Micro_Cornucopia_#51_Jan90 Micro Cornucopia #51 Jan90

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No. 51

$3.95

January-February 1990

THE

M

N

Embedded
Systems
Looking for an easy way to put together
an embedded controller? Then don't put
down this issue.

Embedding An XT
Motherboard

page 8

This is for those of you who want it all.
Cheap hardware, a familiar (MS-DOS)
environment, and complete tools for
development and debugging.

Writing A Neural
Network In C, Part 1

page 16

Neural Nets are delivering nearly
everything that AI promised. Our series
includes all the software needed to
experiment with
this
fascinating
technology.

LIMBO, Part 4
page 30
Give your robot a body (and part of a
mind).
Marketing Your
Own Software

page 66

How and wh~re should you advertise
your new product? What kind of
response should you expect when you
do advertise? .

And More ...
Getting Started in Hardware
The Poet and The Computer
01

a

7447019388

3

CAL

J 0 URN A L

Tower Cases w/Power Supply

SUPER 25Mhz 386 SYSTEM!
with 4MB RAM and Rotary Voice Coil Hard Drive
For extra speed and reliability we've included a 44MB Mitsubishi
MR535 voice coil hard drive with an access time of 28ms,
and a super fast 1: 1 interleave HD controller card.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

25Mhz 80386 CPU, AMI Bios, Full Size MB
4MB of RAM, expands to 8MB on MB
1.2MB and 1.44MB Floppy Drives
12" Amber Monitor w/Mono Graphics Card
101-Key Enhanced Keyboard
Serial/Parallel/Game Ports, Clock/Calendar
200-Watt Power Supply
Socket for 80287, 80387 or Weitek
Full 1 Year Warranty
w/Std AT Case ...... $2395

$24J.95

'1

1MB AT SYSTEM
Includes: 1MB RAM, 1.2MB & 1.44MB FD,
44MB Mitsubishi MR535 Voice Coil HD
(28ms), Fast 1:1 Interleave HD Controller,
Mono Graphics Video Card, 12" Amber
Monitor, 101 Key Keyboard, Serial/ParalleVGame Ports, Clock/Calendar, Full 1 Year
Warranty. FREE assembly and testing.

6/1 OMhz ....................................... $1249
6/12Mhz ......................................... 1295

XTSYSTEM
4.7711 OMhz w/2 360K Floppies ........ 725
4.77110Mhz w/20MB HD .................. 929
4.77/10Mhzw/30MB HD .................. 955
Color options for our systems
(includes video card and monitor)
ATI Graphics Solution ......................... 39
CGA Color ........................................ 175
EGA Color......................................... 350
VGA Color (Analog
w/Mitsubishi monitor) ....., .............. .495
CGAlEGAlVGA (Multisync) .............. 495

FLOPPY DRIVES
TEAC 360K ........................................ 74
TEAC 1.2MB ...................................... 85
TEAC 3 1/2" 720K .............................. 79
TEAC 31/2" 1.44MB .......................... 90

HARD DRIVES
XT 20MB Miniscribe/Kalok
8425 (65ms) .................................. 239
8425 w/controller ........................... 279
XT 30MB Miniscribe/Kalok
8438 (65ms) .................................. 249
8438 w/controller ........................... 299
AT 44MB Mitsubishi MR535,
Rotary Voice Coil (28ms) ............... 459
AT 71 MB Miniscribe 3085
Rotary Voice Coil (25ms) ............... 699

(Mega Tower)

w/1MB ................. $250Less
20Mhz 386 .......... $150 Less

Mini Tower

Standard Tower

$225

$269

MOTHERBOARDS

'rhe'·•.Most ·.•9o~t··.•·Effe¢tive·i.M'~Y • .t9Sp~e4

XTlTurb04.77/10Mhz ....................... $75

Upy()urt\Tor~8()Sy~teqtJ

AT 6/10Mhz ...................................... 189
AT 6/12Mhz ...................................... 225
AT 8/16Mhz ...................................... 319
386 8/20Mhz w/Phoenix Bios,
holds up to 8MB on board ............. 750
386 16/25Mhz w/AMI Bios
holds up to 8MB on board ............. 899
386 33Mhz ........................................ Call

Upgrade your .·.hard driv~. c()l1tr9g~~,···.iii.Y
OTC 7287.1:t Interleave,RLL~w/Cache

Math Co-Processors ......................... Call

799 'Kb/Sec;
.-; .. :::.'

