to go to real mode.

3F	Shutdown successful and processor in real mode.

40	CACHE memory on and about to disable A20 address line.

41	A20 address line disable successful.

42	486 internal cache turned on.

43	About to start DMA controller test.

50	DMA page register test complete.

51	DMA unit-1 base register test about to start.

52	DMA unit-1 base register test complete.

53	DMA unit-2 base register test complete.

54	About to check F/F latch for unit-1 and unit-2.

55	F/F latch for both units checked.

56	DMA unit 1 and 2 programming over and about to initialize 8259 interrupt controller.

57	8259 initialization over.

70	About to start keyboard test.

71	Keyboard controller BAT test over.

72	Keyboard interface test over, mouse interface test started.

73	Global data initialization for keyboard/mouse over.

74	Display 'SETUP' prompt and about to start floppy setup.

75	Floppy setup over.

76	Hard disk setup about to start.

77	Hard disk setup over.

79	About to initialize timer data area.

7A	Timer data initialized and about to verify CMOS battery power.

7B	CMOS battery verification over.

7D	About to analyze POST results.

7E	CMOS memory size updated.

7F	Look for <DEL> key and get into CMOS setup if found.

80	About to give control to optional ROM in segment C800 to DE00.

81	Optional ROM control over.

82	Check for printer ports and put the addresses in global data area.

83	Check for RS232 ports and put the addresses in global data area.

84	Coprpcessor detection over.

85	About to display soft error messages.

86	About to give control to system ROM at segment E000.

00	System ROM control at E000 over now give control to Int 19h boot loader.

POST codes index


Checkpoint Codes for AMI BIOS before 4/9/90
Checkpoint Codes for AMI BIOS

Release date prior to 4/9/90

Code	Meaning

01	NMI disabled & 286 reg. test about to start

02	286 register test over

03	ROM checksum OK

04	8259 initialization OK

05	CMOS pending interrupt disabled

06	Video disabled & system timer counting OK

07	CH-2 of 8253 test OK

08	CH-2 delta count test OK

09	CH-1 delta count test OK

0A	CH-0 delta count test OK

0B	Parity status cleared

0C	Refresh & system timer OK

0D	Refresh link toggling OK

0E	Refresh period ON/OFF 50% OK

10	Confirmed refresh ON & about to start 64K memory

11	Address line test OK

12	64K base memory test OK

13	Interrupt vectors initialized

14	8042 keyboard controller test OK

15	CMOS read/write test OK

16	CMOS checksum/battery check OK

17	Monochrome mode set OK

18	Color mode set OK

19	About to look for optional video ROM

1A	Optional video ROM control OK

1B	Display memory read/write test OK

1C	Display memory read/write test for alternate display OK

1D	Video retrace check OK

1E	Global equipment byte set for video OK

1F	Mode set call for Mono/Color OK

20	Video test OK

21	Video display OK

22	Power on message display OK

30	Virtual mode memory test about to begin

31	Virtual mode memory test started

32	Processor in virtual mode

33	Memory address line test in progress

34	Memory address line test in progress

35	Memory below 1MB calculated

36	Memory size computation OK

37	Memory test in progress

38	Memory initialization over below 1MB

39	Memory initialization over above 1MB

3A	Display memory size

3B	About to start below 1MB memory test

3C	Memory test below 1MB OK

3D	Memory test above 1MB OK

3E	About to go to real mode (shutdown)

3F	Shutdown successful and and entered in real mode

40	About to disable gate A-20 address line

41	Gate A-20 line disabled successfully

42	About to start DMA controller test

4E	Address line test OK

4F	Processor in real mode after shutdown

50	DMA page register test OK

51	DMA unit-1 base register test about to start

52	DMA unit-1 channel OK, about to begin CH-2

53	DMA CH-2 base register test OK

54	About to test f/f latch for unit-1

55	f/f latch test both unit OK

56	DMA unit 1 & 2 programmed OK

57	8259 initialization over

58	8259 mask register check OK

59	Master 8259 mask register OK, about to start slave

5A	About to check timer and keyboard interrupt level

5B	Timer interrupt OK

5C	About to test keyboard interrupt

5D	ERROR! timer/keyboard interrupt not in proper level

5E	8259 interrupt controller error

5F	8259 interrupt controller test OK

70	Start of keyboard test

71	Keyboard BAT test OK

72	Keyboard test OK

73	Keyboard global data initialization OK

74	Floppy setup about to start

75	Floppy setup OK

76	Hard disk setup about to start

77	Hard disk setup OK

79	About to initialize timer data area

7A	Verify CMOS battery power

7B	CMOS battery verification done

7D	About to analyze diagnostic test results for memory

7E	CMOS memory size update OK

7F	About to check optional ROM C000:0

80	Keyboard sensed to enable setup

81	Optional ROM control OK

82	Printer global data initialization OK

83	RS-232 global data initialization OK

84	80287 check/test OK

85	About to display soft error message

86	About to give control to system ROM E000:0

87	System ROM E000:0 check over

00	Control given to Int-19, boot loader

POST codes index


 AMI BIOS

Code 	Meaning

01	- 286 Register Test Failed

02	- ROM BIOS Checksum (32KB at F800:0) Failed

03	- ROM BIOS Checksum (32KB at F800:0) Passed

04	- 8259 Interrupt Controller Initialization

05	- Chipset Initialization Over, DMA & Interrupt Controller Disabled

06	- Video Disabled and System Timer Test Begin

07	- CH-2 of 8254 Initialization Half Way

08	- 8254 CH-2 Timer Test to be Completed

09	- 8254 CH-1 Timer Test to be Completed

0A	- 8254 CH-0 Timer Test to be Completed

0B	- DRAM Refresh Failure

0C	- System Timer Started

0D	- Refresh Link Toggling Passed

0E	- Refresh Period ON/OFF 50% OK

10	- Refresh ON and About to Start 64KB Base Memory Test

11	- Address Line Test Passed

12	- 64KB Base Memory Test Passed

13	- Interrupt Vectors Initialized

14	- 8042 Keyboard Controller Test Passed

15	- CMOS Read/Write Test Passed

16	- CNOS Checksum and Battery Check Passed

17	- Monochrome Mode Set

18	- Color Mode Set

19	- Give Control to the Optional Video ROM at Segment C0 if present

1A	- Return from Optional Video ROM

1B	- Display Memory Read/Write Test Passed

1C	- Alternate Display Memory Read/Write Test Passed

1D	- Video Retrace Check Passed

1E	- Global Equipment Byte Set for Proper Display Type

1F	- Video Mode Set Call for Mono/Color Begins

20	- Video Mode Set Completed

21	- ROM Type Verified, Video Display OK

22	- Power On Message Displayed

23	- Power On Message Displayed

30	- Virtual Mode Memory Test About to Begin

31	- Virtual Mode Memory Test Started

32	- Processor Executing in Virtual Mode

33	- Memory Address Line Test in Progress

34	- Memory Address Line Test in Progress

35	- Memory Below 1MB Calculated

36	- Memory Above 1MB Calculated, Memory Size Computation OK

37	- Memory Test About to Start

38	- Memory Below 1MB Initialized

39	- Memory Above 1MB Initialized

3A	- Memory Size Display Initiated

3B	- About to Start Below 1MB Memory Test

3C	- Memory Test Below 1MB Completed

3D	- Memory Test Above 1MB Completed

3E	- About to go to Real Mode (Shutdown)

3F	- Shutdown Successful and Processor in Real Mode

40	- Cache Memory ON and About to Disable A20 Address Line

41	- Gate A-20 Line Disabed Successfully

42	- 486 Internal Cache Turned ON

43	- About to Start DMA Controller Test

4E	- Address Line Test Passed

4F	- Processor in Real Mode After Shutdown

50	- DMA Page Register Test Complete

51	- DMA Unit-1 Base Register Test About to Start

52	- DMA Unit-1 Base Register Test Complete

53	- DMA Unit-2 Base Register Test Complete

54	- About to Check F/F Latch for Unit-1 and Unit-2

55	- F/F Latch for Both Units Checked

56	- DMA Unit-1 and 2 Programming Over

57	- 8259 Initialization Over

58	- 8259 Mask Register Check Passed

59	- Master 8259 Mask Register Passed

5A	- About to Check Timer and Keyboard Interrupt Level

5B	- Timer Interrupt Passed

5C	- About to Test Keyboard Interrupt

5D	- Error!  Timer/Keyboard Interrupt Not in Proper Level

5E	- 8259 Interrupt Controller Error

5F	- 8259 Interrupt Controller Test Passed

70	- About to Start Keyboard Test

71	- Keyboard Controller BAT Test Over

72	- Keyboard Interface Test Over, Mouse Interface Test Started

73	- Global Data Initialization for Keyboard/Mouse Over

74	- Display "Setup" Prompt and About to Start Floppy Setup

75	- Floppy Setup Over

76	- Hard Disk Setup About to Start

77	- Hard Disk Setup Over

79	- About to Initialize Timer Data Area

7A	- Time Data Area Initialized and About to Verify CMOS Battery Power

7B	- CMOS Battery Verification Over

7D	- About to Analyze POST Test Results

7E	- CMOS Memory Size Updated

7F	- Look for <DEL> Key and Get into CMOS Setup if Found

80	- About to Give Control to Optional ROM in Segment C800 to DE00 (Setup)

81	- Optional ROM Control Over

82	- Check for Printer Ports and put the Addresses in Global Data Area

83	- Check for RS232 Ports and Put the Addresses in Global Data Area

84	- Co-processor Detection Over

85	- About to Display Soft Error Messages

86	- About to Give Control to System ROM at Segment E000

87	- System ROM E000:0 Check Over

POST codes index


AMI Color BIOS
AMI Color BIOS after 2/1/91

Code 	Meaning

00	- Going to Give Control to INT 19H Boot Loader

01	- Processor Register Test About to Start, and NMI to be Disabled

02	- Power On Delay Starting

03	- Any Initialization Before Keyboard BAT is in Progress

04	- Reading Keyboard SYS Bit, to Check Soft Reset/Power On

05	- Going to Enable ROM. i.e. Disable Shadow RAM/Cache if Any

06	- Calculating ROM BIOS Checksum

07	- Going to Issue the BAT Command to Keyboard Controller

08	- Going to Verify the BAT Command

09	- Keyboard Command Byte to be Written Next

0A	- Going to Write Command Byte Data

0B	- Going to Issue Pin-23,24 Blocking/Unblocking Command

0C	- NOP Command of Keyboard Controller to be Issued Next

0D	- CMOS Shutdown Register Test to be Done Next

0E	- Going to Calculate CMOS Checksum, and Update DIAG Byte

0F	- CMOS Initialization to begin (If "INIT CMOS IN EVERY BOOT IS SET")

10	- CMOS Status Register About to Init for Date and Time

11	- Going to Disable DMA and Interrupt Controllers

12	- About to Disable Video Display and Init Port-B

13	- Chipset Init/Auto Memory Detection About to begin

14	- 8254 Timer Test About to Start

15	- 8254 CH-2 Timer Test to be Completed

16	- 8254 CH-1 Timer Test to be Completed

17	- 8254 CH-0 Timer Test to be Completed

18	- About to Start Memory Refresh

19	- Memory Refresh Test to be Done Next

1A	- Going to Check 15 Micro Second On/Off Time

1B	- Base 64K Memory Test About to Start

20	- Address Line Test to be Done Next

21	- Going to do toggle Parity

22	- Going for Sequential Data R/W Test

23	- Any Setup Before Interrupt Vector Init About to Start

24	- Interrupt Vector Initialization About to begin

25	- Going to Read I/O Port of 8042 for Turbo Switch (if any)

26	- Going to Initialize Global Data for Turbo Switch

27	- Any Initialization After Interrupt Vector to be Done Next

28	- Going for Monochrome Mode Setting

29	- Going for Color Mode Setting

2A	- About to go for toggle Parity Before Optional ROM Check

2B	- About to do any Setup Required Before Optional Video ROM Check

2C	- About to Look for Optional Video ROM and Give Control

2D	- About to do any Processing after Video ROM Returns Control

2E	- If EGA/VGA Not Found, Then do Display Memory R/W Test

2F	- Display Memory R/W Test About to begin

30	- About to Look for the Retrace Checking

31	- About to do Alternate Display Memory R/W Test

32	- About to Look for the Alternate Display Retrace Checking

33	- Verification of Display Type with Switch Setting and Actual Card to begin

34	- Display Mode to be Set Next

35	- BIOS ROM Data Area About to be Checked

36	- Going to Set Cursor for Power On Message

37	- Going to Display the Power On Message

38	- Going to Read New Cursor Position

39	- Going to Display the Reference String

3A	- Going to Display the Hit <ESC> Message

3B	- Virtual Mode Memory Test About to Start

40	- Going to Verify from Video Memory

41	- Going to Prepare the Descriptor Tables

42	- Going to Enter in Virtual Mode for Memory Test

43	- Going to Enable Interrupts for Diagnostics Mode

44	- Going to Initialize Data to Check Memory Remap at 0:0

45	- Check for Memory Remap at 0:0 and Find the total System Memory Size

46	- About to go For Writing Patterns to Test Memory

47	- Going to Write Patterns in Base 640K Memory

48	- Going to Find Out Amount of Memory Below 1M Memory

49	- Going to Find Out Amount of Memory Above 1M Memory

4A	- Going for BIOS ROM Data Area Check

4B	- Going to Check <ESC> and to Clear Memory Below 1M for Soft Reset

4C	- Going to Clear Memory Above 1M

4D	- Going to Save the Memory Size

4E	- About to Display the First 64K Memory Test

4F	- Going for Sequential and Random Memory Test

50	- Going to Adjust Memory Size for Relocation/Shadow

51	- Memory Test Above 1M to Follow

52	- Going to Prepare to go Back to Real Mode

53	- Going to Enter in Real Mode

54	- Going to Restore Registers Saved During Preparation for Shutdown

55	- Going to Disable Gate A20 Address Line

56	- BIOS ROM Data Area About to be Checked

57	- BIOS ROM Data Area Check to be Completed

58	- Going to Clear Hit <ESC> Message

59	- About to Start DMA and Interrupt Controller Test

60	- About to Verify from Display Memory

61	- About to go For DMA #1 Base Register Test

62	- About to go For DMA #2 Base Register Test

63	- About to go For BIOS ROM Data Area Check

64	- BIOS ROM Data Area Check to be Completed

65	- About to Program DMA Unit 1 and 2

66	- 8259 Interrpt Controller Initialization

67	- About to Start Keyboard Test

80	- About to Issue Keyboard Reset Command

81	- About to Issue Keyboard Controller Interface Test Command

82	- About to Write Command Byte and Init Circular Buffer

83	- About to Check for Lock Key

84	- About to Check for Memory Size Mismatch with CMOS

85	- About to Display Soft Error and Check for Password or Bypass Setup

86	- About to do Programming Before Setup

87	- Going to CMOS Setup Program

88	- About to do Programming After Setup

89	- Going to Display Power On Screen Message

8A	- About to Display <WAIT...> Message, Mouse Check and Initialization Next

8B	- About to do Main and Video BIOS Shadow

8C	- Setup Options Programming After CMOS Setup About to Start

8D	- Going for Hard Disk, Floppy Reset

8E	- About to go For Floppy Check

8F	- Floppy Setup to Follow

90  	- Test for Hard Disk Presence to be Done

91  	- Hard Disk Setup to Follow

92	- About to go for BIOS ROM Data Area Check

93	- BIOS ROM Data Area Check to be Completed

94 	- Going to Set Base and Extended Memory Size

95 	- Going to Verify From Display Memory

96 	- Going to do Any Init Before C800 Optional ROM Control

97  	- Optional ROM Check and Control Will Be Done Next

98 	- Give Control to Required Processing After Optional ROM Returns Control

99  	- Going to Setup Timer Data Area and Printer Base Address

9A  	- Going to Set the RS-232 Base Address

9B 	- Going to do Any Initialization Before Co-Processor Test

9C 	- Going to Initialize the Coprocessor Next

9D 	- Going to do Any Initialization After Co-Processor Test

9E 	- Going to Check Extd Keyboard, Keyboard ID and Num-Lock

9F  	- Keyboard ID Command to be Issued

A0  	- Keyboard ID Flag to be Reset

A1  	- Cache Memory Test to Follow

A2  	- Going to Display Any Soft Errors

A3	- Going to Set the Keyboard Typematic Rate

A4 	- Going to Program Memory Wait States

A5 	- Screen to be Cleared Next

A6 	- Going to Enable Parity and NMI

A7	- Do Initialization Required Before Giving Control to Optional ROM at E000

A8	- E000 ROM to Get Control Next

A9  	- Going to do Any Initialization Required After E000 Optional ROM Control

AA 	- Going to Display the System Configuration

POST codes index


EuroBIOS
EuroBIOS v4.71

03	DMA Page registers OK

04	DMA Page registers failed

05	Keyboard did reply

06	Keyboard did not reply

07	Keyboard self-test passed

08	Keyboard self-test failed

09	8042 was able to read links

0A	8042 was unable to read links

0B	RATMON/DIAG link OK

0C	Keyboard accepted 60h command

0D	Keyboard did not accept 60h

0E	Keyboard parameter accepted

0F	Keyboard parameter not accepted

10	Able to read keyboard command byte

11	Unable to read keyboard command byte

12	Keyboard command byte came back OK

13	Keyboard command byte came back corrupt

14	RAM refresh clock ticking correctly

15	RAM refresh clock not ticking correctly

16	RAM bit test passed

17	RAM bit test failed

18	RAM parity OK

19	RAM parity error

1A	CMOS RAM passed

1B	CMOS RAM failed

1C	CMOS RAM battery OK

1D	CMOS RAM battery faulty

1E	CMOS RAM checksum passed

1F	CMOS RAM checksum failed

20	CMOS RAM battery fault bit set

21	DMA controllers passed

22	DMA controller 1 failed

23	DMA controller 2 failed

24	Protected mode entered safely

25	RAM test completed

26	ROM checksum correct

27	ROM checksum incorrect

28	Protected mode exit successful

29	Keyboard power-up reply received

2A	Keyboard power-up reply not received

2B	Keyboard disable command accepted

2C	Keyboard disable command not accepted

2D	No video display

2E	Reported errors

2F	About to halt

30	Protected mode entered safely

31	RAM test complete

32	PIC 1 (master) passed

33	PIC 1 (master) failed

34	PIC 2 (slave) passed

35	PIC 2 (slave) failed

36	Chipset initialised OK

37	Chipset initilize failed

38	Shadowed BIOS OK

39	Shadowed BIOS failed

3A	Shadowed video BIOS OK

3B	Shadowed video BIOS failed

POST codes index


Misc: Pinout
Misc: Pinouts

Q) 8.1  What is the pin out for ...?

