Digital Alert Systems DASDEC-II MANUAL - Manual (Page 10)

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Digital Alert Systems: DASDEC User Manual
DASDEC II Installation and Configuration
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DASDEC II Hardware
1.1 Introduction
The DASDEC II is a 2U rack mounted unit built with the latest digital PC computer technology. It is an embedded PC
platform. The front of the DASDEC II, pictured below, provides a very simple face for a very sophisticated platform. The
DASDEC II exposes the PC motherboard connectors and single PCI slot in the rear of the unit.
Front panel of the DASDEC II
1.2 Front Panel
The front panel features a 2 x 20 character backlit LCD that indicates power-on and real-time device status. There are two
LEDs - one red, one green - to indicate specific types of status. A small grill provides space for audio from the internal
speaker. One push-button can initiate a simple weekly test.
1.2.1 LCD
The backlit green LCD shows real-time status of the DASDEC II. The LCD has numerous purposes indicating
system and/or encoding/decoding and active alert and button action status. Here is a list of information available
from the LCD.
 When the DASDEC II is powered on, the LCD lights up, indicating power-on state.
 When the DASDEC II begins to boot load system software, the LCD displays three phases of power up
disk check status, eventually moving on to display a busy booting indicator and the clock time. After all
system startup software is loaded, the LCD displays a startup message, eventually arriving at the ready
state where the first line displays DASDEC II: ON, followed by a crawling display showing the
programmed unit name, the software version number and the IP address. The second LCD line
continues to display the current clock time.
 If the system software is manually stopped or temporarily restarted due to an internal problem, the LCD
will display a Server Stopped message until the software restarts into a ready state.
 During decoding of an incoming alert, the LCD displays information about the source and the stage of the
decoding.
 While decoded, forwarded or originated alerts are active on the DASDEC II, the top line repeats,
displaying pertinent identification for each active alert.
 If the front panel button is pressed, the bottom row of the LCD will display information about the button
push action. When the button push is to start a Weekly test, the display instructs of the need to push the
button once more in order to confirm the issue of the Weekly Test. When the button push is to
acknowledge an unforwarded decoded active alert, the display briefly displays the acknowledgment.
 When a backup configuration is loaded or when the server software is restarted, the LCD will indicate
when the server is down or running again.
 During a software upgrade, the LCD display will progress through server down states and eventually will
display "Upgrading'. When the upgrade is finished, the LCD will progress back to the original ready
state.