POWER SUPPLIES

.. :":."::'.

150-Watt XT Power Supply ................ 50
200-Watt AT Power Supply ................ 78

·'~~:~;~ff~~~;~f~r~~~~,0'jc1~~5:~~c~~~

·'911~ging ·froIl1.~ .~!aIl9ar~.t\.!.90Iltr()I~er.toil:J ·•. • int~rI~aye

EXPANSION CARDS

controllerimproves~tforIlulIlC:t!by.3PO%t

N()ie:fest results~singljjMhtAtMiisnbishjMFi535Haf{fi>rjve'ani:l
Spinf1itl!Disk.Optimizer~

KEYBOARDS

CONTROLLER CARDS
NCL 1:1 MFM Controller ................. $110
DTC 7287 1:1 RLL w/Cache ............. 165

CABINETS
XT Slide Case, Lock, LED .................. 38
AT Slide Case, Lock, LED
3 half ht., 1 full ht. drives .................. 72
Baby Tower, w/200 watt PS,
2 half ht., 2 - 31/2" Drives,
Baby Motherboard ONLy .............. 145
Mini Tower, w/200 Watt PS,
3 half ht, 2 - 3 112" Drives,
holds Full or Baby size MB ............ 225
5 Bay Std. Tower, 250 Watt PS,
3 half ht., 1 full ht drives ................. 269
6 Bay Mega Tower, 200 Watt PS ..... 239

VIDEO CARDS

MONITORS

Mono Graphics w/Parallel port ........... 39
CGA Graphics Card ........................... 45
ATI Graphics Solution
Mono w/CGA Emulation .................. 79
CGAlEGA w/256K .............................. 95
CGAlEGAlVGA 8-Bit. ....................... 149
CGAlEGAlVGA 16-Bit... ................... 189

12" Amber Monochrome TTL.. ........... 89
CGA Color RGB ............................... 249
EGAlCGA Autoswitch .31 dot .......... 362
CGAlEGAlVGA
Multisync (.31 dot) ......................... 489
VGAAnalog
(Mitsubishi .28 dot) ........................ 489

Chicony Enhanced 101-Key ............. $67
Keytronic Enhanced 10 1-Key ............. 67
Focus 101-Key Tactile, Switchable
Control/Caps Lock, Dust Cover ....... 89
(#1 Find by Micro C Staff)
• All Keyboards, XT/AT switchable*

SOFTWARE
MS-DOS 3.21 w/GW Basic ................. 49
MS-DOS 3.3 w/GW Basic ................... 95
DR-DOS 3.3 w/GEM ........................... 49
SpinRite Disk Optimizer ...................... 49
386Max Memory Manager for
386 Systems .................................... 69

Clock ................................................... 18
Game (Joystick) .................................. 14
Parallel Port (LPT1 , 2 or 3) ................. 18
Serial Port, 2 ports, 1 installed,
(COM1 or 2) ..................................... 18
2nd Serial Port Kit... ......................... 18
Serial Port, 4 ports installed ................ 99
Multi Drive Controller, up to
2 drives, Supports 360K,
720K, 1.2MB & 1.44MB ................... 39

XT
XT Multi-IO, Ser/Par/Clock/
Game/2 Floppy Drives .....................47
XT Floppy Controller ........................... 19
XT 640K RAM Card (w/OK) ................ 25
XT 2MB EMS Memory Board (OK) ..... 49

AT/386
AT Multi-IO, Ser/Par/Game ................ 33
2nd Serial Port Kit. ........................... 20
AT 2MB EMS Memory Board (OK) ..... 99

~MicroS~here~
1:COM,oU
,I R'C'
~

TC
I CJ

Orders Only Please!

V,

"HARDWARE MANUFACTURER
SINCE 1983·'

Jl-800-234-8086

Tech Calls: (503) 388-1194 Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00-5:30
855 N.W. WALL • BEND, OREGON 97701

'Prices are subject to change without notice. Shipping CHARGES will be added. 't-year warranty/30-day money back (subject to restrictions)

Reader Service Number 2

'I

~J~~jWg AT&T C++ RELEASE 2.0
SPECIFICATION
E~[1~ag MS WINDOWS

COMPArl BI LITY
£~1~IWg EASY PORTABILITY
FROM MICROSOFT C
[J~[i~Jlg C++DEBUGGER &

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AVAILABLE NOW!
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For many, EMS
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G--lOVJ Yo Order:
Already own Zortech
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You were happy using the
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but we knew you'd love to
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so we included it tree.
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it to cost a lortune, so it s
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You wanted compatibility
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Here is our list of highly
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with MS WINDOWS, we
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Ask about our new c++ Video Tutorial
so we've
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need.