[From: ralf@wpi.wpi.edu (Ralph Valentino)]

This is a list of the pinouts to the more common PC hardware

interfaces.  It is by no means complete.  While I have taken care not

to make any mistakes, I urge you to take caution when using these

tables.  Also, please keep in mind that these are only tables, they

are not a guide to hardware hacking and do not attempt to explain

drive capabilities, signal timings, handling care, or other interface

issues.  As always, make sure you know what you're doing before you

start hooking wires to your PC.

Connectors: 	DB-9

DB-15

DB-15S

DB-25

DIN-5

IDC

Hard Disks:	IDE

ESDI

RLL/MFM

SCSI

Floppy

General input&output:

Parallel, Serial, Game, MIDI, Keyboard

Motherboard

Bidirectional ("Laplink") Parallel Cable

Null Modem

Bus systems: 	EISA/ISA/VLB

PCI Cards Universal/3.3V/5V and 32/64 bit.

Memory: 	SIMM


Pinout: DB, DIN, IDC
Pinout: DB, DIN, IDC and Mainboard

5pin DIN Male

    --+--

   /  ^  \

  | 1   3 |

   \ 425 /

    -----

DB15-S Male

 ----------------------

 \   1  2  3  4  5    /

  \ 6  7  8  9 10    /

   \ 11 12 13 14 15 /

    ----------------

DB9 Male

-------------

\ 1 2 3 4 5 /

 \ 6 7 8 9 /

  ---------

DB15 Male

 --------------------------

 \ 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 /

  \ 9  10 11 12 13 14 15 /

   ----------------------

DB25 Male

 -----------------------------------------

 \ 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 /

  \ 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 /

   -------------------------------------

IDC-50 Male

 --------------//-----

| 1  3  5  7 .//.. 49 |

| 2  4  6  8 //... 50 |

 -----------//--------

(Power Connector) Male

  __________

 /          \

| 4  3  2  1 |

 ------------

Power Connector Male

pin     assignment

1       +12V

2       +12V return

3       +5V return

4       +5V

Speaker Connector

pin     assignment

1       -Speaker

2       [key]

3       GND

4       +Speaker +5V

Turbo Indicator

pin     assignment

1       +5V

2       -High Speed

3       +5V

AT LED Power and Key Lock

pin     assignment

1       LED power

2       GND

3       GND

4       Key Switch

5       GND

AT Backup Battery

pin     assignment

1       Batt+

2       [key]

3       GND

4       GND

Motherboard Power Connectors

pin     P8 assignment

1       Power Good

2       +5v  (or N.C.)

3       +12v

4       -12v

5       GND

6       GND

pin     P9 assignment

1       GND

2       GND

3       -5v

4       +5v

5       +5v

6       +5v

All pinouts


Pinout: Serial, Parallel; MIDI; Game; Keyboard

MIDI 5pin DIN

MIDI In	MIDI Out
pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	N/C	1	N/C
2	N/C	2	GND
3	N/C	3	N/C
4	Current Src	4	Current Sync
5	Current Sync	5	Current Src

Game Port DB15-Female

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	+5V DC	2	Button 4 (A_PB1)
3	Position 0(A_X)	4	GND
5	GND	6	Position 1 (A_Y)
7	Button 5(A_PB2)	8	+5V DC
9	+5V DC	10	Button 6 (B_PB1)
11	Position 2(B_X)	12	GND
13	Position 3(B_Y)	14	Button 7 (B_PB2)
15	+5V DC

Serial Port DB9-Male DB25-Male

9-pin	25-pin	assignment
1	8	DCD (Data Carrier Detect)
2	3	RX(Receive Data)
3	2	TX(Transmit Data)
4	20	DTR (Data Terminal Ready)
5	7	GND (Signal Ground)
6	6	DSR (Data Set Ready)
7	4	RTS (Request To Send)
8	5	CTS (Clear To Send)
9	22	RI(Ring Indicator)

Parallel Port DB25-Female

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	-Strobe	2	Data 0
3	Data 1	4	Data 2
5	Data 3	6	Data 4
7	Data 5	8	Data 6
9	Data 7	10	-Ack
11	Busy	12	Paper Empty
13	Select	14	-Auto Feed
15	-Error	16	-Init
17	-Slct in	18	GND
19	GND	20	GND
21	GND	22	GND
23	GND	24	GND
25	GND

Parallel Port Centronics-36

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	-Strobe	2	Data 0
3	Data 1	4	Data 2
5	Data 3	6	Data 4
7	Data 5	8	Data 6
9	Data 7	10	-Ack
11	Busy	12	Paper Empty
13	Select	14	-Auto Feed
15	{OSCXT}	16	Signal GND
17	Frame GND	18	+5v
19	GND	20	GND
21	GND	22	GND
23	GND	24	GND
25	GND	26	GND
27	GND	28	GND
29	GND	30	GND
31	-Prime	32	-Error
33	Signal GND	34	N/C
35	N/C	36	N/C
AT Keyboard Connector 5pin-DIN	XT Keyboard Connector 5pin-DIN
pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	CLK/CTS (open-collector)	1	CLK/CTS (open-collector)
2	RxD/TxD/RTS (open-collector)	2	Keyboard Data
3	N/C	3	Reset
4	GND	4	GND
5	+5V	5	+5V
All pinouts


Pinout: Floppy Disk Controller

IDC-34 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	GND	2	Density Select
3	GND	4	(reserved)
5	GND	6	(reserved)
7	GND	8	Index
9	GND	10	Motor Enable A
11	GND	12	Drive Sel B
13	GND	14	Drive Sel A
15	GND	16	Motor Enable B
17	GND	18	Direction
19	GND	20	Step
21	GND	22	Write Data
23	GND	24	Floppy Write Enable
25	GND	26	Track 0
27	GND	28	Write Protect
29	GND	30	Read Data
31	GND	32	Head Select
33	GND	34	Disk Change
All pinouts


Pinout: IDE Hard Disk Interface

IDC-40 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	-Reset	2	GND
3	Data 7	4	Data 8
5	Data 6	6	Data 9
7	Data 5	8	Data 10
9	Data 4	10	Data 11
11	Data 3	12	Data 12
13	Data 2	14	Data 13
15	Data 1	16	Data 14
17	Data 0	18	Data 15
19	GND	20	Key
21	(reserved)	22	GND
23	-IOW	24	GND
25	-IOR	26	GND
27	IO Chrdy	28	Ale
29	(reserved)	30	GND
31	IRQ14	32	-IOCS16
33	Addr 1	34	(reserved)
35	Addr 0	36	Addr 2
37	-CS0 (1F0-1F7)	38	-CS1 (3f6-3f7)
39	-Active	40	GND
All pinouts


Pinout: ESDI Hard Disk Interface

               ESDI IDC-34 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	GND	2	Head Sel 3
3	GND	4	Head Sel 2
5	GND	6	Write Gate
7	GND	8	Config/Stat Data
9	GND	10	Transfer Ack
11	GND	12	Attn
13	GND	14	Head Sel 0
15	GND	16	Sect/Add MK Found
17	GND	18	Head Sel 1
19	GND	20	Index
21	GND	22	Ready
23	GND	24	Trans Req
25	GND	26	Drive Sel 1
27	GND	28	Drive Sel 2
29	GND	30	Drive Sel 3
31	GND	32	Read Gate
33	GND	34	Command Data

               ESDI IDC-20 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	Drive Selected	2	Sect/Add MK Found
3	Seek Complete	4	Addr Mark Enable
5	(reserved)	6	GND
7	Write Clk+	8	Write Clk-
9	Cartridge Chng	10	Read Ref Clk+
11	Read Ref Clk-	12	GND
13	NRZ Write Data+	14	NRZ Write Data-
15	GND	16	GND
17	NRZ Read Data+	18	NRZ Read Data-
19	GND	20	GND
All pinouts


Pinout: RLL/MFM  Hard Disk Interface

             RLL/MFM IDC-34 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	GND	2	Head Sel 8
3	GND	4	Head Sel 4
5	GND	6	Write Gate
7	GND	8	Seek Complete
9	GND	10	Track 0
11	GND	12	Write Fault
13	GND	14	Head Sel 1
15	GND	16	(reserved)
17	GND	18	Head Sel 2
19	GND	20	Index
21	GND	22	Ready
23	GND	24	Step
25	GND	26	Drive Sel 1
27	GND	28	Drive Sel 2
29	GND	30	Drive Sel 3
31	GND	32	Drive Sel 4
33	GND	34	Direction In

             RLL/MFM IDC-20 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	Drive Selected	2	GND
3	(reserved)	4	GND
5	(reserved)	6	GND
7	(reserved)	8	GND
9	(reserved)	10	(reserved)
11	GND	12	GND
13	Write Data+	14	Write Data-
15	GND	16	GND
17	Read Data+	18	NRZ Read Data-
19	GND	20	GN D
All pinouts


Pinout: Video

VGA DB15-S Female DB9 Female

15-pin	9-pin	assignment
1	1	Red
2	2	Green
3	3	Blue
4	-	Monitor ID bit 2
5	-	N/C
6	6	GND (red return)
7	7	GND (green return)
8	8	GND (blue return)
9	-	N/C
10	-	GND
11	-	Monitor ID bit 0
12	-	Minitor ID bit 1
13	4	Horizontal Sync
14	5	Vertical Sync
15	-	N/C

Monitor ID bit 0: reserved

Monitor ID bit 1: GND = mono, OPEN = color

Monochrome monitors use the green signal

CGA DB9 Female

pin   assignment

1     GND

2     GND

3     Red

4     Green

5     Blue

6     Intensity

7     (reserved)

8     Horizontal Sync

9     Vertical Sync

EGA DB9 Female

pin   assignment

1     GND

2     Secondary Red

3     Primary Red

4     Primary Green

5     Primary Blue

6     Secondary Green / Intensity

7     Secondary Blue / Mono Video

8     Horizontal Drive

9     Vertical Drive

All pinouts


Pinout: ISA, EISA and VL Bus

EISA/ISA/VLB

-----------------------------------------------

|            (component side)                 |

|                                             |

|   VLB   __ ISA-16bit __       ISA-8bit    __|

 |||||||||  |||||||||||  ||||||||||||||||||| A1(front)/B1(back)

             | | | | |    | | | | | | | | |   <-EISA

                   C1/D1                    E1(front)/F1(back)

                  G1/H1

ISA Bus Connector	EISA Bus Connector
Back Side	Component Side	Back Side	Component Side
pin assignment	pin assignment	pin assignment	pin assignment
B1  GND	A1  CHCHK#	F1  GND	E1  CMD#
B2  Reset DRV	A2  SD7	F2  +5V	E2  START#
B3  +5V	A3  SD6	F3  +5V	E3  EXRDY
B4  IRQ9	A4  SD5	F4  ---	E4  EX32#
B5  -5V	A5  SD4	F5  ---	E5  GND
B6  DRQ2	A6  SD3	F6  ACCESS KEY	E6  ACCESS KEY
B7  -12V	A7  SD2	F7  ---	E7  EX16#
B8  NOWS#	A8  SD1	F8  ---	E8  SLBURST#
B9  +12V	A9  SD0	F9  +12V	E9  MSBURST#
B10 GND	A10 CHRDY	F10 M/IO#	E10 W/R#
B11 SMWTC#	A11 AEN	F11 LOCK#	E11 GND
B12 SMRDC#	A12 SA19	F12 (reserved)	E12 (reserved)
B13 IOWC#	A13 SA18	F13 GND	E13 (reserved)
B14 IORC#	A14 SA17	F14 (reserved)	E14 (reserved)
B15 DACK3#	A15 SA16	F15 BE3#	E15 GND
B16 DRQ3	A16 SA15	F16 ACCESS KEY	E16 ACCESS KEY
B17 DACK1#	A17 SA14	F17 BE2#	E17 BE1#
B18 DRQ1	A18 SA13	F18 BE0#	E18 LA31#
B19 REFRESH#	A19 SA12	F19 GND	E19 GND
B20 BCLK	A20 SA11	F20 +5V	E20 LA30#
B21 IRQ7	A21 SA10	F21 LA29#	E21 LA28#
B22 IRQ6	A22 SA9	F22 GND	E22 LA27#
B23 IRQ5	A23 SA8	F23 LA26#	E23 LA25#
B24 IRQ4	A24 SA7	F24 LA24#	E24 GND
B25 IRQ3	A25 SA6	F25 ACCESS KEY	E25 ACCESS KEY
B26 DACK2#	A26 SA5	F26 LA16	E26 LA15
B27 T/C	A27 SA4	F27 LA14	E27 LA13
B28 BALE	A28 SA3	F28 +5V	E28 LA12
B29 +5V	A29 SA2	F29 +5V	E29 LA11
B30 OSC	A30 SA1	F30 GND	E30 GND
B31 GND	A31 SA0	F31 LA10	E31 LA9
		H1  LA8	G1  LA7
D1  M16#	C1  SBHE#	H2  LA6	G2  GND
D2  IO16#	C2  LA23	H3  LA5	G3  LA4
D3  IRQ10	C3  LA22	H4  +5V	G4  LA3
D4  IRQ11	C4  LA21	H5  LA2	G5  GND
D5  IRQ12	C5  LA20	H6  ACCESS KEY	G6  ACCESS KEY
D6  IRQ15	C6  LA19	H7  D16	G7  D17
D7  IRQ14	C7  LA18	H8  D18	G8  D19
D8  DACK0#	C8  LA17	H9  GND	G9  D20
D9  DRQ0	C9  MRDC#	H10 D21	G10 D22
D10 DACK5#	C10 MWTC#	H11 D23	G11 GND
D11 DRQ5	C11 SD8	H12 D24	G12 D25
D12 DACK6#	C12 SD9	H13 GND	G13 D26
D13 DRQ6	C13 SD10	H14 D27	G14 D28
D14 DACK7#	C14 SD11	H15 ACCESS KEY	G15 ACCESS KEY
D15 DRQ7	C15 SD12	H16 D29	G16 GND
D16 +5V	C16 SD13	H17 +5V	G17 D30
D17 MASTER16#	C17 SD14	H18 +5V	G18 D31
D18 GND	C18 SD15	H19 MAKx	G19 MREQx
All pinouts


Pinout: VESA Standard Feature Connector

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	PB	2	PG
3	PR	4	PI
5	SB	6	SG
7	SR	8	SI
9	Dot Clock	10	Blank
11	HSync	12	VSync
13	GND	14	GND
15	GND	16	GND
17	Ext Video Sel	18	Ext Sync Sel
19	Ext DotClock Sel	20	N/C
21	GND	22	GND
23	GND	24	GND
25	N/C	26	N/C
All pinouts


Pinout: Null Modem

Connector 1	to	Connector 2
DTR		DSR/DCD
DSR/DCD		DTR
RTS		CTS
CTS		RTS
TXD		RXD
RXD		TXD
GND		GND
All pinouts


Pinout: Bidirectional ("Laplink") Parallel Cable

DB-25 male to DB-25 male:

Connector 1	to	Connector 2
2		15
3		13
4		12
5		10
6		11
10		5
11		6
12		4
13		3
15		2
The remainder connect directly through.

