Ampro Corporation 486E - Manual (Page 36)

Little Board™/486e Technical Manual
2–20
Serial Booting and Serial Programming
Serial console functionality has been expanded to incorporate two additional features useful in
embedded applications.
! The serial boot facility enables the Little Board/486e CPU to boot from code downloaded
through a serial port in a manner similar to booting from a local hard disk or from a network.
! The serial programming facility permits updating FLASH memory devices installed in the byte-
wide socket over the serial port.
Refer to the Ampro Common Utilities manual for descriptions of Ampro’s SERLOAD and
SERPROG utilities used to support serial booting and serial programming.
Using a Serial Modem
Any RS-232C port can be used as a modem interface. Serial port initialization is not an issue since
most PC communications programs control the serial port hardware directly. If the program does
not handle serial port hardware in this manner, use the DOS MODE command to initialize the
port.
Connect the appropriate I/O handshake signals required by the communications software when
installing a modem. Standard PC-compatible, serial modem cables that connect all of the proper
signals correctly are commonly available.
Many powerful communications programs are available to control modem communications. Some of
these programs offer powerful script languages that allow you to generate complex automatically
functioning applications with little effort.