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Alternatively, mail the
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details.

ZORTECH INC.,

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Avenue, Arlington, Iv1A
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Voice 617-646-6703
Fax 677-643-7969
ZORTECH LTD.,

106- 708 Powis Street,
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ENGLAND.

Voice (44)-1-316-7777
Fax (44}-1-3 76-4738

L - -_ _. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _- : - l

You wanted the world's first
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we are

including
it.

o DEVELOPER'S EDITfON$450 (Save $200) o OS/2 COMPILER UPGRADE $749.95
o C++ COMPILER $799.95
o C++ VIDEO COURSE $499.95
o C++ DEBUGGER $749.95
o C+ + Language /Stroustrup $32.25
City--,.,-~_ _ _ _State_Zip___ 0 C + +- TOOLS $ 749.95
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Visa/MC# _---:;-;-_ _ _ _ _ _ . 0 LIBRARY SOURCE CODE $ 749.95
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Name

Addre·s-s-----------

All MicroSoft trademarks are ocknowledged.

For US orders please add $5.05 shipping

Overseas orders at international mail rates.

Reader Service Number 70

------_.

__._-_. --

ENAllY.
A debugging
tool tough enough to
handle the DOS
Nasties.

New Version 2.0

How Soft-ICE Works

Soft-ICE memory range break points help you
track down memory over-write problems
whether you are doing the over-writing or
another program is over-writing you.

Soft-ICE uses the power of the 80386 to surround your program in a virtual machine.
This gives you complete control of the
DOS environment, while Soft-ICE runs
safely in protected mode. Soft-ICE uses the
80386 to provide real-time break points on
memory locations, memory ranges, execution,
II 0 ports, hardware & software interrupts.
With Soft-ICE you get all the speed and power of
a hardware-assisted debugger at a software price.

Hung program? No problem!

Don't want to switch debuggers?

So1f1tNasty over-write? No sweat!

You don't have to!

When the system hangs, you now have hope.
With Soft-ICE you can break out of hung
programs no matter how bad the system has
been trashed. And with Soft-ICE's back trace
ranges you can re-play the instructions that led
up to the crash.

Soft-ICE can run stand-alone or it can add its
powerful break points to the debugger you already
use. Use your favorite debugger until you require
Soft-ICE. Simply pop up the Soft-ICE window to set
powerful real-time break points. When a break point
is reached, your debugger will be activated automatically.

Program too large? Not with Soft-ICE!
Soft-ICE runs entirely in extended memory. This means
you can debug even the largest DOS programs. And
since your program runs at the same address whether
Soft-ICE is loaded or not you can find those subtle
bugs that change when the starting address of your
code changes.

System debugging? Soft-ICE is a natural!
Soft-ICE is ideal for full source level debugging of TSRs,
interrupt service routines, self booting programs, DOS
loadable device drivers, real-time kernels, non-DOS O/Ss
and ROMs. Soft-ICE can even debug within DOS &: BIOS.

MagicCV with Soft-ICE
Using Soft-ICE with CodeView gives you the features
necessary for professional level systems debUgging.
MagicCV and Soft-ICE can work in concert with CodeView to provide the most powerful debugging platform
you will find anywhere.
"These may be the only two products I've seen in
the last two or three years that exceeded my wildest
expectations for power, compatibility and ease-of-use."
-Paul Mace
Paul Mace Software

C

RUN
IN 8KCODEVIEW~M
- ..

T]?Nu-Mega

Code View is a great integrated debugger. but
it uses over 200K of conventional memory.
MagicCV uses advanced features of the
80386 to load CodeView and symbols in
extended memory. This allows MagicCV to
run Code View in less than 8K of conventional memory on your 80386 PC

New Soft-ICE 2.0 features
$386
$199
$199

Soft-ICE
MagicCV
MagicCV for Windows

Back Trace Ranges
C Symbolic & Source level debugging
[J EMS 4.0 support with special EMS
debugging commands
C Windowed user interface

Buy Soft-ICE &: MagicCV(W)
-Save $86.
Buy MagicCV and MagicCVW
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2

MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb, 1990

Reader Service Number 110'

MagicCV

~;~

'.