All pinouts


Pinout: SIMM

30 pin SIMM

-------------------------------

|                             |

 )                            |

 --|||||||||||||||||||||||||---

   1                       30

72 pin SIMM

---------------------------------------

|                                     |

 )                 _                  |

 --|||||||||||||||/ \|||||||||||||||---

   1             36  37            72

30 pin Fast Page Mode SIMM  256kx8 256kx9 1Mx8 1Mx9 4Mx8 4Mx9

pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment
1       Vcc	9       Gnd	17      A8	25      DQ7
2       -CAS	10      DQ2	18      A9	26      QP
3       DQ0	11      A4	19      A10	27      -RAS
4       A0	12      A5	20      DQ5	28      -CASP
5       A1	13      DQ3	21      -WE	29      DP
6       DQ1	14      A6	22      Gnd	30      Vcc
7       A2	15      A7	23      DQ6
8       A3	16      DQ4	24      N/C

Notes:

QP, CASP and DP are N/C on all x8 bit modules

a9 is a N/C on 256k modules

a10 is a N/C on 256k and 1M modules

72 pin Fast Page Mode SIMM  256k/512k/1M/2M/4M/8M x 32/36 bit

pin     assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment
1       Gnd	19      A10	37      MP1	55      DQ11
2       DQ0	20      DQ4	38      MP3	56      DQ27
3       DQ16	21      DQ20	39      Gnd	57      DQ12
4       DQ1	22      DQ5	40      -CAS0	58      DQ28
5       DQ17	23      DQ21	41      -CAS2	59      Vcc
6       DQ2	24      DQ6	42      -CAS3	60      DQ29
7       DQ18	25      DQ22	43      -CAS1	61      DQ13
8       DQ3	26      DQ7	44      -RAS0	62      DQ30
9       DQ19	27      DQ23	45      -RAS1	63      DQ14
10      Vcc	28      A7	46      N/C	64      DQ31
11      N/C	29      N/C	47      -WE	65      DQ15
12      A0	30      Vcc	48      N/C	66      N/C
13      A1	31      A8	49      DQ8	67      PD1
14      A2	32      A9	50      DQ24	68      PD2
15      A3	33      -RAS3	51      DQ9	69      PD3
16      A4	34      -RAS2	52      DQ25	70      PD4
17      A5	35      MP2	53      DQ10	71      N/C
18      A6	36      MP0	54      DQ26	72      Gnd

Notes:

MP0,MP1,MP2,MP3 are N/C on all x32 bit modules

a9 is a N/C on 256k and 512k modules

a10 is a N/C on 256k, 512k, 1M and 4M modules

RAS1/RAS3 are N/C on 256k, 1M and 4M modules

All pinouts


Pinout: SCSI

SCSI Connector Pinouts (Single Ended) IDC-50 Male

pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment
01      GND	02     -DB0	27     GND	28     GND
03      GND	04     -DB1	29     GND	30     GND
05      GND	06     -DB2	31     GND	32     -ATN
07      GND	08     -DB3	33     GND	34     GND
09      GND	10     -DB4	35     GND	36     -BSY
11      GND	12     -DB5	37     GND	38     -ACK
13      GND	14     -DB6	39     GND	40     -RST
15      GND	16     -DB7	41     GND	42     -MSG
17      GND	18     -DBP	43     GND	44     -SEL
19      GND	20     GND	45     GND	46     -C/D
21      GND	22     GND	47     GND	48     -REQ
23      GND	24     GND	49     GND	50     -I/O
25      (open)	26     TERMPWR

SCSI Connector Pinouts (Single Ended) DB-25 Male

pin	assignment	pin	assignment
1	GND	2	DB1
3	DB3	4	DB5
5	DB7	6	GND
7	-SEL	8	GND
9	TERMPWR	10	-RST
11	-C/D	12	-I/O
13	GND	14	DB0
15	DB2	16	DB4
17	DB6	18	DBP
19	GND	20	-ATN
21	-MSG	22	-ACK
23	-BSY	24	-REQ
25	GND

SCSI Connector Pinouts (Differential) IDC-50 Male

pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment	pin  assignment
01      (open)	02     GND	27     GND	28     GND
03      +DB0	04     -DB0	29     +ATN	30     -ATN
05      +DB1	06     -DB1	31     GND	32     GND
07      +DB2	08     -DB2	33     +BSY	34     -BSY
09      +DB3	10     -DB3	35     +ACK	36     -ACK
11      +DB4	12     -DB4	37     +RST	38     -RST
13      +DB5	14     -DB5	39     +MSG	40     -MSG
15      +DB6	16     -DB6	41     +SEL	42     -SEL
17      +DB7	18     -DB7	43     +C/D	44     -C/D
19      +DBP	20     -DBP	45     +REQ	46     -REQ
21      DIFFSENS	22     GND	47     +I/O	48     -I/O
23      GND	24     GND	49     GND	50     GND
25      TERMPWR	26     TERMPWR
All pinouts


Pinout: PCI Cards Universal/3.3V/5V and 32/64 bit
Pinouts: PCI Cards Universal/3.3V/5V and 32/64 bit

PCI Universal Card 32/64 bit

 ----------------------------------------------------------------

|    PCI         Component Side (side B)                         |

|                                                                |

|                                                                |

|                                                optional        |

|    ____     mandatory 32-bit pins            64-bit pins  _____|

|___|    |||||||--|||||||||||||||||--|||||||--||||||||||||||

         ^     ^  ^               ^  ^     ^  ^            ^

       b01   b11  b14           b49  b52 b62  b63          b94

PCI 5V Card 32/64 bit

|                                                optional        |

|    ____     mandatory 32-bit pins            64-bit pins  _____|

|___|    ||||||||||||||||||||||||||--|||||||--||||||||||||||

PCI 3.3V Card 32/64 bit

|                                                optional        |

|    ____     mandatory 32-bit pins            64-bit pins  _____|

|___|    |||||||--||||||||||||||||||||||||||--||||||||||||||

pin assignment	pin assignment	pin assignment	pin assignment
B1  -12V	A1TRST#	B48  AD[10]	A48  Ground
B2  TCK	A2  +12V	B49 Ground	A49 AD[09]
B3  Ground	A3  TMS	B50 (KEYWAY2)	A50 (KEYWAY2)
B4  TDO	A4  TDI	B51 (KEYWAY2)	A51 (KEYWAY2)
B5  +5V	A5  +5V	B52 AD[08]	A52 C/BE[0]#
B6  +5V	A6  INTA#	B53 AD[07]	A53 +3.3V
B7  INTB#	A7  INTC#	B54 +3.3V	A54 AD[06]
B8  INTD#	A8  +5V	B55 AD[05]	A55 AD[04]
B9  PRSNT1#	A9  reserved	B56 AD[03]	A56 Ground
B10 reserved	A10 +Vi/o	B57 Ground	A57 AD[02]
B11 PRSNT2#	A11 reserved	B58 AD[01]	A58 AD[00]
B12 (KEYWAY1)	A12 (KEYWAY1)	B59 Vi/o	A59 +Vi/o
B13 (KEYWAY1)	A13 (KEYWAY1)	B60 ACK64#	A60 REQ64#
B14 reserved	A14 reserved	B61 +5V	A61 +5V
B15 Ground	A15 RST#	B62 +5V	A62 +5V
B16 CLK	A16 Vi/o	B63 reserved	A63 Ground
B17 Ground	A17 VNT#	B64 Ground	A64 C/BE[7]#
B18 REQ#	A18 Ground	B65 C/BE[6]#	A65 C/BE[5]#
B19 +Vi/o	A19 reserved	B66 C/BE[4]#	A66 +Vi/o
B20 AD[31]	A20 AD[30]	B67 Ground	A67 PAR64
B21 AD[29]	A21 +3.3V	B68 AD[63]	A68 AD[62]
B22 Ground	A22 AD[28]	B69 AD[61]	A69 Ground
B23 AD[27]	A23 AD[26]	B70 +Vi/o	A70 AD[60]
B24 AD[25]	A24 Ground	B71 AD[59]	A71 AD[58]
B25 +3.3V	A25 AD[24]	B72 AD[57]	A72 Ground
B26 C/BE[3]#	A26 IDSEL	B73 Ground	A73 AD[56]
B27 AD[23]	A27 +3.3V	B74 AD[55]	A74 AD[54]
B28 Ground	A28 AD[22]	B75 AD[53]	A75 +Vi/o
B29 AD[21]	A29 AD[20]	B76 Ground	A76 AD[52]
B30 AD[19]	A30 Ground	B77 AD[51]	A77 AD[50]
B31 +3.3V	A31 AD[18]	B78 AD[49]	A78 Ground
B32 AD[17]	A32 AD[16]	B79 +Vi/o	A79 AD[48]
B33 C/BE[2]#	A33 +3.3V	B80 AD[47]	A80 AD[46]
B34 Ground	A34 FRAME#	B81 AD{45]	A81 Ground
B35 IRDY#	A35 Ground	B82 Ground	A82 AD[44]
B36 +3.3V	A36 TRDY#	B83 AD[43]	A83 AD[42]
B37 DEVSEL#	A37 Ground	B84 AD[41]	A84 +Vi/o
B38 Ground	A38 STOP#	B85 Ground	A85 AD[40]
B39 LOCK#	A39 +3.3V	B86 AD[39]	A86 AD[38]
B40 PERR#	A40 SDONE	B87 AD[37]	A87 Ground
B41 +3.3V	A41 SBO#	B88 +Vi/o	A88 AD[36]
B42 SERR#	A42 Ground	B89 AD[35]	A89 AD[34]
B43 +3.3V	A43 PAR	B90 AD[33]	A90 Ground
B44 C/BE[1]#	A44 AD[15]	B91 Ground	A91 AD[32]
B45 AD[14]	A45 +3.3V	B92 reserved	A92 reserved
B46 Ground	A46 AD[13]	B93 reserved	A93 Ground
B47 AD[12]	A47 AD11]	B94 Ground	A94 reserved

Notes:

Pins 63-94 exist on 64 bit PCI implementation only

KEYWAY1 exists on Universal and 3.3V boards, they are Ground on 5V boards

KEYWAY2 exists on Universal and 5V boards, they are Ground on 3.3V boards

+Vi/o is 3.3V on 3.3V boards, 5V on 5V boards, and define signal rails

  on the Universal board.

All pinouts


Misc: Plug and Play

Q) 8.2  *Where are benchmark programs located. What do they mean?

Q) 8.3  What is Plug and Play?

[From: leefi@microsoft.com (Lee Fisher)]

Plug and Play is the name of a technology that lets PC hardware and attached devices work together automatically, reducing end-user complexity. Plug and Play technology is implemented in hardware, in operating systems, and in supporting software such as drivers and in the systemboard's BIOS. Microsoft will support Plug and Play starting with Windows "Chicago" and Windows NT "Cairo". Today there is a solution for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows 3.x using software from Intel which works with the Plug and Play hardware. There are a variety of Plug and Play technologies, today including BIOS, ISA cards, SCSI, IDE CD-ROM, PCMCIA, drivers.

Many specifications are available via anonymous ftp at ftp.microsoft.com:/drg/Plug-and-Play.

Email the PlayList@Microsoft.COM alias to get on a list for announcements regarding new specifications, informations on workshops, etc.

The Compuserve Plug and Play forum (GO PLUGPLAY) is available for technical support issues regarding hardware and driver design issues.

For more related information, on ftp.microsoft.com, see /drg/Plug-and-Play/readme and /drg/Developer-Info/devinfo.zip.

Microsoft is starting a "Plug and Play Hardware Catalog" to showcase Plug and Play hardware, entries are being accepted for the initial issue. Send hardware and company information to:

Plug and Play Catalog

c/o Microsoft Corporation

Hardware Vendor Relations Group, building 6

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, WA 98053-6399 USA


Misc: DOS Partitions

Q) 8.4  What size should I set my DOS partitions to be?

[From: Mike Long <mike.long@analog.com>]

[Some corrections by: Osmo Ronkanen <ronkanen@cc.helsinki.fi>]

This depends on what cluster size you want.  A smaller cluster size is

better, because a small file takes up a whole cluster if there is even

one byte in it; the leftover space is called "slack."  If you have N

files on your drive, and your cluster size is S bytes, then you can

expect to lose N*S/2 bytes to slack space on the average.

The table below shows the maximum partition size to get clusters of a

given size.  You cannot format a hard drive under DOS with a cluster

size less than 2K.

Cluster size	Partition size	FAT type	Notes
4K  (4096 bytes)	16 MB	FAT12
2K  (2048 bytes)	32 MB	FAT16	(DOS versions < 4.0)
2K  (2048 bytes)	128 MB	FAT16	(DOS versions >= 4.0)
4K  (4096 bytes)	256 MB	FAT16
8K  (8192 bytes)	512 MB	FAT16
16K (16384 bytes)	1 GB	FAT16
32K (32768 bytes)	2 GB	FAT16
64K (65536 bytes)	4 GB	FAT16

Another consideration is backup.  If you backup to tape, you should

have disk partitions smaller than the capacity of a single tape for

ease in backup.

[From: Osmo Ronkanen <ronkanen@cc.helsinki.fi>]

The 32 MB limit actually didn't have anything to do with the

cluster size or FAT it was because the number of sectors in

the partition was stored in boot record as a 16 bit number.


Misc: Transfering Clean Boots and Free OSs ... :-)

Q) 8.5  Why won't my system boot from the hard drive?

If you can boot from a floppy and see the files on your hard drive,

then chances are there's something wrong with your MBR (Master Boot

Record) / partition table.  The first thing you should try is: "FDISK

/MBR".  This will fix the master boot record without effecting the

contents of your disk.  If this doesn't work, the next thing to try is

verifying that you have your Primary DOS Partition set active.  To do

this, enter "FDISK" and chose "Set active partition" (usually the

second option) then pick "Primary DOS Partition".  Then exit and

reboot.  This too will not effect the contents of your disk.

The next thing to try is replacing the files required for DOS to boot;

they may have been corrupted or deleted.  To do this, run "SYS C:".

This may or may not be possible as DOS versions before 5.0 required

these files be located at a certain place on your hard drive and that

spot may no longer be available.  Either way, this will not otherwise

effect the contents of your disk.

If neither of these things work, then the next thing to try is

reformatting your hard drive (FORMAT C: /SYS).  Note that this will

erase all of the files on your hard drive, so back up anything you

want to save first!!!  If all three of these suggestions fail, then

chances are you have a more serious problem.

Q) 8.6  How do I clean my computer?

Clean the outside with a damp (not wet) cloth with a mild dish washing

detergent after unplugging the system.  Let it dry completely before

plugging your system in.  Do not clean the inside - computer

components are not susceptible to common house hold dust.  Unless you

have special equipment, you will more likely cause more harm than help

to your computer if you try.

Q) 8.7  *What OS's are available for the PC? Which are free?

[this section being worked on]

Q) 8.8  *How can I transfer files between my PC and a Unix system?

[this section being worked on]


Tape Backup
Misc: Tape Backup

Q) 8.9  What tape backup software is available?

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

JUMBO TAPE

Small. Not many features but does the job. Seems to work only with Colorado drives.  Latest version is 4.03 and can be found by Archie jumbo403.zip.

>From "Stan Faullin":

Useful DOS program.  Has very basic Backup (total, modified, selected), Restore, Compare, Erase and Format functions.  Some versions come with a Windows scheduler, but it will NOT run in the background in a DOS window.  The compression scheme used in some previous versions is NOT compatible with their latest release, so you may not be able to read backups made with version 3.x with version 4.x.  Separate versions of this software are available for their internal model or the parallel port model.

Windows:

The Lite version supports both parallel port versions and internal versions.  The only Windows backup program for a parallel port device, but only supports the Colorado Trakker unit.  Can run in the background. Can be found by Archie, cbwlite.exe.

>From "gregb@oclflt.den.mmc.com (gregb)":

CMS Trakker 250 is supplied with a "generic" software package:

it performs backup, restore, selective backup & restore, compression, compare. It works with DOS and Windows 3.1.  For an additional $49.95 ($39?) you can purchase their fancier version.

Central-Point backup

Large with many, many features and confusing directory selections. Works with most drives.

 Conner Basic 1.0

>From "Moshe Braner   braner@emba.uvm.edu":

useless -- only backs up entire drive.

 Conner Basic 1.1

>From: pjk@netcom.com (Phil Koenig)

If you got the low-power backup software bundled in -- Conner Backup Basics -- and it is V1.0, you are entitled to a free upgrade from Conner.  The new version has an only slightly better addendum to the manual, but the software now is about as flexible as most users would want -- partial backup and restore by directory or file, etc.  It has worked well for us, and I recommend that you ask for your copy.

>From: dmiller@im.lcs.mit.edu (Dick and Jill Miller)

I emphasize that v1.1 of Conner Backup Basics fixes many of the prior problems, although its prompts, on-line help and printed documentation still deserve improvement.

Conner Exec

>From "Moshe Braner   braner@emba.uvm.edu":

Very large (2.5 megs for DOS version, windows version even larger). Did not work with my parallel-port Conner 250meg QIC-80 drive.

QICstream==Conner "Simply Safe Software Backup Basics version 3.0P"

Small and works fine. Works with parallel port Conner drive.

Symantec Norton Backup

This is included with Norton Desktop for Windows, which is a much better deal than purchasing Norton Backup for Windows alone.

Symantec Norton Backup for Windows

GNU-Tar


Misc: MTBF, Pin1, Cables
Misc:

Q) 8.10  Why doesn't my new device work as fast as it should?

The performance of individual components in your system are highly dependent the rest of your system.  For instance, the transfer rate of drives, usually measured in megabytes per second, can depend on the drive controller, bus type and OS.  Video card speed, sometime measured in Winmarks, highly depends on the speed of your main CPU as well as the OS.  When ever you see a statement on the speed of the device, be sure to check the small print to determine what type of system and under what conditions the speed was measured.  Don't be fooled by benchmark numbers.  Another important corollary of this is *never* post benchmarks - they offer little to no information for comparison with other systems.  Benchmarks are only useful for comparison purposes when run in a controlled environment, and even then to a limited degree.

Q) 8.11  My drive lists a MTBF of 300,000 hours. Will it really last 34 years?

[From: swwalters@fl51mail.space.honeywell.com  (Steve Walters)]

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is a statistical calculation indicating the mean time between randomly occurring hardware failures.  Two parameters are necessary to fully describe how long a piece of hardware will last.  The first parameter is MTBF which is a measure of frequency in which random hardware failures will occur.  The second parameter is mean operating life which defines how long the hardware will last before an anticipated wearout phenomena will occur.  These two parameters combined together give the true projection of the 'real' life of the drive.  As an example of how these parameters interrelate, assume your drive has an MTBF of 300,000 hours and an operating life of 5 years.  The drive will operate uninterrupted until failure (such as a file server, for example).  This is telling you that your drive should be very reliable until wearout occurs since the MTBF greatly exceeds the mean life.  However, after 5 years (on the average), expect it to fail due to wearout.  In this example, the actual chances of the drive lasting 3 years is 92%, 4 years is 88%, 5 years is 56% and 6 years is 35%.

Q) 8.12  How do I find pin 1 on my chip/card/cable/connector?

Pin 1 is always marked in one way or another to avoid confusion due to symmetry (after which known numbering schemes can be used).  The most important thing to note is that the orientation of the letters or numbers printed on the chip have absolutely nothing to do with the actual orientation of the pins.  Never assume that all chips should be readable from the same angle!

The most obvious marking for pin 1 is a small number '1'.  The first thing you should do is look very carefully for it.  Ribbon cables are often marked with a blue or red stripe on pin 1.  Some chips are marked with a dot, notch or small angled cut in the material just above pin 1.  Rectangular chips are usually marked with a notch on one of ends; the first pin counter clockwise from this notch is pin 1.  If you can't find a marking on the socket or connector, then try looking at the pads (the holes in the board the socket or connector is soldered into).  For through-hole devices, pin 1 has a square pad, the rest should be round.

