TS-5600
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| Product Page | |
| Documentation | |
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| Schematic | |
| Mechanical Drawing | |
| ElanSC520 | |
| CPU Datasheet | |
| CPU Manual | |
| CPU Registers |
Introduction
The model TS-5600 is a compact, full-featured PC compatible Single Board Computer based on the AMD Elan520 processor. At 133 MHz, it is approximately 10 times faster than our other 386EX based products for only a small additional cost. PC compatibility allows for rapid development since you can use standard PC development tools such as Turbo C or Power Basic or Linux based tools as well. If you have done work in the PC world in the past, you will find you can now build applications for a very small target that does not require a keyboard, video, floppy disks, or hard drives.
By adding the optional TS-9500 daughter board, you can compile and debug directly on the TS-5600 with standard VGA video and keyboard interfaces. Alternatively, you can typically write and debug code on a host PC using standard development tools for the PC platform, then simply copy it to and run it on the TS-5600 without modification. If additional peripherals are required, the PC/104 expansion bus allows for many standard functions available off-the-shelf. It is also very simple to create a custom PC/104 daughter board for those special features that differentiate your product. Technologic Systems can provide technical support as well as a free quotation for any custom hardware, software, or BIOS modifications you may require.
This manual is fairly short. This is because for the most part, the TS-5600 is a standard x86-based PC compatible computer, and there are hundreds of books about writing software for the PC platform. The primary purpose of this manual is documenting where the TS-5600 differs from a standard PC.
PC Compatibility
PC compatibility requires much more than just an x86 processor. It requires PC compatible memory and I/O maps as well as a PC compatible BIOS. The General Software EMBEDDED BIOS offers a high degree of compatibility with past and present BIOS standards allowing it to run off-the shelf operating systems and application software.
The EMBEDDED BIOS has been tested with all major versions of DOS, including MS-DOS, DR-DOS, and Embedded DOS 6-XL; all major versions of OS/2, including MS-OS/2 and IBM OS/2; MS-Windows 3.1, Windows-95, Windows NT, and NetWare 386.
Operating Systems
Technologic Systems Embedded PCs are compatible with a wide variety of x86-based operating systems. A partial list OSes currently used with our boards by customers includes:
- TNT Embedded Toolsuite, Phar Lap Software
- UCos II
- RTKernel, On Time Software
- RTEMS, On-Line Applications Research Corporation
- DOS with WATTCP, public domain TCP/IP source code for DOS
- Linux
The TS-5600 is shipped, free of charge, with Embedded DOS ROM by General Software.
The TS-5600 can be shipped upon request with Linux pre-installed for a nominal fee. The Linux file system and kernel is also freely available on the web should you wish to install it yourself. Typically, the Linux OS requires a 32MB or larger Compact Flash or an M-System's DiskOnChip.
Power
The TS-5600 requires regulated 5VDC at 800 mA (typical maximum). When running the Linux OS, it will drop to about 300 mA during low usage. A quick release screw-down terminal block for the 5V power and power GND connections is provided for easy connection to an external power supply. When power is first supplied to the TS-5600, the board mounted LED is immediately turned on under hardware control. Once the processor begins execution, the LED is turned off. The LED then turns on then off to provide a characteristic blink during execution of POST. If the LED does not turn on at all, the most likely problem is the power supply. Check that the +5V and GND connections are not reversed. A diode protects the board against damage in such a situation, but it will not run. Please note that supply voltages over 6 VDC may damage the TS-5600. Be sure to use a regulated 5 VDC power supply, preferably with current limiting to 3 to 5 Amps. If using a PC power supply that may be capable of supplying 20 Amps or more, it is possible to do irreversible damage if the polarity on the power leads is reversed.
Memory
SDRAM
The TS-5600 has a total of 32 Megabytes (MB) of high-speed SDRAM providing 640 Kilobytes (KB) of base memory, 31 MB of extended memory, and 128 KB of shadow RAM for the BIOS. This is identical to a standard PC memory map. The TS-5600 can be ordered with 64MB of SDRAM, but it is not field upgradeable. The TS-5600 SDRAM chips are soldered directly to the board. By not using a SIMM socket, the TS- 5600 is much more reliable in high-vibration environments.
