Using PC Cards with ATADEMO or ATACT

                         by Hale Landis

    Copyright 1997-2001 by Hale Landis -- All rights reserved

                *** starting with ATADRVR 13A ***


INTRODUCTION
------------

PC Card devices, also know as PCMCIA devices, are frequently used
with notebook computers.  This user's guide describes how to set
up and use a PC Card Adapter and a PC Card ATA device with the
ATACT and ATADEMO programs.  A PC Card adapter is usually called
a "PCIC chip".  This chip is found in most notebook computers and
is usually compatible with the original Intel PCIC chip.  There
are several PCMCIA adapters available for desktop systems.  These
adapters are usually ISA bus cards with a PCIC chip and a PCMCIA
socket.

There are several types of PC Card ATA devices:  1.8 inch hard
disks, flash memory disks and CFA devices.  The 1.8 inch hard
disks have never been very popular and are not seen very
frequently.  Flash memory ATA devices are frequently used with
smaller notebook computers and with Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA) devices.  CFA (CompactFlash Association) devices are the
newest type of flash memory ATA devices.  CFA devices are very
popular with the new digital cameras.

PC Card ATA devices come several sizes known as Type I, Type II
and Type III.  This type describes the physical size of the card.
All types use the same electrical and programming interfaces.
Flash memory devices are usually Type I or Type II while 1.8 inch
hard disks are usually Type III.  All of these cards use a 68-pin
PCMCIA connector.  A CFA device is actually a small PCMCIA card
that uses a 50-pin version of the PCMCIA connector.  Most CFA
devices come with a 50-pin to 68-pin "adapter card".  This card
permits a CFA device to be plugged into a standard PCMCIA socket.

ATACT and ATADEMO are able to configure an Intel compatible PCIC
chip at I/O port addresses 3E0H-3E1H.  Only socket 0 is
configured and only PC Card ATA mode is enabled.  All four PC
Card ATA modes are supported:  Primary ATA, Secondary ATA,
Contiguous I/O and Memory.  These programs do not access the CIS
information and therefore does not know if the card being setup
is or is not a PC Card ATA device.  These programs do not check
for conflicts with other devices in the system.  The ATA host
adapter and ATA device that is configured by these programs could
overlay the same I/O port addresses and IRQ numbers that are in
use by another device.

Note that the equivalent of the INITPCC program is built into
ATACT and ATADEMO.  Also see the documentation file INITPCC.UG.
Also note that ATADRVR has supported all these PC Card ATA modes
but this was not previously documented.


PC CARD ATA COMMAND LINE OPTIONS -- ATACT and ATADEMO
-----------------------------------------------------

NOTE: See the ATADEMO.UG and ATACT.UG files for the complete
description of the command line options of these programs.

Both ATACT and ATADEMO support the PCCMODE, PCCIRQ and POLL
command line options:

   PCCMODE=PRImary   [ POLL ]

   PCCMODE=SECondary [ POLL ]

   PCCMODE=CONTIG     [ PCCIRQ=n | POLL ]

   PCCMODE=CONTIG=xxx [ PCCIRQ=n | POLL ]

   PCCMODE=MEMORY

Options enclosed within brackets, [ and ], are optional.  The
vertical bar, |, indicates a choice between the two options
shown.  Each option is described below.

PCCMODE=PRImary

   Set up standard ATA Primary I/O at I/O port addresses
   1F0H-1F7H and 3F6H with IRQ number 14.

PCCMODE=SECondary

   Set up standard ATA Secondary I/O at I/O port addresses
   170H-177H and 376H with IRQ number 15.

PCCMODE=CONTIG
PCCMODE=CONTIG=xxx

   Set up Contiguous I/O mode at I/O port addresses xx0H to xxFH.
   If xxx is not specified, xxx defaults to 200H.  If xxx is
   specified, xxx must be in the range 100H to 3F0H and the
   rightmost digit of xxx must be a zero.

PCCMODE=MEMORY

   Set up Memory mode (the ATA I/O ports appear in a block of
   memory addresses and are access as if they are memory locations).
   INITPCC will report the segment:offset that was configured.
   Memory mode forces polling mode.

PCCIRQ=n

   PCCIRQ is used to specify the IRQ to be used in Contiguous I/O
   mode.  IRQ numbers 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 or 15 are supported.  The
   default is 12.  PCCIRQ is ignored in Primary, Secondary and
   Memory modes.

POLL

   Set up the PCIC for polling mode.  In polling mode no
   IRQ is configured and the PCCIRQ option is ignored.
   Memory mode forces polling mode.


USING INITPCC WITH ATACT AND ATADEMO
------------------------------------

NOTE: See the INITPCC.UG file for the complete command line
options of this program.

When ATACT or ATADEMO is being used with a PC Card ATA device,
the PCCMODE option should be used on the ATACT or ATADEMO command
line as described above.  However, it is possible to use ATACT or
ATADEMO on a PC Card ATA device without using the PCCMODE option.
In this case, use the INITPCC program to set up Primary I/O or
Secondary I/O mode prior to running ATACT or ATADEMO.


EXAMPLES
--------

INITPCC PCCMODE=PRIMARY

   Sets up ATA primary mode using IRQ 14.

INITPCC PCCMODE=PRIMARY POLL

   Sets up ATA primary mode with no IRQ.

INITPCC PCCMODE=CONTIG=280 PCCIRQ=10

   Set up contiguous I/O mode at I/O port addresses
   280H-28FH using IRQ 10.

INITPCC PCCMODE=CONTIG POLL

   Set up contiguous I/O mode at I/O port addresses
   200H-20FH with no IRQ.


QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS?
----------------------

Send your question(s) or problem description(s) to Hale Landis
via email at this address:

   hlandis@ata-atapi.com

Visit Hale's web site:

   www.ata-atapi.com

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