Q) 8.13  I've run out of power connectors, what can I do?

Assuming your power suply is actually strong enough to power all of your devices, you can pick up a Y-adapter at your local Radio Shack.


References: Other FAQs
References: Newsgroups and FAQs

Q) 9.1  What other FAQ's are out there?

The following is a partial list of official FAQs which may be useful for more information on PC related items.  All of these FAQs are archived on news.answers, though the frequency in posting and availability are subject to the maintainers' whims.

If you are retrieving these by anonymous ftp, those items listed with Archive-name's can be found under the news.answers directory under the archive name.  The others can be found in their respective hierarchy's directory under the Subject line's name.  For more information on how to retrieve these items and how to find other FAQs, refer to the article "Introduction to the *.answers groups" periodically posted to news.announce.newusers.

Note: all *.answers groups have been removed from the Newsgroups lines

Hardware Related FAQs

Subject: 	Personal Computer CHIPLIST

From: 	offerman@einstein.et.tudelft.nl (A. Offerman)

Newsgroups: 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips

Summary: 	This list contains the various CPU's and NPX's and their features, used in the IBM PC, IBM PC/XT, IBM PC/AT, IBM PS/2 and compatbles, and the differences between them.

Archive-name: 	pc-hardware-faq/chiplist

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.dcom.modems,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.comm

Subject: 	MS-Windows COM and Ns16550A UART FAQ

From: 	rjn@fc.hp.com (Bob Niland)

Summary: 	Improving Windows 3.x COM performance and reliability.

Archive-name:	windows-com-faq

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware

Subject: 	The Serial Port, rel. *, part * / *

From: 	chbl@stud.uni-sb.de (Christian Blum)

--

Subject: 	Mac & IBM Info-Version *

From: 	bgrubb@scf.nmsu.edu (Bruce Grubb)

Newsgroups: 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc, comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy, comp.sys.intel,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.hardware

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard

Subject: 	Generic IBM PC Soundcard FAQ periodic posting

From: 	plutchak@porter.geo.brown.edu (Joel Plutchak)

Archive-name:	PCsoundcards/generic-faq

Summary: 	Non-product-specific information about IBM PC soundcards

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard,comp.music,rec.music.synth, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware

Subject: 	FAQ: Gravis Ultrasound ("GUS") FAQ v*

From: 	Matthew E. Bernold <MEB117@psuvm.psu.edu>

Archive-name: 	PCsoundcards/gravis-ultrasound/faq

Summary: 	A list of Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) concerning the Gravis Ultrasound (GUS) sound card for IBM PC's.

--

Newsgroups:	comp.sys.mac.apps,comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.system, comp.sys.mac.wanted,comp.sys.mac.hardware

Subject: 	Introductory Macintosh frequently asked questions (FAQ)

From: 	erh0362@tesla.njit.edu  (Elliotte Rusty Harold)

Archive-name:	macintosh/general-faq

Summary: 	This document answers a number of the most frequently asked questions on Usenet about Macintosh computers.  To avoid wasting bandwidth and as a matter of politeness please familiarize yourself with this document BEFORE posting.

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.sys.mac.misc

Subject: 	Macintosh PowerPC FAQ

From: 	Schechter.1@osu.edu

Archive-name:	macintosh/PowerPC-FAQ

Summary: 	This posting contains a list of questions and (often speculative) answers about PowerPC and its relation to the Macintosh.

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.1.sys5.r4,comp.1.pc-clone.32bit,comp.sys.intel,  comp.os.linux.announce

Subject: 	PC-Clone UNIX Hardware Buyer's Guide

From: 	esr@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)

Archive-name:	pc-1/hardware

Summary: 	Tips on how and where to buy hardware for your UNIX.

OS Related FAQs

Newsgroups: 	comp.1.questions,comp.1.shell

Subject: 	Unix - Frequently Asked Questions (Contents) [Frequent posting]

From: 	tmatimar@empress.com (Ted M A Timar)

Archive-name:	1-faq/faq/contents

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.1.questions,comp.1.shell

Subject: 	Unix - Frequently Asked Questions (* / *) Digest [Frequent posting]

From: 	tmatimar@empress.com (Ted M A Timar)

Archive-name:	1-faq/faq

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.1.sys5.r4,comp.1.pc-clone.32bit,comp.1.bsd, comp.os.linux.announce

Subject: 	PC-clone UNIX Software Buyer's Guide

From: 	esr@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)

Archive-name: 	pc-1/software

Summary: 	A buyer's guide to UNIX versions for PC-clone hardware

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.386bsd.announce

Subject: 	FAQ: 386BSD/NetBSD Compatible tape drive list

From: 	Bob Kemp <rsk@ecs.southampton.ac.uk>

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.386bsd.announce

Subject: 	[comp.os.386bsd] Berkeley Net Release/2 derived BSD for PCs FAQ (Part * of *)

From: 	burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (Dave Burgess)

Archive-name: 	386bsd-faq/part1

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux

Subject: 	** Linux Documents Explained for Newbies **  Weekly Post

From: 	jay-m@equinox.unr.edu (J.A. MacDonald)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce

Subject: 	LILO FAQ, version *

From: 	almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch (Werner Almesberger)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce

Subject: 	Linux FTP and BBS List #* (LONG)

From: 	Zane H. Healy <healyzh@holonet.net>

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux

Subject: 	[comp.os.linux.announce] Guidelines for posting

From: 	mdw@sunSITE.unc.edu (Matt Welsh)

Archive-name: 	linux/announce/guide

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.admin

Subject: Linux * HOWTO

From: 	vince@victrola.wa.com (Vince Skahan)

Comment: 	The following article are currently being posted (archive names, in parentheses, are in the "linux/howto" archive directory): Electronic Mail (mail); News (news); UUCP (uucp).

Archive-name: 	linux/howto/mail

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.admin

Subject: 	Linux * HOWTO

From: 	mdw@sunsite.unc.edu (Matt Welsh)

Summary: 	HOWTO on configuration of TCP/IP networking and SLIP under Linux.

Archive-name: 	linux/howto/networking

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.admin

Subject: 	Linux HOWTO Index

From: 	mdw@sunsite.unc.edu (Matt Welsh)

Archive-name: 	linux/howto/index

 Summary: 	Index of HOWTO documents about Linux.

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.admin

Subject: 	Linux Ethernet HOWTO

From: 	Paul Gortmaker <paul@cain.mmtc.rmit.oz.au>

Archive-name: 	linux/howto/ethernet

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.admin

Subject: 	Linux Printing HOWTO

From: 	gtaylor@cs.tufts.edu

Archive-name: 	linux/howto/printing

Summary: 	HOWTO on printing under Linux

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help

Subject: 	Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers

From: 	ijackson@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ian Jackson)

Archive-name: 	linux/faq

Summary: 	Please read this before posting to comp.os.linux.help.

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help

Subject: 	Linux INFO-SHEET

From: 	johnsonm@stolaf.edu

Summary: 	This posting contains a quick summary of the features and abilities of the Linux operating system.  It is a supplement to the comp.os.linux FAQ and META-FAQ, and should be read by those wishing to learn about and/or install Linux.

Archive-name: 	linux/info-sheet

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help

Subject: 	Linux META-FAQ

From: 	johnsonm@stolaf.edu

Summary: 	This is a quick summary of the information available about the Linux operating system, explaining where other information can be found.  This should be read by anyone wishing to install Linux, and by anyone who wishes to find other sources for information on Linux.

Archive-name: 	linux/meta-faq

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help comp.os.linux.development, comp.os.linux.admin,comp.os.linux.misc

Subject: 	Welcome to the comp.os.linux.* hierarchy!

From: 	mdw@TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh)

Archive-name: 	linux/announce/intro

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.mach

Subject: 	comp.os.mach Frequently Asked Questions

From:	fgray@owlnet.rice.edu (Frederick Earl Gray)

Archive-name: 	mach-faq

Summary: 	Answers to questions frequently asked on the USENET newsgroup comp.os.mach

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.minix

Subject: 	Changes to MINIX Frequently Asked Questions

From: 	overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.minix

Subject: 	Changes to MINIX Information Sheet

From: 	overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby)

Summary: 	Everything you ever wanted to know about Minix on the networks, but never dared to ask!

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.1.msdos

Subject: 	Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for comp.1.msdos

From: 	fnx!vpix-faq@uunet.UU.NET (VP/IX FAQ maintainance)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.msdos.programmer

Subject: 	comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ part * of *

From: 	brown@NCoast.ORG (Stan Brown)

Archive-name: 	msdos-programmer-faq/part3

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.os2.misc,comp.os.os2.apps

Subject: 	OS/2 Frequently Asked Questions List Rel. * (* of *)

From: 	sip1@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Timothy F. Sipples)

Archive-name: 	os2-faq/user/part1

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.os2.programmer.misc,comp.os.os2.programmer.porting

Subject: 	FAQ: OS/2 Programming FAQ v*

From: 	jgarzik@pantera.atl.ga.us (Jeff Garzik)

Windowing System Related FAQs

Newsgroups: 	comp.sources.x

Subject: 	How to get X sources for free.

From: 	argv@sun.com (Dan Heller)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.windows.x

Subject: 	X Servers for DOS, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, Macs, Amigas, Atari

From: 	mccoy@gothamcity.jsc.nasa.gov (Daniel J. McCoy)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.windows.x

Subject: 	comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) * / *

From: 	dbl@visual.com (David B. Lewis)

Summary: 	useful information about the X Window System

Archive-name: 	x-faq/part*

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.windows.x.i386unix,comp.1.pc-clone.32bit, comp.1.bsd,comp.windows.x

Subject: 	X on Intel-based Unix Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ]

From: 	steve@ecf.toronto.edu (Steve Kotsopoulos)

Archive-name: 	Intel-Unix-X-faq

Summary: 	X options for Intel-based Unix (SYSV/386, 386BSD, Linux, Mach)

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.apps, comp.os.ms-windows.setup,comp.os.ms-windows.misc, comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc, comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools, comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32, comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.misc,bit.listserv.win3-l

Subject: 	INFO: A guide to the Windows newsgroups

From: 	tomh@metrics.com (Tom Haapanen)

Archive-name: 	ms-windows/newsgrp.guide

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.ms-windows.apps,comp.os.ms-windows.misc, comp.os.ms-windows.setup,bit.listserv.win3-l

Subject: 	Windows FAQ: How to get it

From: 	tomh@metrics.com (Tom Haapanen)

Archive-name: 	ms-windows/faqwin.how-to

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.os.msdos.desqview

Subject: 	DESQview/QEMM Frequently Asked Questions: READ BEFORE POSTING

From: 	danb@bunt.sps.mot.com

Archive-name: 	desqview-faq

Summary: 	FAQ list for the MS-DOS multitasker DESQview and memory manager QEMM

Miscellaneous FAQs

Subject: 	How to find sources

From: 	jik@security.ov.com (Jonathan I. Kamens)

Newsgroups: 	comp.sources.wanted,alt.sources.wanted

Archive-name: 	finding-sources

--

Subject: 	Standards FAQ

Newsgroups: 	comp.std.internat,comp.std.misc,comp.protocols.iso

From: 	unrza3@cd4680fs.rrze.uni-erlangen.de (Markus Kuhn)

Archive-name: 	standards-faq

Summary: 	Answers to questions such as what are ISO standards, where can I get standards, what are ISO/ITU/ANSI/etc., what standards are there relevant to computing, ...? This is a periodic posting in comp.protocols.iso, comp.std.misc and comp.std.internat.

--

Subject: 	PC GAMES FAQ <- Guide To The Gaming World (Part * of *)

From: 	appelo@dutiba.twi.tudelft.nl (Jurgen Appelo)

Newsgroups: 	comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce,rec.games.misc

Archive-name: 	PC-games-faq/part1

Summary: 	This FAQ has answers to common questions and other useful information that all new readers of the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* newsgroups should read before posting.

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.virus

Subject: 	VIRUS-L/comp.virus Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

From: 	"Kenneth R. van Wyk" <krvw@cert.org>

Archive-name: 	computer-virus-faq

Summary: 	This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions, and their answers, about computer viruses.  It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to VIRUS-L/comp.virus.

--

Newsgroups: 	misc.forsale

Subject: 	Welcome to Misc.forsale - Frequently Asked Questions (please read!)

From: 	murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray)

--

Newsgroups: 	misc.forsale.computers,misc.forsale.computers.d

Subject: 	misc.forsale.computers.d FAQ

From: 	Peter W. De Bonte" <pwd+@CMU.EDU>

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.archives.msdos.announce,comp.archives.msdos.d

Subject: 	comp.archives.msdos.{announce,d} FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

From: 	ts@chyde.uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi)

Archive-name: 	msdos-archives/faq

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.archives.msdos.d,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.wanted, comp.os.msdos.apps,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc

Subject: 	Useful MSDOS Programs at SIMTEL20 and Garbo (Part * of *)

From: 	sko@wimsey.bc.ca (Samuel Ko)

Archive-name: 	msdos-archives/part*

Summary: 	A list of recommended msdos programs available from major ftp sites

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.binaries.ibm.pc

Subject: 	v*inf*: charter, CBIP newsgroups charter (part * / *)

From: 	cbip@cs.uml.edu (CBIP Moderator)

Archive-name: 	admin/charter

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.lang.postscript

Subject: 	PostScript monthly FAQ v* *-*-* [* of *]

From: 	jgm@cs.brown.edu (Jonathan Monsarrat)

Summary: 	Useful facts about the PostScript graphics programming language

Archive-name: 	postscript/faq/part*

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.periphs.scsi

Subject: 	comp.periphs.scsi FAQ

From: 	vail@tegra.com (Johnathan Vail)

Archive-name: 	scsi-faq

Summary: 	This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about SCSI.  It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the comp.periphs.scsi newsgroup.

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.protocols.nfs,comp.protocols.tcp-ip

Subject: 	(PC)NFS & related topics FAQ [part * / *]

From: 	rawn@lead.aichem.arizona.edu (Rawn Shah)

Archive-name: 	pcnfs-faq/part1

Summary: 	This is the FAQ list about PC & Macintosh based NFS & TCP/IP products for readers of comp.protocols.nfs & comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc

--

Newsgroups: 	comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc

Subject: 	comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

From: 	aboba@netcom.com (Bernard Aboba)

Archive-name: 	ibmpc-tcp-ip

Summary: 	Frequently Asked Questions (and answers) about TCP/IP on PC-compatible computers.

--

Newsgroups: 	alt.cd-rom,comp.multimedia

Subject: 	alt.cd-rom FAQ

From:	rab@cdrom.com

Summary: 	Frequently asked questions about CD-ROMs

Archive-name: 	cdrom-faq

--

Newsgroups: 	alt.emulators.ibmpc.apple2

Subject: 	alt.emulators.ibmpc.apple2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

From: 	vera@anna.stanford.edu (James Vera)

Archive-name: 	emulate-apple2-faq

Summary: 	This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about emulating Apple ][ computers (or //e ...) on other computers (like PCs or UNIX boxes).  Please read before posting questions.


Acronyms
References: Acronyms

Q) 9.2  What do the industry acronyms stand for?

[From ralf@wpi.wpi.edu (Ralph Valentino)]

This is a list of 280+ acronyms which commonly come up in discussion of hardware.  It does not contain abbreviations or names that don't stand for anything, nor does it attempt to explain exactly what the technology does, where it can be found, nor even how to use it in a sentence.  So, is it completely useless?  Well, sometimes just knowing what an acronym stands for is enough to tell you what people are talking about or where to go to get more information about it.

If anyone has any additions, comments, or corrections, please forward them to me directly.  Keep in mind that I have tried to avoid software topics except where they overlap with hardware ones, so don't bother telling me what BASIC stands for as it is outside the scope of this list.

AC	Alternating Current

AE	Applications Engineer

AFS	Andrew File System

AI	Artificial Intelligence

ALU	Arithmetic-Logic Unit

AM	Amplitude Modulated

AMD	Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

AMI	American Megatrends Inc.