Flash
There is a total of 2 MB of Flash memory on the TS-5600 with 128 KB reserved for the BIOS. During POST, this 128 KB area is copied from Flash into SDRAM at addresses E0000h through FFFFFh for improved performance (a standard technique known as BIOS Shadowing). The remainder of the Flash memory (1920 KB) is configured as a solid-state disk (SSD) drive appearing as drive A. Drive A is fully supported by the BIOS as an INT 13h drive. The physical Flash memory is accessed by the BIOS in protected mode at memory address 148M. The Flash memory is guaranteed capable of a minimum of 100,000 write/erase cycles. This means that if you completely erase and rewrite the SSD drive 10 times a day you have over 27 years before any problems would occur. Reading the SSD produces no wear at all. Power failure during flash writes can cause corruption of flash drive FAT tables (A: or B:). Therefore applications writing frequently should use a Compact Flash card drive which is much more tolerant of power failures during write cycles. Flash drive A is read-only when JP3 is not installed. Removing JP3 also makes the 128 kbyte BIOS area of the Flash write protected as well. Write protecting the A: drive can be useful if there are critical files in the final product that must be very secure.
Compact Flash cards
If 2MB of Flash is insufficient for your application, additional non-volatile storage can be added with a Compact Flash (CF) card. CF cards can supply additional storage that will behave much as a hard drive does in a typical PC with sizes ranging from 8MB to 512MB. These products are inherently more rugged than a hard drive since they are completely solid-state with no moving parts.
The Compact Flash card has the added advantage of being removable media. A SanDisk USB Compact Flash reader/writer (which is included in the TS-5600 Developer's Kit) is recommended for the host PC for file transfers. This results in the ability to quickly move files from a host PC to the TS-5600 using a Compact Flash card as the removable media. Since the Compact Flash card appears as a standard IDE drive on the TS-5600, it uses no additional RAM for drivers. While a USB Compact Flash reader allows for hot swapping of the Compact Flash card on the host PC, the Compact Flash interface on the TS-5600 is not hot swappable, the TS-5600 must be rebooted after removing or installing a Compact Flash card.
Using the SanDisk USB Compact Flash Card Reader
This device allows for a very fast and reliable method of moving files between the host PC and target SBC (TS-5600). The Compact Flash (CF) card can then be hot swapped (inserted or removed without rebooting the host PC). Sometimes it is necessary to unplug the USB cable and reinstall it after swapping CF cards (at least Windows ME seems to prefer this).
| Note: | The TS-5600 always needs to be powered off before swapping CF cards. |
Non-Volatile SRAM
An optional 32 KB of non-volatile SRAM memory can be installed into the TS-5600. This behaves exactly like battery-backed SRAM. Non-volatile SRAM provides non-volatile memory with unlimited write cycles and no write time degradation, unlike Flash memory. The SRAM uses an additional 32 KB memory range of D0000h through D7FFFh. If the SRAM is installed, PC/104 daughter card that uses memory mapped I/O must not conflict with this address range.
Serial Ports
The two PC compatible asynchronous serial ports (COM1 and COM2) provide a means to communicate with external serial devices such as printers, modems, etc. Each is independently configured as a standard PC COM port that is compatible with the National Semiconductor NS16C450. Alternatively, these ports can be changed to the 16C550 mode with 16 byte FIFOs in both the receive and transmit UART channels. COM1 appears in the I/O space at 3F8h - 3FFh and uses IRQ4. COM2 is located at 2F8h - 2FFh and uses IRQ3.
By changing an internal configuration register in the Elan520, the serial clock to the COM ports can be switched to a 10 times rate (18.432 MHz). This feature allows baud rates higher than 115 Kbaud (such as 230K baud or 576K baud), as well as non-standard lower baud rates (such as 24 Kbaud). See Appendix G for further information.
The COM1 and COM2 ports may also be configured to use a DMA channel, which may be useful when very high baud rates are being used.
See the AMD Elan520 User's Manual for further details.
Serial Port Configuration Registers
Because both serial ports are 100% PC compatible, software written for the PC that accesses serial ports directly or through standard BIOS calls will work without modification on the TS-5600. The details of the COM port internal registers are available in most PC documentation books or the data sheet for the National Semiconductor NS16C550 may be consulted. See the AMD Elan520 User's Manual for further details.