NEW-Version 2.0 includes EMS 4.0 driver.

Attention Windows Developers!
Version available for CVW.

THE

M I C R 0

TECHNICAL

JOURNAL

MICRO CORNUCOPIA
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990 - ISSUE NO. 51

8

16

Gene Toner

Embedding An XT Motherboard
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could use one of those $50 XT cards as an
embedded system? You can, ducky. You really can.

58

C'ing Clearly

64

Culture Comer

66

On Your Own

78

Units and Modules

82

Shareware

90

Techtips

84

Tidbits

Russ Eberhart and Roy Dobbins

Writing A Neural Network in C, Part 1
Russ and Roy are applying neural nets to some incredibly practical projects.
In this series you'll get the theory,· the application, and you'll get the code so
you can try your own applications. (Also check out our neural oriented
Tidbits.)

26

Gregory K. Landheim

28

Norman Cousins

3D-Surface Generation, Part 2
Greg finishes up his 3-D project by getting right into the code.

The Poet and The Computer

30

Bob Nansel

42

Bruce Eckel

50

Karl Lunt

LIMBO, Part 4
Capturing & Graphing A Voice, Part 2
Bruce tackles the digital half of his speach problem.

Getting Started In Hardware
This is for all of you who've asked for an entrance level article on hardware.

Cover Illustration by Jerry Werner.
MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb, 1990

3

;iH E M I C ROT EC,H N I CAL JOUR N A L

By David J. Thompson

. Editor and P~blisher

David J. Thompson
Associate Editors

Gary Entsminger
Larry Fogg
Cary Gatton
Contributing Writers

Anthony Barcellos
Bruce Eckel
Michael S. Hunt
Scott Ladd
Laine Stump
Advertising & Distribution

Gareth Thomson
Accounting

Sandy Thompson
Reader Services

Nancy Ellen Locke
Graphic Design & Production

Carol Steffy
'MICRO CORNUCOPIA (ISSN 0747-587X) is
published hi-monthly for $18 per year by Micro
Cornucopia, Inc. 155 NW Hawthorne, Bend, OR
97701. Second-class postage paid at Bend, OR arid
additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send
address changes to MICRO CORNUCOPIA, PO
Box 223, Bend, OR 97709. Printedon recycled
paper.
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CHANGE OF ADDRESS:
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MICRO CORNUCOPIA

Our Paper
You've probably noticed that our paper has changed.
This paper isn't quite as white as our old paper and it's
coated. That's the bad news. The good news: it's made
of 50% recycled pulp and it's the least glossy coated
paper of this type we've found.
In the past we paid top dollar because we insisted on
the highest quality uncoated paper. (No coating-no
glare.) But in the last six months, paper companies have
raised the price for our wonderful paper a bunch, while
they've substantially reduced what they're willing to
pay for recycled paper.
Maybe we can save some money and (because of the
coating) improve our reproduction. Plus, since we purchase over 14,000 pounds of paper each time we print a
magazine, we'll save about 42,000 pounds of trees a
year. Just by using recycled paper.
I broached the subject of coated versus uncoated at
SOG East. Everyone voted for uncoated. Then I added
that it contained recycled pulp. It was unanimous again.
They voted to try the new paper.
Futures, Bricks, And The Wall Street Journal
The call I answer most often isn't a tech call (and it
isn't nature), it's a sales call.
"I'm calling with the information you requested on
commodities futures."
"Commodities futures? I didn't request any information on commodities futures."

P.O. Box 223
Bend, Oregon 97709
READER SERVICES:
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FAX your VISA or.. MC order to llS, oUr FAX
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". Copyright 1990 by Micro. Cornucopia, Inc.
, .
, All rights reserved .
ISSN0747-587X

..s?~u·.··
4

MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb, 1990

Contented Timber•

Continued on page 73

You asked for a place to put your things...