ANSI	American National Standards Institute

ASCII	American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASIC	Application Specific Integrated Circuit

ASPI	Advanced SCSI Programming Interface

AT	Advanced Technology

ATA	AT bus Attachment

ATDM	Asynchronous Time Division Multiplexing

ATM	Asynchronous Transfer Mode

AUI	Attached Unit Interface

BBS	Bulletin Board System

BCC	Block Check Character

BCD	Binary Coded Decimal

BE	Back End

BiCMOS	Bipolar Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

BIOS	Basic Input / Output System

BNC	Bayonet Nut Connector

BPS/bps	Bytes/bits Per Second

BSC	Binary Synchronous Communications

BSD	Berkeley Standard Distribution

BTU	British Thermal Units

CAD	Computer Aided Design

CAM	Computer Aided Manufacturing

CAM	Content Addressable Memory

CAM	Common Access Method (Committee)

CAS	Column Address Strobe

CBX	Common Branch eXtender

CCD	Charge Coupled Device

CCITT	Consultative Committee of International Telephony and Telegraphy

CD	Carrier Detect

CDDI	Copper Distributed Data Interface

CDROM	Compact Disk Read Only Memory

CGA	Color Graphics Adaptor

CHS	Cylinder Head Sector

CISC	Complex Instruction-Set Computer

CLA	Carry Lookahead Adder

CMOS	Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

CP/M	Control Program / Monitor

CPI	Clocks Per Instruction

CQFP	Ceramic Quad-FlatPack

CPU	Central Processing  Unit

CR	Carriage Return

CRC	Cyclical redundancy check

CRQ	Command Response Queue

CRT	Cathode Ray Tube

CS	Chip Select

CSMA	Carrier Sense Multiple-Access

CSMA/CD	Carrier Sense Multiple-Access with Collision Detect

CSR	Command Status Register

CTS	Clear To Send

DAT	Digital Audio Tape

DC	Direct Current

DCD	Data Carrier Detect

DCE	Data Circuit-terminating Equipment

DD	Double Density

DEC	Digital Equipment Corporation

DES	Data Encryption Standard

DID	Direct Inward Dial

DIN	Deutsche Industrie Norm

DIP	Dual-In-line Package

DIS	Draft International Standard

DMA	Direct Memory Access

DOS	Disk Operating System

DPE	Data Parity Error

DPSK	Differential Phase Shift Keying

DRAM	Dynamic Random Access Memory

DS	Double Sided

DSP	Digital Signal Processor

DSR	Data Set Ready

DTC	Data Terminal Controller

DTE	Data Terminating Equipment

DTMF	Dual-Tone MultiFrequency

DTR	Data Terminal Ready

EBCDIC	Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

ECC	Error Correction Code

ECL	Emitter-Coupled Logic

ECO	Engineering Change Order

ECU	EISA Configuration Utility

EEPROM	Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

EGA	Enhanced Graphics Adaptor

EIA	Electronic Industries Association

EISA	Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture

EMI	Electro-Magnetic Interference

EMF	Electro-Magnetic Force

EMS	Expanded Memory Specification

EOF	End Of File

EOL	End Of Line

EOS	Electrical Overstress

EPROM	Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

ESD	Electro-Static Discharge

ESDI	Enhanced Small Devices Interface

FAT	File Allocation Table

FCC	Federal Communications Commission

FDD	Fixed Disk Drive (or Floppy Disk Drive)

FDDI	Fiber Distributed Data Interface

FDM	Frequency Division Multiplexing

FDX	Full-Duplex Transmission

FE	Front End

FEP	Front End Processor

FF	Form Feed

FIFO	First-In First-Out

FILO	First-In Last-Out (same as LIFO)

FM	Frequency Modulation

FPGA	Field Programmable Gate Array

FPU	Floating Point Unit

FRU	Field-Replaceable Unit

FSF	Free Software Foundation

FSK	Frequency Shifty Keying

FTP	File Transfer Program

GAS	Gallium Arsenide

GFLOPS	Billions (10^9) of FLOating Point Operations Per Second ("GigaFlops")

GNU	Gnu's Not Unix

GUI	Graphical User Interface

HD	High Density

HDD	Hard Disk Drive

HDX	Half-Duplex Transmission

HFS	Hierarchical File System

HPFS	High Performance File System

HS	Helical Scan

I/O	Input / Output

IBM	International Business Machines Corp.

IC	Integrated Circuit

IDC	Insulation Displacement Connector

IDE	Integrated Device Electronics

IEEE	Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

IMP	Interface Message Processor

IPC	InterProcess Communication

IRQ	Interrupt ReQuest

ISA	Industry Standard Architecture

ISDN	Integrated Services Digital Network

ISO	International Standards Organization

JFS	Journaled File System

kVA	KiloVolt-Amps

LAN	Local Area Network

LAPM	Link Access Procedure M

LBA	Linear Block Array

LCD	Liquid Crystal Display

LED	Light Emitting Diode

LF	Line Feed

LIM	Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Manager Specification

LRU	Least-Recently Used

LSB/lsb	Least Significant Byte/bit

LSI	Large Scale Integration

LUN	Logical Unit Number

MAN	Metropolitan Area Network

MB/Mb	Mega Bytes/bits

MBR	Master Boot Record

MCA	Micro Channel Architecture

MCGA	Multi-Color Graphics Array

MCM	Multi-Chip Module

MFLOPS	Millions of FLOating Point Operations per Second ("MegaFlops")

MFM	Modified Frequency Modulated

MHz	MegaHertz

MICR	Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

MIDI	Musical Instrument Data Interface

MIMD	Multiple-Instruction Multiple-Data

MIPS	Millions of Instructions per Second

MISD	Multiple-Instruction Single Data

MMU	Memory Management Unit

MNP	Microcom Network Protocol

MODEM	MOdulator / DEModulator

MOPS	Millions of Operations Per Second

MOS	Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

MP	MultiProcessor

MPP	Massively Parallel Processor

MSB/msb	Most Significant Byte/bit

MSDOS	Microsoft Disk Operating System

MSI	Medium Scale Integration

MTBF	Mean Time Between Failure

N/C	No-Connect

NBS	National Bureau of Standards

NEMA	National Electrical Manufacturers Association

NFS	Network File System

NFU	Not-Frequently Used

NMI	Non-Maskable Interrupt

NMOS	Negatively doped Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

NOP	No OPeration

NRU	Not-Recently Used

NSF	National Science Foundation

NVRAM	NonVolatile Random Access Memory

OCR	Optical Character Recognition

ODI	Open Datalink Interface

OEM	Original Equipment Manufacturer

OS	Operating System

OSF	Open Software Foundation

OSI	Open Systems Interconnect

PAL/PLA	Programmable Array Logic (Logic Array)

PB	Push Button

PBX	Private Branch eXtender

PC	Personal Computer, Program Counter

PCB	Printed Circuit Board

PCI	Peripheral Component Interconnect

PCM	Pulse Code Modulation

PCMCIA	Personal Computer Memory Card International Association

PE	Processor Element

PFF	Page Fault Frequency

PGA	Pin Grid Array

PIC	Programmable Interrupt Controller

PIO	Programmed Input/Output

PLCC	Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier

PLL	Phase Locked Loop

PM	Preventive Maintenance

PMOS	Positively doped Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

POST	Power On Self Test

PPP	Point-to-Point Protocol

PQFP	Plastic Quad-FlatPack

PROM	Programmable Read-Only Memory

PSTN	Public Switched Telephone Network

PTE	Page Table Entry

QAM	Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

QFP	Quad-FlatPack

QIC	Quarter Inch Cartridge

RAID	Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks

RAM	Random Access Memory

RAMDAC	Random Access Memory Digital to Analog Converter

RAS	Row Address Strobe

RCA	Radio Corporation of America

RCC	Routing Control Center

RFC	Request For Comments

RFI	Radio Frequency Interference

RI	Ring Indicator

RISC	Reduced Instruction-Set Computer

RLL	Run Length Limited

RMM	Read Mostly Memory (same as EPROM)

RMS	Root Mean Squared

RMW	Read Modify Write

ROM	Read-Only Memory

RPC	Remote Procedure Call

RPM	Rotations Per Minute

RTC	Real Time Clock

RTS	Request To Send

SAM	Sequential Access Memory

SASI	Shugart Associates Standard Interface

SCSI	Small Computer Systems Interface

SD	Single Density

SDLC	Synchronous Data Link Control

SDLC	Synchronous Data Link Control

SE	Systems Engineer

SIMD	Single-Instruction Multiple-Data

SIMM	Single Inline Memory Module

SIPP	Single Inline Pinned Package

SISD	Single-Instruction Single-Data

SLIP	Serial Line Internet Protocol

SMD	Surface Mount Device

SMT	Surface Mount Technology

SNA	System Network Architecture

SNR	Signal to Noise Ratio

SO/SOL	Small OutLine

SOIC	Small Outline Integrated Circuit

SPOOL	Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On Line

SPT	Sectors Per Track

SPU	Single Processor Unit

SRAM	Static Random Access Memory

SS	Single Sided

STDM	Synchronous Time Division Multiplexing

STN	Super Twisted Nematic

STU	Streaming Tape Unit

SVGA	Super Video Graphics Array

TCM	Trellis Code Modulation

TCP/IP	Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol

TDM	Time Division Multiplexing

TI	Texas Instruments

TIA	Telecomm. Industry Assocation

TLB	Translation-Lookaside Buffer

TPI	Tracks Per Inch

TSR	Terminate and Stay Resident

TTL	Transistor-Transistor Logic

TUV	Technischer Ueberwachuags Verein

UART	Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter

UDP	User Datagram Protocol

UMB	Upper Memory Block

UPS	Uninterruptible Power Supply

USL	Unix System Labs

UUCP	Unix to Unix Copy Program

VCR	Video Cassette Recorder

VESA	Video Enhanced Standards Association

VGA	Video Graphics Array

VLB	VESA Local Bus

VLIW	Very Long Instruction Word

VLSI	Very Large Scale Integration

VM	Virtual Memory

VME	Versa Module Eurocard

VRAM	Video Random Access Memory

VTR	Video Tape Recorder

WAN	Wide Area Network

WATS	Wide Area Telephone Service

WD	Western Digital

WORM	Write-Once Read-Many

WS	Wait State

XGA	eXtended Graphics Array

XMS	Extended Memory Specification

XOR	Exclusive-Or

XT	eXtended Technology

ZIF	Zero Insertion Force


Specifications
References: Where to get specifications

Q) 9.3  Where can I get the ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI/etc specs?

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron Spitzer):

_EISA Specification_

BCPR Services Inc.

POB 11137

Spring TX 77391

(713)251-4832

This book *specifies* the Extended ISA.  The expansion slot and motherboard IO deviced are described.  Also, a file format is defined for describing the configuration of an EISA-compatible Adapter.

[From: comins@tecrus.enet.dec.com]

Questions concerning PCI specifications or membership can be sent to:

PCI Special Interest Group

M/S JF2-51

5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway

Hillsboro, Oregon 97124-6497

(503)696-6111

Non-members of the PCI SIG may request a PCI Local Bus Specification for $25 + shipping costs by calling:

1-800-433-5177

[From: herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il (Herbst OMR)]

Quarter-Inch Cartridge Drive Standards, Inc.

311 East Carrillo Street

Santa Barbara, California 93101

Telephone (805) 963-3853

Fax       (805) 962-1541

Video Electronics Standards Association

2150 North First St.

Suite 440

San Jose, CA  95131-2020

Telephone: (408) 435-0333


Books
References: Books

Q) 9.4  What books are available for the PC architecture?

Edward Solari

_ISA & EISA_ Theory and Operation

Annabooks, San Diego CA USA

ISBN 0-929392-15-9

This is an excellent book on the EISA and ISA architectures.  Everything you need to know to make your own card, from timing to ECU config files.

Tom Shanley

_EISA System Architecture_

MindShare, Inc, Richardson, TX USA

ISBN 1-881609-03-0

This book is good for an overview of the EISA and, in part, ISA systems.  It doesn't go into enough detail to design boards from, but, as a quote from the sleeve says "The co-ops in the group have found them to be especially useful."

Tom Shanley

_PCI System Architecture_

MindShare, Inc, Richardson, TX USA

ISBN 1-881609-06-5

[From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron Spitzer):

Edward Solari

_AT Bus Design_

Annabooks, San Diego CA USA

ISBN 0-929392-08-6

This book describes the expansion slot which appeared in IBM's Personal Computer AT.  This bus is now known as the Industry Standard Architecture Bus, or just ISA.  It gives enough functional and timing detail for the hardware designer to ensure a new Adapter's compatibility.  It does not discuss any of the defacto-standard Adapters, peripherals, or BIOS features, and gives only an overview of the memory and IO layout.  The timing details are for the nominal 8 MHz bus clock.  Recent practice of drastically increasing this clock rate is not discussed.

[From: Shaun Burnett (burnesa@cat.com)]

Scott Mueller

_Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 2nd ed._

QUE

ISBN 0-88022-856-3

I've found the following book to be an excellent reference on the PC.  It discusses the IBM PC family and various peripherals.  The book is written so that the novice user will find this book of use.  Those that deal with PCs on a lower level will appreciate the numerous tables that contains information on such topics as serial port pin-outs, bus connection labels, and I/O ports addresses.

Q) 9.5  What books are available on network programming?

[From: p00736@psilink.com (Frederick J. Ingham)]

In response to several queries, the following books are excellent resources on network programming:

Roetzheim, William H., A C Programmers's Guide to the IBM Token Ring, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1991

Nance, Barry, Network Programming in C, QUE Corporation, Carmel, IN, 1990. (covers Netware NCP, IPX/SPX, and NetBIOS)

Schwaderer, W. David, C Programmer's Guide to NetBIOS, IPX, and SPX, SAMS Publishing, Carmel, IN, 1992.

Davis, Ralph, Windows Network Programming 'How to survive in a World of Windows, DOS, and Networks', Addison Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1993.  (covers NetBIOS, IPX/SPX, VINES Sockets, TCP/IP, Windows Sockets, Several NOS APIs, Mailslots, Named Pipes, etc.)

Comer, Douglas E., Internetworking with TCP/IP, Client - Server Programming and Applications, Vol III, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1993.

IBM, Local Area Network, Technical Reference, Document SC30-3383-03, IBM Corporation, 1990.

(covers the IBM Token Ring Direct Interface, DLC, and NetBIOS programming)

IBM, Operating System/2, Local Area Network Server, Application Programmer's Reference, Document S04G-1046-00, IBM Corporation, 1991.  (covers the IBM LAN Server API and Microsoft LAN Manager API)

Microsoft, LAN Manager Programmer's Reference, Microsoft Press, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, 1990.  (covers the Microsoft LAN Manager API)

Microsoft, Intel, Microsoft Networks/OpenNET, File Sharing Protocol, v2.0, 1988.

Microsoft, Microsoft Networks, SMB File Sharing Protocol Extensions v2.0, 1988.

Microsoft, Microsoft Networks, SMB File Sharing Protocol Extensions v3.0, 1989.

(all of the above cover the Server Message Block protocol used by Microsoft LAN Manager and IBM LAN Server.  they are available via ftp from ftp.microsoft.com)


Phone Numbers
References: Phone Numbers

Q) 9.6  +What's the phone number for...

[From: zeos@zeos.com]

This list of industry phone numbers is provided as a service to the net community. It is not meant to be complete by any means, but if you have any suggestions for additions, or if you find any errors which should be corrected, please feel free to email me at support@zeos.com.  This list will be reposted periodically with the appropriate updates.

Thank you to all who have sent me corrections/additions.

       Currently posted to: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc (inside FAQ)