Serial Port Hardware
The COM2 RS-232 port has 7 signals supported: RXD, TXD, RTS, CTS, DTR, DSR, and DCD. This port can interface to almost any RS-232 device. The COM1 RS-232 serial port has 4 signals supported: RXD, TXD, RTS and CTS. This is quite sufficient to interface with the vast majority of serial devices. The TS-5600 COM ports are accessable on two 10-pin Headers labeled COM1 and COM2. Adaptor cables are available to convert these into standard 9-pin Sub-D male connectors.
| 5V Power | 10 | 5 | GND |
|---|---|---|---|
| NC | 9 | 4 | DTR [out] |
| [in] CTS | 8 | 3 | TXD [out] |
| [out] RTS | 7 | 2 | RXD [in] |
| [in] DSR | 6 | 1 | DCD [in] |
| Note: | The serial port headers use a non-standard numbering scheme. This was done so the header pins would have the same numbering as the corresponding DB-9 pin; i.e. pin 8 (CTS) on the header connects to pin 8 on the DB-9 |
| 5V Power | 5 | GND | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rx- | 9 | 4 | Rx+ |
| [in] CTS | 8 | 3 | TX data [out] |
| [out] RTS | 7 | 2 | RX data [in] |
| Tx- | 6 | 1 | Tx+ |
| Note: | COM1 has connections for the RS-232 port and the RS-485 port on the same 9 pin connector, only one of the two functions will be used at a time. |
The pin-outs for the COM1 and COM2 10-pin headers are listed above. When using COM1 in the RS-232 mode, be sure that the jumper labeled "232" is installed.
RS-485 Support
RS-485 Quick start procedure
- The RS-485 option must be installed
- Install FD jumper for full-duplex or HD for half-duplex RS-485 operation
- Attach the RS-485 cable to the 10-pin Header - Adaptor cables to Sub-DB9 connector are available from Technologic Systems
- Set the COM1 UART serial parameters (baud rate, data, parity, and stop bits, interrupts, etc).
- Run Auto485.exe utility (configures bits 6 and 7 at I/O 75h) (and initializes Timer2)
- For Half-Duplex RTS mode: To transmit data, assert RTS and write the data to the UART. To receive data, deassert RTS and read the data from the UART
- For Half-Duplex Automatic mode: just read or write data to the UART
An option is available to add support to COM1 for half duplex or full duplex RS-485. RS-485 drivers allow communications between multiple nodes up to 4000 feet (1200 meters) via twisted pair cable. Half-duplex RS-485 requires one twisted pair plus a Ground connection, while full duplex requires two twisted pair plus a Ground. For half-duplex operation, a single twisted pair is used for transmitting and receiving. Bit 6 at I/O location 75h must be set to enable RTS mode or bit 7 can be set to enable Automatic mode. In RTS mode, the serial port RTS signal controls the RS-485 transmitter/receiver (See Automatic mode below). When RTS is asserted true, the RS-485 transmitter is enabled and the receiver disabled. When RTS is de-asserted the transmitter is tri-stated (disabled) and the receiver is enabled. Since the transmitter and receiver are never both enabled, the serial port UART does not receive the data transmitted. For full-duplex operation, two twisted pairs are used and the transmitter can typically be left on all the time. Simply use RTS mode, and set RTS true. See Figure 2 above for connector pin-outs.
| Note: | The correct jumper (FD or HD) must be installed. |
See the Table 2 for details. Fail-safe bias resistors are used to bias the TX+, TX- and RX+, RX- lines to the correct state when these lines are not being actively driven. This is an important consideration, since in a typical RS-485 installation, the drivers are frequently tri-stated. If fail-safe bias resistors are not present, the 485 bus may be floating and very small amounts of noise can cause spurious characters at the receivers. 4.7KW resistors are used to pull the TX+ and RX+ signals to 5V and also to bias the TX- and RX- signals to ground. Termination resistors may be required for reliable operation when running long distances at high baud rates. Termination resistors should only be installed at each end of an RS-485 transmission line. In a multi-drop application where there are several drivers and/or receivers attached, only the devices at each end of the transmission line pair should have termination resistors. A read at I/O location 75h bit 1 will return a "1" when the RS-485 option is installed.
