Ampro Corporation 486E - Manual (Page 88)

Little Board™/486e Technical Manual
2–72
SETUP Overview
This section describes the SETUP function. It describes each option that can be set using SETUP.
Additional sections describe important options that can be set for each major functional block of the
board.
Note
The SETUP descriptions in the following section also contain much
useful information about each SETUP topic. Review these sections
even if you already know how to set the SETUP parameters.
This section assumes users are familiar with DOS. It does not attempt to describe the standard
DOS and ROM BIOS functions. Refer to the appropriate DOS and PC reference manuals for
information about DOS, its drivers and utilities, and about the software interface of the onboard
ROM-BIOS. Where Ampro has added to or modified standard functions, these will be described.
The Ampro Common Utilities manual contains detailed descriptions of the Ampro utility programs
supplied on the Utility diskette that is included with the Little Board/486e Quick Start Kit or
Development Platform Kit.
Many options provided on the Little Board/486e CPU are controlled by the SETUP function.
Activating the SETUP function can access these options. The parameters are displayed on four
screens. To configure the board, modify the fields on these screens and save the results in the
onboard configuration memory. Configuration memory consists of portions of the CMOS RAM in the
battery-backed real-time clock chip and an Ampro-unique configuration EEPROM. To enhance
embedded-system reliability, the contents of the EEPROM mirror the contents of the CMOS
memory. The EEPROM retains your configuration information even if the clock’s backup battery
should fail. If you choose to use the Little Board/486e CPU without a battery, the system takes its
SETUP parameters from the EEPROM, providing battery-free operation.
The SETUP information is retrieved from configuration memory when the board is powered up or
when it is rebooted with a CTL-ALT-DEL key pattern. Changes made to the SETUP parameters,
with the exception of the real-time clock time and date settings do not take effect until the board is
rebooted.
The SETUP function is located in the ROM BIOS. It can be accessed using CTRL-ALT-ESC while
the computer is in the Power-On Self Test (POST), just before booting up. This is called hot key
access. The screen displays a message indicating when you can enter CTRL-ALT-ESC. You can also
enter the SETUP function from the DOS command line using the SETUP.COM program provided
on the Ampro Common Utilities diskette.
Table 2–53 summarizes the choices found on each SETUP page.