                          and in biz.zeos.general

  Latest modification date: November 7, 1994

*1STREADER	BBS	615-230-8822
3Com	BBS	408-980-8204 9600bps
3Com	CardFacts	408-727-7021
3Com	T/S	800-876-3266
3Com	Anonymous FTP	ftp.3com.com
3rd Planet Software, Inc.	BBS	213-841-2260 2400bps
*#9	General	800-438-6463
*#9	General	617-674-0009
*#9	FAX	617-674-2919
A.I.R.	Fax	408-428-0950
A.I.R.	Voice	408-428-0800
Abacus Concepts	BBS	616-698-8106 2400bps
Abaton Technology	BBS	415-438-4650 2400bps
Accolade	BBS	408-296-8800 2400bps
Acer America	BBS	800-833-8241 9600bps
Acer Technologies Corp	Tech Support	408-922-0333
Actix Systems	BBS	408-970-3719 14400bps
Actix Systems	Sales	800-927-5557
Actix Systems	Service	408-986-1625
Adaptec	Literature Request	800-934-2766
Adaptec	Automated Fax	408-957-7150
Adaptec	BBS	408-945-7727 14400bps
Adaptec	General	800-959-7274
*Adaptec	General	408-946-8600
Adaptec	Tech Support	408-945-2550
Addstor	BBS	415-324-4077 14400bps
Advanced Digital Corp.	BBS	714-894-0893 2400bps
Advanced Logical Research	BBS	714-458-6834 14400bps
Ahead Systems	General	415-623-0900
All Computer	BBS	416-960-8679 2400bps
Allied Telesis.	BBS	415-964-2994 2400bps
Alloy Computer Products	BBS	508-460-8140 2400bps
Alpha Software Corp	BBS	617-229-2915 2400bps
*Alpha Software Corp	General	800-451-1018
*ALR	T/S	714-458-1952
Altima	T/S	800-356-9990
Altima.	BBS	510-356-2456 2400bps
Altos Computer Systems	General	408-258-6787
Altsys.	BBS	214-680-8592 2400bps
*Always Technology	BBS	818-597-0275
Always Technology	Sales/Tech Support	818-597-1400
AMD	Literature	800-222-9323
AMD	Main	800-538-8450
AMD	Tech Support	800-292-9263
Amdek	T/S	800-722-6335
Amdek Corporation	BBS	408-922-4400 2400bps
*American Megatrends (AMI)	BBS	404-246-5825
American Megatrends (AMI)	BBS	404-246-8782 V.32bis
American Megatrends (AMI)	BBS	404-246-8780 14400bps
American Megatrends (AMI)	T/S	404-246-8600
*American Megatrends (AMI)	T/S	404-263-8181
American Power	T/S	800-788-2208
AMIPRO (Upgrade to 3.0)	Upgrading	800-872-3387
AMIPRO	Cust. Service	404-399-5505
Andataco	C/S	800-443-9191
Andataco	Fax	619-453-9294
*APCUG (Association of
PC User Groups)	BBS	408-439-9367
Apogee Software	BBS	508-365-2359 16800bps
Appian	Main	408-730-5400
Appian	Tech Support	800-422-7369
Apple Computer	Fax Back	800-SOS-APPL
Apple Computer	T/S USA Only	800-SOS-APPL
Applied Engineering.	BBS	214-241-6677 2400bps
*Archive Corporation	General	714-641-0279
Areal Technology Inc	General	408-436-6800
Artisoft	BBS	602-884-8648
Artisoft	Sales	800-TINY-RAM
Artisoft	T/S	602-670-7000
Artist Graphics	BBS	612-631-7669 2400bps
Asante Technologies	Voice	800-622-7464
Asante Technologies	Fax	408-432-6018
Asante Technologies	Fax Back	800-741-8607
Asante Technologies	BBS	408-432-1416 14.4N81
Asante Technologies	E-mail	support@asante.com
Asante Technologies	FTP	ftp.asante.com
Ashton-Tate	BBS	213-324-2188
Ask Sam Systems	BBS	904-584-8287 2400bps
AST Research	BBS	714-727-4723
AST Research	BBS(>9600)	714-727-4132
AST Research	T/S	800-727-1278
Asus motherboard (Aorta)	General	408-956-9077
Asymetrix.	BBS	206-451-1173 14400bps
AT&T	Tech Support	800-247-1212
AT&T Computer Systems.	BBS	908-769-6397 2400bps
Atari	General	408-745-2000
ATI Technologies	BBS	905-764-9404 9600bps
ATI Technologies	Compuserve	74740,667
ATI Technologies	Compuserve	GO ATITECH-
ATI Technologies	Customer Service	905-882-2626
ATI Technologies	Fax	905-882-2620
ATI Technologies	Sales	905-882-2600
ATI Technologies	Tech Support	905-756-0711
ATI Technologies.	BBS	416-764-9404 14400bps
Automated Design Systems.	BBS	404-394-7448 2400bps
Award (Bios)	BBS	408-370-3139
Award (Bios)	Tech Support	415-968-4433
Beagle Bros.	BBS	619-558-6151 2400bps
*Below Zero	Mail Order	800-461-2777
*Below Zero	General	403-547-0669
Bestgift Service.	BBS	813-978-3044 2400bps
Big State Doors	BBS	512-398-7346 14400bps
Black Box	Sales/Tech Support	412-746-5500
Blackmond Software	BBS	505-589-0319 96H00bps
Boca	T/S	407-241-8088
Boca Research	BBS	407-241-1601 14400bps
Borland	Automated Support	800-524-8420
Borland	BBS	408-439-9096 2400bps
Borland	Compuserve	GO BORLAND
Borland	Corporate Sales	800-331-0877
Borland	Fax Back	800-822-4269
Borland	General	404-431-5250
Borland	Sales	800-331-0877
Borland	T/S	408-438-5300
Borland	T/S	800-252-5547
Boston Computer Society	BBS	617-964-6939
Bourbaki	BBS	208-342-5823 2400bps
Box Hill Systems	General	800-727-3863
Brightbill Roberts	BBS	315-472-1058 2400bps
Brightwork Development	BBS	914-667-4759 2400bps
Brother	General (Canada)	514-685-0600
Brother	BBS	514-685-2040
Brother	T/S	800-284-4357
Brown Bag Software	BBS	408-371-7654 16800bps
Buerg Software.	BBS	707-778-8944 2400bps
BusLogic	BBS	408-492-1984
BusLogic	Tech Support	408-492-9090
BusLogic	Tech Support	408-988-7338
BusLogic	Tech Support FAX	408-492-1542
Buttonware	BBS	206-454-7875 14400bps
Byte (magazine)	BBS	617-861-9764
Cabletron.	BBS	603-335-3358 14400bps
Cabletron.	Compuserve	go CTRON
Cabletron Systems	FTP	134.141.197.25
Cabletron Systems	internet	sales@ctron.com
Cabletron Systems	internet	support@ctron.com
Cabletron Systems	T/S & Sales	603-332-9400
Calcomp	T/S	800-CAL-COMP
Calcomp	BBS	714-821-2359 2400bps
Calera Recognition Systems.	BBS	408-773-9068 9600bps
Campbell Services	BBS	313-559-6434 2400bps
Canon	Main Office	516-488-6700
Canon	Tech Support	800-423-2366
Canon Printer (Italy).	BBS	9-2-58010997 16800bps
*Canon Printer Division	BBS	714-438-3325 9600bps
Cardinal (Techs)	Tech Support	717-293-3135
Cardinal 14.4 modem	Tech Support	717-293-3124
Cardinal Technologies.	BBS	717-293-3074 14400bps
CBIS, Inc.	BBS	404-446-8405 2400bps
cc:Mail	BBS	415-691-0401 2400bps
*CCT Inc	General	612-339-5870
CD Publishing Corp	FAX	604-874-1431
CD Publishing Corp	General	604-874-1430
CD Publishing Corp	General	800-333-7565
CD-ROM Inc	Fax	303-526-7395
CD-ROM Inc	General	303-526-7600
Central Point Software	BBS	503-690-6650 14400bps
Central Point Software	PC Tools Tech Support	503-690-8090
Central Point Software	T/S	503-690-8080
Certus.	BBS	216-546-1508 2400bps
Cheyenne Software	BBS	516-484-3445 2400bps
Chicony	Tech Support	714-771-9067
Chipsoft	BBS	619-453-5232 2400bps
Chips and Technologies	General	800-323-4477
Chwatal Development Co	BBS	318-487-0800 14400bps
Ciprico	General	612-559-2034
Cirrus Logic	BBS	510-440-9080
Cirrus	General	800-272-1135
Cirrus Logic	General	510-623-8300
Citizen America	General	800-477-4683
Citizens America Corp.	BBS	310-453-7564 2400bps
Citrix	Fax	305-341-6880
Citrix	General	305-755-0559
Citrix	General	800-437-7503
Citrix Systems.	BBS	305-346-9004 2400bps
Clarion Software.	BBS	305-785-9172 2400bps
Claris Corp.	BBS	408-987-7421 14400bps
Clark Development Corp	BBS	801-261-8976 16800bps
*Clear & Simple	General	203-658-1204
Clear Software.	BBS	617-965-5406 2400bps
CMS Enhancement, Inc.	T/S	714-222-6000
CNET.	BBS	408-954-1787 2400bps
Coconut Computing Inc.	BBS	619-456-0815 14400bps
Codenoll	BBS	914-965-1972 2400bps
Colorado Memory Systems	BBS	303-635-0650 (8N1)
Colorado Memory Systems	BBS	303-679-0650 2400bps
Colorado Memory Systems	Tech Support	303-635-1500
Columbia Data Products	BBS	407-862-4724 2400bps
Commodore Business Mach	Tech Support	215-431-9100
Communications Research	BBS	504-926-5625 2400bps
Compaq Computer Systems	BBS	713-378-1418 14400bps
Compaq	General	713-370-0670
Compaq	T/S	800-888-5858
Compaq	Tech Support	800-345-1518
Compaq	Tech Support	800-652-6672
Compati	Tech Support	815-756-3411
Compex	Voice	714-630-7302
Compex	Fax	714-630-6521
Compuadd	Tech Support	800-456-3116
CompUSA	General	703-749-4488
CompuServ Info. Serv.	General	800-848-8199
*Computer Associates	General	800-225-5224
Computer Peripherals Inc	BBS	805-499-9646 14400bps
Computer Peripherals Inc	Tech Support	805-499-5751
Computer Support.	BBS	214-404-8652 14400bps
Computers International	BBS	213-823-3609 14400bps
Computone Corp.	BBS	404-343-9737
Computone Corp.	BBS	404-664-1210
Computone Corp.	General	404-475-2725
Computone Corp.	Tech Support	404-475-2725 x250
*Comtrol	BBS	612-631-8310 28.8K
*Comtrol	BBS	612-639-1502 14.4K
Conner Peripherals	BBS	408-456-4415 V.32
Conner Peripherals	Fax Back	408-456-4903
Conner Peripherals	Tech Support	408-456-3388
Conner Peripherals	Tech Support	800-421-1879
Conner Peripherals	Tech Support	800-426-6637
Control Data Corp. (CDC)	General	612-851-4131
Core International	BBS	407-241-2929 2400bps
Core International	Tech Support	407-997-6044
Corel	General	800-836-7274
Corel System	BBS	613-728-4752 14400bps
Cornerstone Technology	BBS	408-435-8943 2400bps
*Cornerstone Technology	T/S	408-435-8900
Corvus System, Inc	BBS	408-972-9154 2400bps
Covox Corpoartion	BBS	503-342-8261 14400bps
CPI	T/S	800-235-7618
Creative Labs	C/S	800-998-1000
Creative Labs	BBS	405-742-6660 14400bps
Creative Labs	ftp	ftp.creaf.com
Creative Labs	T/S	405-742-6622
Cross Communications	BBS	303-444-9003 14400bps
Crosstalk Communications	BBS	404-740-8428
CTX (monitors)	BBS	909-594-8973
CTX (monitors)	Repair (East Coast)	800-342-5289
CTX (monitors)	Repair (West Coast)	800-289-2189
CTX (monitors)	Service Center	800-888-2012
Cumulus	BBS	216-464-3019 2400bps
CYRIX	BBS	214-994-8610 14400bps
CYRIX	General	800-FAS-MATH
CYRIX	T/S	800-327-6284
CYRIX	T/S	800-GO-CYRIX
CYRIX	Technical Support	800-848-2979 x325
D-Link Systems, Inc.	BBS	714-455-1779 14400bps
D-Link	LAN adaptors/cards	800-361-5265
DAC Software	BBS	214-931-6617 2400bps
DAK Online Resource Center.	BBS	818-715-7153 14400bps
Dallas  (chip).	Tech Support	510-796-6100
Dariana Technology Group.	BBS	714-994-7410 2400bps
Darwin Systems.	BBS	301-251-9206 14400bps
Data Access.	BBS	305-238-0640 2400bps
Data Shield	T/S	312-329-1601
Data Technology Corp	BBS	408-942-4010
Data Technology Corp	Tech Support	408-262-7700
Datadesk/Prometheus.	BBS	503-691-5199 9600bps
DataEase Int'l.	BBS	203-374-6302 2400bps
Datapoint	General	210-593-7000
Dataproducts Corp	BBS	818-887-8167 9600bps
Datastorm (Procomm)	BBS	314-875-0503 14400bps
Datastorm (Procomm)	Business	314-443-3282
Datastorm (Procomm)	Fax	314-875-0595
David Systems	BBS	408-720-0406 2400bps
Dayna Communications	BBS	801-535-4205 2400bps
DCA	BBS	404-740-8428 9600bps
Dell Computer	BBS	512-728-8528
Dell Computer	Customer Service	800-624-9897
Dell Computer	Sales	800-879-3355
Dell Computer	Tech Fax	800-950-1329
Dell Computer	Tech Support	800-624-9896
Delphi.	BBS	800-365-4636 2400bps
Delrina Technology Inc	BBS	416-441-2752 16800bps
Delrina Technology Inc	General	416-441-3676
DeltaComm Development	BBS	919-481-9399 16800bps
*DeltaComm Development	General	919-460-4556
*DeltaComm Development	FAX	919-460-4531
*Describe	General	800-448-1586
*Development Technologies	General	803-790-9230
Diamond	BBS 2400 baud	408-730-1100
Diamond	BBS 9600 baud	408-524-9301
Diamond	Fax	408-773-8000
Diamond	Fax Back	800-380-0030
Diamond	Tech Support	408-736-2000
Diconix	T/S	513-259-3100
Digiboard Inc.	BBS	612-943-0812 2400bps
Digiboard Inc.	Tech Support	612-943-9020
Digicom Systems, Inc	BBS	408-262-5629
Digicom Systems, Inc	Voice	408-262-1277
Digital Communications	BBS	513-433-5080 2400bps
Digital Equip. Corp.(DEC)	General	508-493-5111
DEC	ordering by modem	800-234-1998
DEC	ordering by fax	800 234-2298
DEC	ordering by fax	800-524-5694
DEC	ordering by phone	800 PC BY DEC
DEC	Product info	800-DIGITAL
DEC	Tech Support	800-354-9000
Digital Research	Tech Support	408-646-6464
Digital Research.	BBS	408-649-3443 2400bps
Digital Vision.	BBS	617-329-8387 14400bps
Digitrend Systems Corp.	General	818-772-0190
Dilog	General	408-241-3192
Disk Technician Corporation	BBS	619-272-9240 2400bps
DNA Networks, Inc	BBS	215-296-9558 2400bps
Dove Computer	BBS	919-343-5616 14400bps
DPT (Dist Process Tech)	BBS	407-831-6432
DPT (Dist Process Tech)	General	407-260-3566
DPT (Dist Process Tech)	Tech Support	407-830-5522
DSI (Digicom Systems)	BBS	408-262-5629
DSI (Digicom Systems)	Sales	800-833-8900
DSI (Digicom Systems)	Tech Support	408-262-1277
DTC	BBS	408-942-4010
DTC	Fax	408-942-4052
DTC	Fax Back	408-942-4005
DTC	General	408-942-4000
DTK	Main	818-810-8880
DTK	Tech Support (IL)	800-804-8048
DTK	Tech Support (NJ)	908-562-8800
DTK	Tech Support (GA)	800-746-4386
DTK	Tech Support (FL)	305-597-8888
Dudley Software	BBS	615-966-3574 2400bps
Durant Technologies	T/S	800-451-4813
Dynamic Microprocessor	BBS	516-462-6638 2400bps
Dysan Corp	Tech Support	408-988-3472
EagleSoft.	BBS	812-479-1310 16800bps
Eastman Kodak	T/S	800-255-3434
Elite Business App's	BBS	410-987-2335 2400bps
Emac/Everex.	BBS	510-226-9694 2400bps
Emerald Systems	T/S	800-366-4349
Emerald Systems	BBS	619-673-4617 2400bps
Enable Software	BBS	518-877-6316 2400bps
Ensoniq	General	610-647-3930
Envisions	BBS	415-259-8145
Epson	T/S	800-922-8911
Epson	Tech Support	213-539-9955
Epson America, Inc	BBS	310-782-4531 9600bps
Equinox Systems, Inc	BBS	305-378-1696 2400bps
eSoft Inc.	BBS	303-699-8222 16800bps
ETS Incorporated.	BBS	801-265-0919 14400bps
Everex Systems	BBS	510-438-4650
Everex Systems	Tech Support	510-498-1115
Exabyte	Sales	800-445-7736
Exabyte	T/S	303-447-4323
Exabyte	BBS	303-447-7100
Exabyte Direct Srvce Admn	Fax	303-447-7199
Excalibur.	BBS	408-244-0813 14400bps
Exis.	BBS	416-439-8293 14400bps
EZX Publishing.	BBS	713-280-8180 14400bps
Family Scrapbook.	BBS	904-249-9515 16800bps
Fifth Generation Systems	BBS	504-295-3344
Fifth Generation Systems	T/S	800-766-7283
Fifth Generation Systems	T/S: Mace, Fastback	800-873-4384
Fifth Generation Systems.	BBS	504-295-3344 2400bps
Flashllink	BBS	717-293-3074
FlashTek	BBS	208-883-3859
FlashTek	Email	flashtek@proto.com
FlashTek	England	44-476-74108
FlashTek	General	208-882-7275
FlashTek	Orders	800-397-7310
Folio	BBS	801-375-9907 2400bps
*Footprint Works	T/S	800-465-8470
*Footprint Works	General	416-860-0477
Foresight Resources.	BBS	816-891-8465 2400bps
Frederick Engineering, Inc.	BBS	301-290-6944 2400bps
FreeLance	Cust Support	800-223-1662
Fresh Technology.	BBS	602-497-4235 2400bps
Fujitsu America	T/S	408-432-1300
Fujitsu America, Inc.	Tech Support	800-826-6112
Fujitsu America, Inc	BBS	408-944-9899 9600bps
Future Domain	Tech Support	714-253-0400
Future Domain	Update Center	800-879-7599
Future Domain	BBS	714-253-0432 2400bps
FutureSoft Engineering	BBS	713-588-6870 2400bps
Galacticomm.	BBS	305-583-7808 14400bps
*GammaTech	General	405-359-1219
GAP Development Company	BBS	714-493-3819 14400bps
Gateway	General	800-846-2000
Gateway	T/S	714-553-1555
Gateway	Tech Support	800-846-2301
Gateway BBS.	BBS	605-232-2109 14400bps
Gateway Communications	BBS	714-863-7097 2400bps
Gazelle Systems	T/S: Optune	800-233-0383
Gazelle Systems	BBS	801-375-2548 2400bps
GEcho	BBS	316-263-5313 16800bps
General DataComm Ind	BBS	203-598-0593 14400bps
GEnie Information Services.	BBS	800-638-8369 2400bps
Genoa	BBS	408-943-1231 2400bps
Genoa	Tech Support	408-432-9090
Genovation	Fax	714-833-0322
Genovation	General	714-833-3355
Gensoft Development.	BBS	206-562-9407 2400bps
GeoClock	BBS	703-241-7980 14400bps
GeoWorks	T/S	415-644-3456
Gibson Research	BBS	714-362-8848 2400bps
Gibson Research	Sales-T/S: Spinwrite	714-362-8800
GigaTrend, Inc.	BBS	619-566-0361 2400bps
Global Village Comm.	BBS	415-390-8397 14400bps
Goldstar	T/S	800-777-1192
Goldstar	Tech Support	408-432-1331
Goldstar Technologies.	BBS	408-432-0236 14400bps
Graphic Workshop.	BBS	416-729-4609 14400bps
Gravis	BBS	604-431-5927
Gravis	Tech Support	604-431-1807
Great American Software	BBS	603-889-7292 2400bps
Gupta Technologies, Inc	BBS	415-321-0549 2400bps
GVC Technologies.	BBS	201-579-2380 14400bps
HardDrives Intl	Sales?	800-998-8093
Hayes	T/S	404-441-1617
Hayes Microcomputer.	BBS	404-446-6336 14400bps
Hayes Microcomputer.	BBS	800-874-2937 14400bps
Hayes On-line	BBS (product info)	800-874-2937
Hazard Soft.	BBS	405-243-3200 16800bps
HDC Computer	BBS	206-869-2418 2400bps
Headland	General	510-656-0503
Headland Technology.	BBS	415-656-0503 2400bps
Headstart	T/S	800-722-6224
Hercules Computer Tech.	BBS	510-623-7034
Hercules Computer Tech.	Tech Support	510-623-6030
Hercules Computer	BBS	510-540-0621 2400bps
Hewlett-Packard Co.	Customer Information	800-752-0900
Hewlett-Packard Co.	Fax Back	800-331-1917
Hewlett-Packard Co.	BBS	408-553-3500
Hewlett-Packard Co.	Tech Support	800-858-8867
Hitachi	T/S	224-785-9770
Houston Instruments	T/S	800-444-3425
Hyundai Electronics	Tech Support	800-234-3553
i-link	email (Germany)	info@ilink.de
i-link	General (Germany)	+4930-216-20-48
IBM PC Users Group	BBS	404-988-2790
IBM	Automated Fax	800-426-3395
IBM	BBS	919-517-0001 14400bps
*IBM	BBS Information	800-848-8199
*IBM	BBS (Toronto, Canada)	905-316-4255
*IBM	BBS (Toronto, Canada)	416-492-1823
*IBM	BBS (Vancouver, Canada)	604-664-6464
*IBM	BBS (Montreal, Canada).	514-938-3022
*IBM	BBS (Winnipeg, Canada).	204-934-2798
*IBM	BBS (Victoria, Canada).	604-380-5441
*IBM	Cust. Relation (Canada)	800-465-6600
*IBM	Defect Support	800-237-5511
IBM	FTP	software.watson.ibm.com
IBM	General	800-426-3333
*IBM	General	800-426-2468
*IBM	General (USA)	800-547-1283
*IBM	General (Canada)	800-465-7999
IBM	PS/2 HelpCenter	800-772-2227
IMC Networks	BBS	714-724-0930 2400bps
IMSI Software	BBS	415-454-2893 2400bps
Indelible Blue	Fax	919-878-7479
Indelible Blue	General	800-776-8284
Indelible Blue	General	919-878-9700
Infinity Computer Services.	BBS	215-965-8028 2400bps
Infochip Systems.	BBS	408-727-2496 2400bps
Informix	BBS	913-492-2089 2400bps
InfoShare.	BBS	703-803-8000 96H00bps
Innovative Data Concepts.	BBS	215-357-4183 2400bps
Inset Corporation	BBS	203-740-0063 14400bps
Insignia Solutions	BBS	415-694-7694 2400bps
Integrated Inf Tech	BBS	408-727-0952
Integrated Inf Tech	Mathco T/S	800-448-5033
Integrated Inf Tech	XtraDrive T/S	408-727-1676
Intel	BBS	503-645-6275 14400bps
Intel	Cust. Support/FaxBack	800-538-3373
Intel	FaxBack	800-525-3019
Intel	FaxBack	503-629-7576
Intel	Fax	503-629-7580
Intel	Fax	800-458-6231
Intel	Sales	800-538-3373
Intel	Sales	503-629-7354
Intel Application Support	BBS	916-356-3600 14400bps
Intelligent Graphics Corp	BBS	408-441-0386 2400bps
Intracorp.	BBS	305-378-8793 2400bps
Intuit	.	800-624-8742
Iomega	T/S	800-456-5522
Iomega.	BBS	801-778-4400 2400bps
Irma DCA	T/S	404-740-0300
Irwin	T/S	800-421-1879
Irwin Magnetics	BBS	313-930-9380 9600bps
ITAC Systems, Inc	General	214-494-3073
JDR Microdevices.	BBS	408-559-0253 2400bps
Jetfax.	BBS	415-324-1259 2400bps
Jetform	BBS	613-563-2894 2400bps
Kalok (HDD)	BBS	408-738-4258
Kalok (HDD)	FAX	408-747-1319
Kalok (HDD)	Voice	408-747-1315
Kaypro	Tech Support	619-481-3900
Kensington Microware	T/S	800-535-4242
Kent Marsh	BBS	713-522-8921 2400bps
Keytronics	Tech Support	800-262-6006
Kodiak Technology	BBS	408-452-0677 2400bps
Kodiak Technology	Tech Support	800-777-7704
Kurta	T/S	800-645-8782
Kurta Corp	BBS	602-243-9440 2400bps
*Kyocera Unison Inc	General	415-848-6680
LAN (magazine)	BBS	415-267-7640
LAN Master	BBS	817-771-0233 16800bps
LAN Systems.	BBS	801-373-6980 2400bps
LAN Works.	BBS	416-238-0253 2400bps
Laser Go	BBS	619-450-9370 2400bps
Lattice	BBS	708-916-1200 2400bps
Leading Edge	Customer Service	800-874-3340
Leading Edge	Tech Support	800-245-9870
Leading Edge	BBS	508-836-3971 14400bps
Lexmark	BBS	606-232-5238
Lexmark	Fax	606-232-2380
Lexmark	Voice	606-232-3000
Lexmark	BBS	800-453-9223 2400bps
Liant Software	BBS	508-626-0681 9600bps
Liant Software	Tech Support	508-875-2294
Lightning Communications.	BBS	714-457-9429 9600bps
Logical Connection	BBS	504-295-3344 2400bps
Logitech	BBS	510-795-0408 14400bps
Logitech	Tech Support	510-795-8100
Lotus	Cust. Support	800-223-1662
Lotus Development	General	617-577-8500
Lotus Tech Support	Support	404-399-5505
Lotus	BBS	404-395-7707 2400bps
Lotus	BBS	617-693-7000 2400bps
Lucas Games	BBS	415-257-3070
Mace, Paul Software	BBS	714-240-7459
Mace, Paul Software	Tech Support	800-523-0258
Mace, Paul Software.	BBS	503-482-7435 2400bps
Macronix	Tech Support	800-468-4629
MacronixCalifornia	Tech Supportonly.	408-453-8088
Madge Networks.	BBS	408-441-1340 2400bps
Magee Enterprises, Inc	BBS	404-446-6650 16800bps
Magitronic Technology.	BBS	516-454-8262 14400bps
Magnavox	T/S	800-722-6224
Magnavox	BBS	310-532-6436 14400bps
Main Lan	BBS	407-331-7433 2400bps
Mannesman Tally	BBS	206-251-5513 2400bps
Mansfield Software Group.	BBS	203-429-3784 14400bps
Manx Software Systems.	BBS	201-542-2793 2400bps
Matrix Technology	BBS	617-569-3787 2400bps
Maxi Host Support	BBS	209-836-2402 2400bps
Maxis Software.	BBS	510-254-3869 14400bps
Maxtor/Miniscribe	BBS	303-678-2222 14400bps
Maxtor/Miniscribe	E-mail	Gary_Anderson@Maxtor.com