The Tele FILE SYSTEM is just the thing
1M

BerryComputers presents The Tele Toolkit - a complete Operating Systems Kernel
If It's Data, It Must Be A File
Tele's file system is modular at several levels. FS is responsible for all storage and transfer of data.
The physical interface to disk devices is through MS-DOS
installed device drivers (MS-DOS itself is by-passed).
Therefore, Tele will work with the same devices that MSDOS supports.
Separate from the physical interface is the directory structure. Tele supports installable file systems; each device
can have a unique media format. Only MS-DOS compatible media are supported in FS.
Some other Tele components involve installable file systems.
For instance, the UX component emulates the Unix ketneL
Most of its code supports Unix media. Networks are supported by an installable file system that causes directory
operations to be performed on a device in a remote computer system. FS itself only supports MS-DOS media, but
it provides the main hooks by which any other file system·
can be emulated.
The bulk of Tele FS code supports hierarchical directory
structures and file redirection. Because MS-DOS is not
involved, you can use FS to avoid .its restrictions.
Tele FS also includes serial communications support. 8250
controllers are supported in bidirectional interrupt mode.
Ring and break indicators are also supported. Serial ports
can be accessed directly, or redirected through the file

system. Files can also be redirected from the keyboard and
to the console display and printer.
To support efficient communication and storage, FS contains a modified Huffman compression algorithm. The
modification automatically recognizes fields within records
and applies a different compression tree to each type of
field. Compression can be processed directly on blocks
or continuously and transparendy within the file system.

All source code, in C and assembly, is included. Tele SK
is required for FS. CD is also required for console device
support.
Demo Diskette
SK system kernel
CD console display
FS file system
OS core

$ 5
$50
$40
$40
$130

(refundable with purchase)
(multitasking)
(windows, requires SK)
(MS-DOS media, requires SK)
(SK, CD, and FS)

Telephone support is freely available.
The Tele Toolkit is available from:
Crosby

As~ociates

P.O. Box 248

Sutter Creek, California
95685

CALL NOW TO ORDER:
(209) 267-0362 (FAX) (209) 267-0115
Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover Card accepted.

MS-DOS is a Irademark of Microsofl Corporalion.
Unix is a Irademark of AT&T

Reader Service Number 147

MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb, 1990

5

VOICE MASTER KEY ®
VOICE RECOGNITION
SYSTEM
FOR PC/COMPATIBLES &
TANDY 1000 SERIES
A FULL FEATURED VOICE I/O SYSTEM

Letters

GIVE A NEW DIMENSION TO PERSONAL COMPUTING ... The amazing Voice Master Key System adds
voice recognition to just about any program or
application. Voice command up to 256 keyboard macros
from within CAD, desktop publishing, word processing, spread sheet, or game programs. Fully TSR and
occupies less than 64K. Instant response time and high
recognition accuracy. Voice recognition tool-box utilities are included. A genuine productivity enhancer!
SPEECH RECORDING SOFTWARE ... Digitally record
your own speech, sound, or music to put into your own
software programs. Software provides sampling rate
variations, graphics-based editing, and data compression utilities. Create software sound files you can add
to macros for voice recognition verification response. A
complete, superior speech and sound development too/.
SOFTWARE CONVERSION CODES . . . The Voice
Master Key System operates a growing list of third
party talking software titles using synthesized phonetics (text-to-speech) or digitized PCM, ADPCM, and
CVSDM encoded sound files. Voice Master Key System
does It all!

Long Lawn, Laments Loyal Loiterer
My motorcycle vacation took me
through Bend. I have not been in Bend
since P~P (pre-microprocessor) days,
and there have been a few changes! A
tour of Bend would not have been
complete without a swing by Micro C.
I don't make a habit of visiting publishing headquarters, but Micro C is an
exception. Alas, no one was homeprobably out rafting/tubing instead of
mowing the lawn. (Gosh, I hope that
wasn't too metaphysical.)
Keep up the good work ....
Nils R. Olson
419 Woodhaven Drive
Vacaville, CA 95687-5941

EVERYTHING INCLUDED. . .Voice Master Key
System consists of a plug-in card, durable lightweight
microphone headset, software, and manual. Card fits
any available slot. External ports consist of mic inputs
and volume controlled output sockets. High quality
throughout, easy and fun to use.

Editor's note: Thanks Nils for the photo.
Yes it does look like it's time for our annual
mow. (It's more physical than metaphysical.)

SpinRite Defended
I've been a faithful follower of Micro
C from the day I bought my first microcomputer (my old Kaypro II), but I think
that you goofed when you trashed SpinRite in recent issues. I bought SpinRite
as a last resort to save my ailing hard
disk (a Miniscribe 32 MB, 65 ms, on a
card-the kind you get from CompuAdd) in my XT clone (built from a kit
from, where else, MicroSphere).
I was getting a lot of read/write errors and an increasing number of bad
sectors when running the surface analysis part of PCTools. Doing a destructive
reformat (and, of course, reloading all
my files from backup) was the only way
to get the disk back into reliable shape.
Then the problem would reappear and
get worse within a month or so.
I ran SpinRite on the flakey drive
(full, deep testing with nondestructive

ONLY $149.95 COMPLETE
ONLY $89.95 FOR TANDY 1000SUTLMODELSSOFTWARE PACKAGE ONLY.
Requires Tandy Brand Electret microphone.