| Jumper | Receiver Source |
|---|---|
| FD | Full-Duplex RS-485 |
| HD | Half-Duplex RS-485 |
| 232 | RS-232 |
Automatic RS-485 TX Enable
TS-5600 boards support fully automatic TX enable control. This simplifies the design of half-duplex systems since turning off the transmitter via the RTS signal is typically difficult to implement. The COM1 UART transmit holding register and the transmit shift register both must be polled until empty before deasserting RTS when using the RTS mode. The design gets more difficult when using the TX FIFO or when using a multi-tasking OS such as Linux. In Automatic mode, Timer2 and a Xilinx PLD keep track of the bits shifting out the COM1 UART. This circuit automatically turns on/off the RS-485 transceiver at the correct times. This only requires the TIMER2 to be initialized once based on baud rate and data format, and bit 7 at I/O location 75 must be set. A utility called AUTO485.exe is included in the AUTOEXEC.bat that simplifies this task.
Adding Serial Ports
If your project requires more than two serial ports, additional ports may be added via the PC/104 expansion bus. Technologic Systems offers three different daughter boards (TS-SER1, TS-SER2, and TS-SER4) that add 1,2,or 4 extra COM ports respectively. Typically these would be configured as COM3 or be assigned other higher COM I/O locations. Because DOS only directly supports four serial ports, any additional ports beyond four will require software drivers if using DOS. The TS-5600 PC/104 bus has IRQ 5, 6, 7, 9, 12 or 15 available for additional serial ports.
| Note: | IRQ7 is used by many PCMCIA cards. |
Typically each serial port has a dedicated interrupt, but the TS-SER4 allows all four extra serial ports to share a single interrupt. This is very helpful in systems with a large number of serial ports since there are a limited number of IRQ lines available.
Digital I/O
There are 23 Digital Input/Output (DIO) lines available on the TS-5600. These are available on two headers labeled DIO and LCD. In addition to the DIO signals, each header also has 5 Volt power and Ground available, while the DIO header has an external reset available on pin 12 and IRQ6 in available on pin 13. The header labeled LCD can be used as 11 DIO lines or as an alphanumeric LCD interface (See Section 7). Most of the DIO lines are arranged as byte-wide ports that can be programmed as either inputs or outputs in groups of 4-bits.
Four of the DIO lines are dedicated 0-5V swing outputs with high current drive capability. Two of these outputs can sink or source 25 mA, while the other two can sink or source 100 mA. The 5V power output pins on these headers have a 750 mA Poly-Fuse to prevent excessive current.
DIO Header
| 5V | 16 | 15 | DIO_7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IRQ6 | 14 | 13 | DIO_6 |
| Reset# | 12 | 11 | DIO_5 |
| DIO_11 | 10 | 9 | DIO_4 |
| DIO_10 | 8 | 7 | DIO_3 |
| DIO_9 | 6 | 5 | DIO_2 |
| DIO_8 | 4 | 3 | DIO_1 |
| GND | 2 | 1 | DIO_0 |
The DIO port provides +5V, GND, and 12 digital I/O lines that may
be used to interface the TS-5600 with a wide range of external
devices. DIO lines DIO_0 thru DIO_7 are a byte-wide port
accessed at I/O location Hex 7E, while the 4 other DIO lines DIO_8
thru DIO_11 are accessed in the lower 4 bits of I/O location Hex 7F.
I/O location Hex 7D is a control port for DIO. The direction of DIO
lines DIO_0 thru DIO_3 is controlled by bit 0 of I/O location Hex 7D,
and the direction of DIO_4 thru DIO_7 is controlled by bit 1 of I/O
location Hex 7D. The DIO_8 thru DIO_11 lines are always outputs.
In all cases, when a control bit is a "1", it is setting the
corresponding DIO lines to be Outputs, while a "0" sets them to be Inputs. All control bits at I/O location
Hex 7D are initialized at reset to be "0".