Maxtor/Miniscribe	Fax	303-678-2618
Maxtor/Miniscribe	General	303-651-6000
Maxtor/Miniscribe	Tech Support	800-356-5333
Maxtor/Miniscribe	T/S	800-262-9867
Maynard Electronics.	BBS	407-263-3502 2400bps
Maynard Electronics.	General.	800-227-6296
McAfee Assoc	BBS	408-988-4004 16800bps
McAfee Assoc	Fax	.408-970-9727
McAfee Assoc	General	408-988-3832
McAfee Assoc	Internet	mcafee.com
McAfee Assoc	Internet ip	192.187.128.1
Media Vision	BBS	510-770-0968 14400bps
MediaVision	BBS	510-770-0527
MediaVision	General	800-684-6699
MediaVision	Tech Support	800-638-2807
Megahertz Corp.	Sales	800-LAPTOPS
Megahertz Corp.	T/S	800-527-8677
Metheus	T/S	503-690-1550
Micro Display Systems.	BBS	612-438-3513 2400bps
Micro Solutions	BBS	815-756-9100 14400bps
Microbotics	Tech Support	214-437-5330
Microcom	BBS	617-762-5134 2400bps
Microdyne.	BBS	703-739-0432 2400bps
Microid Research	FAX	408-727-6996
Microid Research	Voice	408-727-6991
Micron Technology	BBS	208-368-4530 2400bps
Micronet	General	714-837-6033
Micronics	General	510-651-2300
Micronics.	BBS	510-651-6837 14400bps
Micropolis Corp	BBS	818-709-3310 2400bps
Micropolis Corp	Tech Support	818-709-3325
MicroProse	BBS	301-785-1841 2400bps
Microrim	BBS	206-649-9836 2400bps
Microscience Int	Tech Support	408-433-9898
Microsoft	BBS	206-646-9145
Microsoft	BBS 9600	206-936-6735
Microsoft	BBS Canada	905-507-3022
Microsoft	FTP	ftp.microsoft.com
Microsoft	FTP	gowinnt.microsoft.com
*Microsoft	General (Toronto)	416-568-0434
Microsoft Cust. Support	800-426-9400
Microsoft Access	206-635-7050
Microsoft Basic PDS	206-635-7053
Microsoft C Compiler	206-635-7007
Microsoft COBOL	206-637-7096
Microsoft Customer Sales &Service	800-426-9400
Microsoft Corporate Switchboard	206-882-8080
Microsoft DOS 5	206-646-5104
Microsoft DOS 5 recordings	206-646-5103
Microsoft Excel for Macintosh	206-635-7080
Microsoft Excel for Windows& Excel for OS/2	206-635-7070
Microsoft FORTRAN Compiler	206-635-7015
Microsoft LAN Manager for UNIX	206-635-7021
Microsoft Macro Assembler	206-646-5109
Microsoft Mail for Windows& Mail for Macintosh	206-637-9307
Microsoft Money for Windows.	206-635-7131
Microsoft Mouse, BallPoint,& Hardware	206-637-7096
Microsoft Pascal	206-637-7096
Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows	206-635-7145
Microsoft PowerPoint for Macintosh	206-635-7145
Microsoft Profiler	206-635-7015
Microsoft Project for Windows and Macintosh	206-635-7155
Microsoft Project for MS-DOS	206-635-7155
Microsoft Publisher for Windows	206-635-7140
Microsoft Quick Assembler	206-635-7010
Microsoft QuickC Compiler	206-635-7010
Microsoft Test Tools for Windows	206-635-7052
Microsoft Visual Basic Startup	206-646-5105
Microsoft Windows Applications for OS/2 ver. 2.0	206-635-7247
Microsoft Windows Environment	206-637-7098
Microsoft Windows Applications	206-637-7099
Microsoft Word for Macintosh	206-635-7200
Microsoft Word for MS-DOS	206-635-7210
Microsoft Word for OS/2	206-454-2030
Microsoft Word for Windows	206-462-9673
Microsoft Works for Macintosh	206-635-7160
Microsoft Works for MS-DOS	206-635-7150
Microsoft Works for Windows.	206-635-7130
**** ALL Microsoft OTHER PRODUCTS	206-454-2030
MICROSOFT STARTUP AND INSTALLATION SUPPORT
Microsoft LAN Manager Startup (first 30 days only).	206-635-7020
Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 (first90 days only)	206-646-5104
Microsoft QuickBASIC Startup	206-646-5101
Microsoft SQL Server Startup (first 30 days only)	206-637-7095
Microsoft Visual Basic Startup	206-646-5105
Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack	206-637-9308
Microsoft Windows SoftwareDevelopment Kit (SDK).	206-635-3329
FAST TIPS SERVICES
Microsoft Fast Tips General.	800-936-4100
Microsoft Excel for Macintosh	206-635-7081
Microsoft Excel for Windows.	206-635-7071
Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0	206-646-5103
Microsoft Project for Windows	206-635-7156
Microsoft Visual Basic	206-646-5107
Microsoft Windows	206-635-7245
Microsoft Word for Macintosh	206-635-7201
Microsoft Word for MS-DOS	206-635-7211
Microsoft Word for Windows	206-635-7231
INCREMENTAL FEE-BASED SUPPORT
Microsoft OnCall for Basic$2/min.	900-896-9999
Microsoft OnCall for Basic$20/call	206-646-5106
Microsoft OnCall for MS-DOS$2/min	900-896-9000
Microsoft OnCall for MS-DOS$20/call	206-646-5108
Microsoft OnCall for VisualBasic $2/min.	900-896-9876
Microsoft OnCall for VisualBasic $20/call	206-646-5106
Microsoft Network Support $175/call	206-635-7022
Microsystems Software.	BBS	508-875-8009 2400bps
Microtech.	BBS	203-469-6430 2400bps
MicroTek	BBS	310-538-4032 14400bps
Microtest.	BBS	602-996-4009 2400bps
Mitsubishi Inc.	T/S	800-344-6352
Mitsubishi Inc.	Tech Support	213-515-3993
Mitsubishi	BBS	714-636-6216 2400bps
Mitsumi	BBS	408-970-0761
Mitsumi	Sales	516-752-7730
Mitsumi	Tech Support	408-970-9699
Mitsumi	Tech Support	408-970-9730
Motorola	BBS	800-843-3451
Motorola	BBS	512-891-3733
Motorola	BBS	512-891-3733
Mountain Computer, Inc	BBS	408-438-2665
Mountain Computer, Inc	General	800-458-0300
Mountain Computer, Inc	Tech Support	408-438-7897
Mouse Systems (MSC).	BBS	510-683-0617 14400bps
Mouse Systems	Tech Support	510-656-1117
Multi-Tech Systems	BBS	612-785-9875 14400bps
Mustang Software.	BBS	805-395-0650 16800bps
Mustang Software	MSI HQ BBS	805-873-2400
Mustang Software	T/S	805-873-2550
Mustang Software	OFFICE	805-873-2500
Mustang Software	FAX	805-873-2599
Mustang Software	SALES	800-999-9619
Mutant Group	BBS	405-372-6621 16800bps
Mylex	.	800-776-9539
Mylex	BBS	510-793-3491
Mylex	Technical Support	510-796-6100
National Design	.	800-253-8831
National Semiconductor	BBS	408-245-0671 2400bps
NCR	BBS	719-596-1649
NCR	Video Chip Support	800-543-9935
NEC	T/S	708-860-0335
NEC	Tech Support BBS	508-635-4706
NEC	Tech Support fax	708-860-5475
NEC	Tech Support faxback.	800-366-0476
NEC	Tech Support General.	800-388-8888
Network Products Corp.	BBS	818-441-6933 14400bps
NetWorth	BBS	214-869-2959 2400bps
New Media Corp	General	800-227-3748
New Media Graphics	BBS	508-663-7612 14400bps
NeXT Answers	automated email	nextanswers@next.com
NeXT Answers	Fax Back	415-780-3990
NeXT	T/S General	800-848-NEXT
Night Owl BBS	BBS	716-881-5688 16800bps
NISCA	BBS	214-446-0646 2400bps
Norton	Tech Support	213-319-2020
Norton-Lambert.	BBS	805-683-2249 14400bps
Norton/Symantec	BBS	408-973-9598 2400bps
NovaStor	Sales	818-707-9900
NovaStor	Fax	818-707-9902
Novell	BBS	801-429-3308
Novell	Tech Support	800-526-5463
Novell Desktop Systems	BBS	408-649-3443 2400bps
Novell.	BBS	801-429-3030 14400bps
Nuiq Software Inc	BBS	914-833-1479 14400bps
Number Nine.	BBS	617-497-6463 96H00bps
OCR Systems.	BBS	215-938-7245 2400bps
Okidata	T/S	800-634-0089
Okidata	Tech Support	609-235-2600
Okidata	BBS	800-283-5474 9600bps
Olivetti Office USA	General	201-526-8200
Omen Technology	BBS	503-621-3746 9600bps
OMTI/Scientific Micro	Tech Support	408-954-1633
Ontrack Computer Systems	BBS	612-937-0860
Ontrack Computer Systems	Data Recovery	800-872-2599
Ontrack Computer Systems	Sales Dos utils	800-752-1333
Ontrack Computer Systems	Sales: Disk Manager	800-752-1333
Ontrack Computer Systems	Tech Support	612-937-2121
Open Network	BBS	718-638-2239 2400bps
Orange Micro	T/S	714-779-2772
Orchid Technology	BBS	510-683-0327
Orchid Technology	General	510-683-0300
Orchid Technology	Sales	800-767-2443
Orchid Technology	Tech Support	510-683-0323
Origin.	BBS	512-328-8402 2400bps
Pacific Data Product	T/S	619-597-3444
Pacific Data Products.	BBS	619-452-6329 2400bps
Packard Bell	BBS - Canada	416-542-7359
Packard Bell	BBS USA	801-250-1600 2400bps
Packard Bell	Tech Support	800-733-4411
Packard Bell	BBS	818-773-7207 2400bps
Palindrome	BBS	708-505-3336 2400bps
Panasonic	T/S	800-222-0584
Panasonic Communica'n Sys	BBS	201-863-7845
Panasonic Printers	Cust Support	708-468-5440
Paperback Corporation.	BBS	415-644-0782 16800bps
Paradise	Tech Support	800-832-4778
Paradise Systems.	BBS	714-753-1234 14400bps
Patton & Patton Software.	BBS	408-778-9697 2400bps
PC Power and Cooling	.	619-931-5700
PC Power and Cooling	.	800-722-6555
PC User Groups)	BBS	408-439-9367
PCubid (CPU fans)	General	916-338-1338
Pentax Technologies.	BBS	303-460-1637 16800bps
Perstore	BBS	602-894-4605
Perstore	Tech Support	602-894-4601
Philips	BBS	719-593-4081
Phoenix (Bios)	BBS	405-321-2400 14400bps
Phoenix (Bios)	Tech Support	617-551-4000
Pinnacle Publishing.	BBS	206-251-6217 2400bps
Pinpoint Publishing.	BBS	707-523-0468 2400bps
PKWare.	BBS	414-354-8670 16800bps
PKWare.	Voice	414-354-8699
PLI	BBS	510-651-5948 2400bps
Plus Development	BBS	408-434-1664
Plus Development	Tech Support	900-740-4433
Plus Development	Tech SupportCalif	800-826-8022
Practical Peripherals	BBS	805-496-4445 14400bps
Practical Peripherals	General	800-442-4774
Practical Peripherals	T/S	805-496-7707
Priam Systems	Tech Support	408-954-8680
Priam Systems	BBS	408-434-1646 2400bps
Prime Solutions	Tech Support Disk Tech.	800-847-5000
Princeton Graphic Systems	BBS	404-664-1210 2400bps
Princeton Graphics	T/S	404-664-1010
*Pro Engineering Inc	General	613-738-3864
*Pro Engineering Inc	FAX	613-738-3871
ProComm Support	BBS	314-474-8477
Programmer's Workshop	General	216-494-5260
Programmer's Workshop	General	216-494-8715
Programmer's Workshop	General	800-336-1166
Prometheus Products.	BBS	503-691-5199 14400bps
Promise Technology	General	408-452-0948
Promise's Technology	Tech Support	408-452-1180
Promise's Technology	BBS	408-452-1267
*Proportional Software	General	800-666-4672
Proteon	T/S	508-898-3100
Proteon	BBS	508-366-7827 2400bps
Public Brand Software.	BBS	317-856-2087 14400bps
Pure Data	T/S	800-661-8210
Pure Data.	BBS	214-242-3225 14400bps
Q+E Software	BBS	919-851-1381
Q+E Software	Sales	800-876-3101
Q+E Software	Technical Support	919-851-1152
QIC Standards Inc	Fax	805-962-1541
QIC Standards Inc	General	805-963-3853
Qmail	BBS	901-382-5583 16800bps
QMS	BBS	205-633-3632
QMS	FAX	205-633-3145
QMS	General	205-633-4300
QNX	T/S	613-591-0941
QNX	Fax	613-591-3579
Quadram	BBS	404-564-5678 2400bps
Qualitas	BBS	301-907-8030 14400bps
Qualitas	FaxFacts	301-718-6066
Qualitas	General	301-907-6700
Qualitas	Tech Support	301-907-7400
Qualitas	T/S FAX	301-718-6061
Qualitas	Toll Free	800-676-6386
Quantum	BBS	408-894-3214 2400bps
Quantum	T/S (end user)	800-826-8022
Quantum	T/S	408-894-4000
Quantum	T/S	408-944-0410
Quarterdeck	BBS	310-314-3227 V.32bis
Quarterdeck	BBS	310-396-3904 14400bps
Quarterdeck	Customer Service	800-354-3222
Quarterdeck	Fax	310-314-3217
Quarterdeck	Sales	310-392-9851
Quarterdeck	Tech Support - Fax	310-399-3802
Quarterdeck	Tech Support - UK	+4471 973-0663
Quarterdeck	Tech Support	310-392-9701
Quarterdeck	Tech Support DeskView	310-392-9851
Quarterdeck	Tech Support Manifest	310-392-9851
Quercus Systems	BBS	408-867-7488 14400bps
Quess Micro.	BBS	719-597-8670 14400bps
Quick Link II SW	General 14.4 Modem	714-362-5800
QuickBBS	BBS	407-896-0494 16800bps
Racal Interlan/Rabbit Soft.	BBS	508-264-4345 2400bps
Race.	BBS	305-271-2146 2400bps
Rams' Island Software.	BBS	303-841-6269 16800bps
Rancho Technology	Tech Support	714-987-3966
RC Electronics	General	714-375-3791
RelayNet National	BBS	301-229-5623 16800bps
Remote Control Int	BBS	619-431-4030 2400bps
Revelation Technologies	BBS	206-641-8110 2400bps
Ricoh Corp	General	201-882-2000
Rix Softworks	BBS	714-476-0728 2400bps
*Rodime Inc	General	407-997-0774
Rybs Electronics.	BBS	303-443-7437 2400bps
S3	General	408-986-8144
S3	BBS	408-970-3719
Saber Software.	BBS	214-361-1883 14400bps
Safetynet, Inc	Tech Support	201-467-1024
Safetynet, Inc	Sales	800-851-0188
Safetynet, Inc	BBS	201-467-1581
Salt Air BBS	BBS	801-261-8976 16800bps
Samsung Info Systems	BBS	201-691-6238 2400bps
Samsung Info. Syst	BBS	408-434-5684
Samsung Info. Syst	Tech Support	800-446-0262
Santa Cruz Operation (SCO).	Tech Support	800-347-4381
Santronics Software.	BBS	305-248-7815 16800bps
Sanyo Storage Products	General	714-724-1505
SEAboard	BBS	201-473-1991 9600bps
SeaFax.	Automated Fax Back Serv	408-438-2620
Seagate Technology	BBS French	33-1-40-67-1034 2400bps
Seagate Technology	BBS Germany	49-89-140-9331
Seagate Technology	BBS Singapore	65-227-2217
Seagate Technology	BBS UK	44-628-478011
Seagate Technology	BBS USA	408-438-8771 14400bps
Seagate Technology	Customer Service	800-468-3472
Seagate Technology	General	408-438-6550
Seagate Technology	Sales	408-438-8111
Seagate Technology	Tech Support	408-438-8222
Searchlight Software	BBS	516-689-2566 9600bps
SemWare	BBS	404-641-8968 9600bps
Sharp	T/S	708-759-8555
Sharp	BBS	404-962-1788 16800bps
Shiva Corporation	BBS	617-621-0190 2400bps
Shugart	Tech Support	714-770-1100
Sierra Online	BBS	209-683-4463 14400bps
Sigma Design	BBS	510-770-0111 2400bps
Silicon Valley Computers	BBS	415-967-8081
Silicon Valley Computers	General	415-967-1100
Sitka Corporation	BBS	415-769-8774 2400bps
Sitka	BBS	510-769-8774 2400bps
SMC	BBS	714-707-2481 V.32
SMC	T/S	800-992-4762
SMS Technology.	BBS	510-964-5700 9600bps
Sofnet.	BBS	404-984-9926 14400bps
Sofnet.	Voice	404-984-8088
Sofnet.	Fax	404-984-9956
Sofnet.	Sales	800-FAXWORKS
SoftArc Inc.	BBS	416-609-2250 14400bps
Softklone.	BBS	904-878-9884 14400bps
Softlogic Solutions	Tech S Disk Optimize	800-272-9900
Softlogic Solutions.	BBS	603-644-5556 2400bps
Softronics	Fax	719-548-1878
Softronics	T/S	719-593-9550
Softronics	BBS	719-593-9295 2400bps
Software Products Intl	BBS	619-450-2179 2400bps
Software Security	BBS	203-329-7263 2400bps
Software Venture.	BBS	510-849-1912 2400bps
Solutions Systems	BBS	617-237-8530 2400bps
Sony	Customer Relations	800-282-2848
Sony	Sony CD-ROM hotline	408-894-0555
Sony	Sony CD-ROM BBS	408-955-5107
Sony	faxback service	408-955-5505
Sparco Communications	General	800-840-8400
Sparco Communications	General	601-323-5360
Sparco Communications	e-mail	sparco@sparco.com
SparkWare.	BBS	901-382-5583 16800bps
Specialix Inc	General	408-378-7919
Specialix Inc	UK	44-0-932-354254
Spectra Publishing	BBS	408-730-8326 2400bps
SprintNet.	BBS	800-546-1000 2400bps
SPSS	BBS	312-836-1900
SPSS	Sales	800-543-2185
SPSS	Tech Support	312-329-3410
Stac Electronics	Tech Support	619-431-6712
Stac Electronics.	BBS	619-431-5956 14400bps
Star (Printers)	T/S	908-572-3300
Star Micronics.	BBS	908-572-5010 14400bps
STB Systems	BBS	214-437-9615 16800bps
*STB Systems	BBS UK	44-181-897-1008
STB Systems	Fax	214-234-1306
*STB Systems	Fax France	33-144-647687
*STB Systems	Fax UK	44-181-897-1006
*STB Systems	General	800-234-4334
STB Systems	General	214-234-8750
*STB Systems	General France	33-144-647685
*STB Systems	General UK	44-181-897-1003
Storage Dimensions	Tech S Speedstor	408-395-2688
Storage Dimensions	BBS	408-944-1220 14400bps
Summagraphics	T/S	203-384-1344
Summagraphics	T/S	800-729-7866
Sun	Express	800-USE-SUN
Sun	Main Helpline	800-USA-4SUN
*Sundial Systems	General	310-596-5121
Sunrise Software.	BBS	404-256-9525 2400bps
Sunriver	BBS	512-835-8082 2400bps
Supermac Software	BBS	408-773-4500 2400bps
Supra Corp	BBS	503-967-2444 14400bps
Swan Technologies	BBS	814-237-6145 14400bps
Sydex	BBS	503-683-1385 2400bps
Symantec	BBS	408-973-9598 14400bps
Symantec	BBS	503-484-6669 14400bps
Syquest	.	415-226-4000
Syquest	Fax Back	800-245-2278
Syquest	BBS	510-656-0473 9600bps
Sysgen	T/S	800-821-2151
Sysgen.	BBS	408-946-5032 2400bps
Systems Compatibility.	BBS	312-670-4239 2400bps
T.A.G. BBS	BBS	313-582-6671 16800bps
*Tandon Corp	General	805-523-0340
Tandy Corp	General	817-390-3011
Tandy Corp	Tech Support	817-878-6875
Tatung Co. of America	Tech Support	213-979-7055
Teac America, Inc.	Tech Support	213-726-0303
TEAMate	BBS	213-318-5302 14400bps
Tech Data	BBS	813-538-7090
Tech Data	Tech Support	800-553-7977
Tecmar.	BBS	216-349-0853 14400bps
Telebit Corp.	Tech Support	800-835-3248
Telebit	BBS	408-745-3803 14400bps
Telix Support	BBS	416-439-9399
Telix Support	BBS	416-439-8293 16800bps
Template Garden Software.	BBS	212-627-5089 9600bps
Texas Instruments	Tech Support	512-250-7407
Texas Instruments	BBS	512-250-6112 2400bps
TheComplete PC	BBS	407-997-9130 14400bps
TheComplete PC	Fax	407-997-9621 14400bps
TheComplete PC	Tech Support	407-997-8062 14400bps
TheSoft Programming.	BBS	415-581-3019 2400bps
Thomas-Conrad Corp	BBS	512-836-8012 14400bps
*Thomas-Conrad Corp	T/S	800-334-4112 24 hour
*Thomas-Conrad Corp	T/S Canada	800-654-3822
Thumper Technologies	BBS	918-627-0059 2400bps
Thunderbyte USA	BBS	615-442-2833 14400bps
Tiara Computer Systems	BBS	415-966-8533 14400bps
Timeline Software	BBS	415-892-0408 2400bps
Timeslips.	BBS	508-768-7581 2400bps
Tops microsystems	BBS	510-769-8774 2400bps
TOPS Support	BBS	415-769-8874
TopSoft Software.	BBS	502-425-9941 16800bps
Toshiba America	BBS	714-837-4408
Toshiba America	Tech Support	800-999-4273
Toshiba Printer Products.	BBS	714-581-7600 2400bps
Trantor	BBS	510-656-5159
Trantor	FAX	510-770-9910
Trantor Systems	BBS	415-656-5159 2400bps
Traveling Software	BBS	206-485-1736 14400bps
Trident	BBS	415-691-1016
Trident	Tech Support	415-691-9211
Tripplite	T/S	312-329-1601
Trius	BBS	508-794-0762 16800bps
True Vision.	BBS	317-577-8783 2400bps
Tseng Labs	Fax	215-860-7713
Tseng Labs	General.	215-968-0502
TSR Systems.	BBS	516-331-6682 2400bps
Turbo Tax.	BBS	619-453-5232 2400bps
TurboCom	BBS	503-482-2633 14400bps
Turtle Beach	BBS	717-845-4835 14400bps
U.S.Robotics	Voice	708-982-5151
U.S.Robotics	FaxBack	800-762-6163
U.S.Robotics	CompuServe	GO USROBOTICS
U.S.Robotics	Internet	support@usr.com
U.S.Robotics	Sales & Marketing	800-342-5877
U.S.Robotics	T/S	800-982-5151
U.S.Robotics	T/S Fax	708-933-5552
Ultrastor	BBS	510-623-9091
Ultrastor	General	714-581-4100
Ultrastor	Tech Support	510-623-8955
Unicore	General	508-686-6468
Unicore	General	800-800-2467
Unicorn Software.	BBS	317-784-2147 2400bps
UNIFACE Corp	General	510-748-6145
UNIFACE Corp	Support	510-748-6445
UniNova Service Corp	BBS	509-925-3893 16800bps
US Sage	BBS	417-331-7433 2400bps
USNO Time of Day	BBS	202-653-0351
UUNET		800-488-6386
Ven Tel	BBS	408-922-0988 14400bps
Ventura Software.	BBS	619-673-7691 14400bps
Vermont Microsystems	BBS	802-655-7461 2400bps
VESA	FAX	408-435-8225
VESA	General	408-435-0333
Video Seven	T/S	800-248-1850
Video Seven.	BBS	510-656-0503 14400bps
Virex	BBS	919-419-1602 14400bps
Visual Business Systems	BBS	404-953-1613 2400bps
Volkswriter.	BBS	408-648-3015 2400bps
Vortex Systems.	BBS	412-322-3216 2400bps
Wacom	BBS	415-960-0236 2400bps
Walker,Richer, & Quinn	BBS	206-324-2357 9600bps
Walnut Creek (CDROM)	e-mail	info@cdrom.com
Walnut Creek (CDROM)	FAX	510-674-0821
Walnut Creek (CDROM)	General	510-674-0783
Walnut Creek (CDROM)	General	800-786-9907
Walt Disney Software	BBS	818-567-4027 2400bps
Wangtek	BBS	805-582-3620 9600b
Wangtek	Fax	805-583-8249
Wangtek	Fax Back	805-582-3381
Wangtek	Voice	800-992-9916
Wangtek	Voice	805-583-5255
Wangtek	BBS	805-582-3370 2400bps
Wantree Development.	BBS	913-441-0595 14400bps
*Washburn & Co	General	716-248-3627
*Washburn & Co	FAX	716-381-7549
Weitek Corp.	Fax	408-738-1185
Weitek Corp.	General	408-738-8400
Weitek.	BBS	408-522-7517 2400bps
Weltec	T/S	714-669-1955
Western Digital	BBS	714-753-1068 14400bps
Western Digital	BBS	714-753-1234 2400b
*Western Digital	Fax Back	714-932-4300
Western Digital	France	331-69-85-3914
Western Digital	Germany	49-89-922006-60
Western Digital	Tech Support	714-932-4900
Western Digital	Tech Support	800-832-4778
Western Digital	UK	44-372-360387
White Water Systems	BBS	708-328-9442 2400bps
Word Perfect Corp	BBS	801-225-4414 14400bps
Word Perfect Corp	Tech Support DOS ver	800-541-5096
Word Perfect Corp	T/S Mac ver 2.1	800-336-3614
Word Perfect Corp	T/S Mac ver 3.0	800-228-2875
Wordtech	BBS	415-254-1141 2400bps
Wyse Technology	BBS	408-922-4400
Wyse Technology	Tech Support	408-435-2770
*Xebex	General	702-883-4000
Xerox Computer Serv.	General	213-306-4000
Xircom.	BBS	818-878-7618 14400bps
Xircom.	Tech Support	800-874-4428
XTree	BBS	805-546-9150 2400bps
Xyquest	BBS	508-667-5669 2400bps
*Y-E Data	General	714-898-3677
Young Micro Systems	General	800-365-VEGA
Zenith	T/S	708-808-4300
Zenographics	BBS	714-851-3860 2400bps
Zeos International	Customer Service	800-848-9022
Zeos International	Sales	800-423-5891
Zeos International	T/S Fax	612-633-4607
Zeos International	Tech Support	800-228-5390
Zeos International	Upgrade Sales	800-874-2943
ZEOS Online Graphics BBS.	BBS	612-633-0815
Zoom Telephonics (24HR)	BBS	617-423-3733 28800bps
Zoom Telephonics	Sales	800-666-6191
Zsoft	BBS	404-427-1045 14400bps
Zyxel Communications	BBS	714-693-0762
Zyxel Communications	Service Center	714-693-0804