The DIO_0 thru DIO_7 digital outputs on this port can source 4 mA or sink 8 mA and have logic swings between 3.3V and ground. The digital inputs have standard TTL level thresholds and must not be driven below 0 Volts or above 5.0 Volts. DIO lines DIO_0 thru DIO_5 have 4.7KW pull-up resistors to 5V biasing these signals to a logic"1". DIO_6 and DIO_7 are not biased and may float to either state when configured as Inputs, if not being actively driven.
DIO_10 and DIO_11 outputs have very high current drivers and can source or sink 100 mA each.
DIO_8 and DIO_9 outputs can source or sink 25 mA. DIO_8 thru DIO_11 all swing between 0 and 5V. Pin 14 on the DIO header is connected directly to IRQ6 (also available on the PC/104 bus). Pin 12 is an active low reset signal. It has a 4.7K pull-up resistor to 5V. A logic low on this signal will cause a hard reset to the TS-5600 (same as a power cycle). It is possible change the DIO_11 output so that it is driven by the Timer2 signal. The Timer2 signal has historically been used to drive the speaker in a PC. The DIO_11 output has 100 mA source and sink drive capability, so it could be used to directly drive a small 8 ohm speaker if a series capacitor is used to block the DC component and a series resistor is added to reduce the power out. A 47 uF capacitor and a 27 ohm resistor is a good starting point (adjust the resistor for volume). If bit 2 at I/O location Hex 79 is set, Timer2 will drive the DIO_11 output (instead of bit 3 at I/O location Hex 7F).
Using LCD Port as Digital I/O
The LCD Port can be used as 11 additional digital I/O lines or it can be used to interface to a standard alphanumeric LCD display. At system reset, the port defaults to DIO mode. If using an LCD display this port can be switched to LCD mode by writing a "1" into bit 4 at I/O location Hex 7D, or the BIOS call to enable the LCD also sets bit 4 at I/O location Hex 7D (See Section 8 for LCD mode).
| LCD_6 | 14 | 13 | LCD_7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCD_4 | 12 | 11 | LCD_5 |
| LCD_2 | 10 | 9 | LCD_3 |
| LCD_0 | 8 | 7 | LCD_1 |
| LCD_WR | 6 | 5 | LCD_EN |
| Bias | 4 | 3 | LCD_RS |
| GND | 2 | 1 | 5V |
When the LCD port is in DIO mode, pins LCD_RS and LCD_WR are digital inputs, LCD_EN is a digital output, and LCD_0 thru LCD_7 are programmable as either inputs or outputs. LCD_RS and LCD_WR can be read at I/O location 73h bits 7 and 6, respectively. The state of LCD_EN is controlled by writing to I/O location 73h bit 0. LCD_0 thru LCD_7 can be read or written at I/O location 72h. The direction of this byte-wide port (pins 7 - 14) is determined by bits 2 and 3 at I/O location 7Dh. If bit 2 is a zero, then the lower 4 bits (pins 7 - 10) are inputs. If bit 2 is logic 1, then pins 7 - 10 are outputs. Bit 3 at location 7Dh controls the upper 4 bits, pins 11 - 14 in a like manner. All digital outputs on this port can source 4 mA or sink 8 mA and have logic swings between 3.3V and ground. The digital inputs have standard TTL level thresholds and must not be driven below 0 Volts or above 5.0 Volts. The 5V power has a 750 mA Poly-Fuse to limit the current.
Product Notes
FCC Advisory
This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used properly (that is, in strict accordance with the manufacturer's instructions), may cause interference to radio and television reception. It has been type tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device in accordance with the specifications in Part 15 of FCC Rules, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference when operated in a commercial environment. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to cause interference, in which case the owner will be required to correct the interference at his own expense.
If this equipment does cause interference, which can be determined by turning the unit on and off, the user is encouraged to try the following measures to correct the interference:
Reorient the receiving antenna. Relocate the unit with respect to the receiver. Plug the unit into a different outlet so that the unit and receiver are on different branch circuits. Ensure that mounting screws and connector attachment screws are tightly secured. Ensure that good quality, shielded, and grounded cables are used for all data communications. If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for additional suggestions. The following booklets prepared by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may also prove helpful:
How to Identify and Resolve Radio-TV Interference Problems (Stock No. 004-000-000345-4) Interface Handbook (Stock No. 004-000-004505-7) These booklets may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.
Limited Warranty
See our Terms and Conditions for more details.