Acknowledgments

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to the faq:

Carsten Grammes (cagr@rz.uni-sb.de), Mike Long (mike.long@analog.com), Cameron L. Spitzer (cls@truffula.sj.ca.us), John M. Grohol (grohol@alpha.acast.nova.edu), Jeff Abramson (jabram@ichips.intel.com), Ronald Geens (rgeens@wins.uia.ac.be), Paul Leslie Strople (strople@ug.cs.dal.ca), David Reeve Sward (sward+@CMU.EDU), zeos@zeos.com, Steve Rusk (zz96sr@sdacs.ucsd.edu), Arnoud Martens (arnoud@ijssel.hacktic.nl), Steve Walters (swwalters@fl51mail.space.honeywell.com), comins@tecrus.enet.dec.com, Frederick J. Ingham (p00736@psilink.com), Shaun Burnet (burnesa@cat.com), John Anthony Ruchak (jruchak@mtmis1.mis.semi.harris.com), Herbst OMR (herbst@techunix.technion.ac.il), Wayne Schlitt (backbone!wayne@tower.tssi.com), Lee Fisher (leefi@microsoft.com), Joeseph H Allen (jhallen@world.std.com), pieterh@sci.kun.nl, Ron Bean (uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!zaphod), Will Spencer (will@gnu.ai.mit.edu) and the many others who helped bring the FAQ to where it is today.

Ralph Valentino   (ralf@chpc.org)  (ralf@wpi.wpi.edu)

Hardware Engineer,  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute

Center for High Performance Computing, Marlborough MA

The FAQ (1994/11/10) was converted to this help file by:

Jean-Claude Cuenat	jcc@ezinfo.vmsmail.ethz.ch


About this file
About this Help File

The information gathered in this help file is copyrighted as noted in copyright.

When reading the original FAQ, I thought it would be handy to be able to browse trough, search and click around in the information. I had just built a few little tools for writing help files in Word for Windows 6.0 so I decided to convert the whole FAQ to the winhelp format and make it public.

Most work turned out to be formatting the tables and lists of pinouts, addresses, phone numbers and so on. But they're O.K. now - I think :-)

If anyone has or could even make some good bitmaps (max.16 colors) for the pinouts and drive descriptions (DB-25, PCI, Fujitsu and so on) send me a mail and I could drop the ASCII "drawings".

Any comments and suggestions related to the form of the help file are welcome.

Hope you enjoy it !

-jcc

jcc@ezinfo.vmsmail.ethz.ch