ORDER HOTLINE: (503) 342-1271
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Reader Service Number 143

6

MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb, 1990

Letters continued on page 70

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-

Embedding An XT Motherboard
Putting Together A Conlplete Developlnent Systeln
Without Trading In Your House

There are fancy chips and fancy boards.
But however you do it, there's one big impediment to developing an embedded system-it's putting together a complete set of
tools and then learning how to use them.
And ICE: you know, in-circuit emulation. Boy, that's wonderful when you're debugging code on a deaf-mute board (espe. cially when it pretends to be brain dead). So,
when Gene offered to do this article, what
could I say? (ICE is nice.)
y experience with embedded
systems goes way back. Most of
my early recollection is clouded
by the memory of intense P?in. The
pain centered on the following questions. Why do little low cost single chip
micro controllers require a large high

M

8

MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb 1990

cost in-circuit emulator to make them
function? Why does a micro controller
that costs $5 for the mask programmed
part cost $50 for the EPROM version?
I spent a lot of my early days in engineering wrestling with these questions.
I also had a lot more courage than brains
in those days. My first experience was
with a Z80 single board computer on the
SID bus (it was memorable). I hoped the
Navy would use the machine to test jet
engines.
This was around 1978, and I also had
a TRS-80 model 1. I used to say TRS-80
model 1 computer, but I know better
now. The TRS-80 had a workable assembler, but the EPROM programmer supplied by the Navy couldn't talk to it. It
couldn't talk to anything. It had a hex
keypad. Humans cursed it.
In-circuit emulators for the Z80 cost a

fortune then, a small fortune now. The
project requirements for this device
changed as it developed (this is an advanced engineering management technique called lithe moving target"). The
device would have to calculate in floating
point. I wrote a four-function floating
point arithmetic package in Z80 assembly. What a pain.
Next I used an 8048 single chip microcontroller in a temperature controller. I
only needed integer math for this beast.
The cost of an 8048 (the version they program at the factory) then was about $5,
but unless you wanted at least 5000
pieces, Intel wouldn't consider the program mask.
The version with internal EPROM
was about $50, so I designed a card to
supply external EPROM and RAM (with
an address latch). It looked like a single

By Gene Toner
IDEC, Inc.
P.O. Box 69
Fountainville, PA 18923

board computer when I finished. The
worst part was that I still couldn't afford
an in-circuit emulator for debugging the
code.
There's a neat little circuit you can
build around the 8048 to cause it to
single step through a program. You can
monitor the state of the address bus with
LEDs. You can have the 8048 write intermediate results to an output port with
more LEDs. Then you can single step
your way through the bugs, bum new
EPROMs, single step, bum new
EPROMs, single step ....
The Prescription For Embedded Pain
These were just two early experiences.
I also wrote a cross assembler for the
National Semiconductor 8073 microprocessor in TR5-80 model 1 BASIC. I
did this to avoid hand assembly.
Interestingly, this processor had an
on-board integer BASIC interpreter and
interfaced to a terminal. National designed a board with this processor,
EPROM, RAM, I/O, and one of the
EPROM sockets would program 2716s!
It was a dream come true until my
BASIC program grew beyond about 20
lines. You needed a calendar to time the
execution. They threw in a BASIC instruction that jumped to machine language routines, but no assembler. I wrote
the assembler.
You might think I would have
learned, but I still do embedded controllers. Fortunately, I now have real solutions for development.
What is the ideal platform for an
embedded controller? It should be inexpensive, flexible, expandable, available,
and reliable. Plus, there should be great
software support, such as assemblers, debuggers, and high level languages, all inexpensive. We don't want to have to sell
the kids to control the temperature in the
aquarium (hmmmmm ... ).
The answer, of course, is the XT! No,

\Vau might think I

would have learned,
but I still do em-

bedded controllers.
Fortunately, I now
have real solutions
for development.
not the whole XT, just the motherboard.
Embed the mother to handle any control
task you want. Editor's note: Micro C is
not always a safe place to make offhand comments about the fairer sex.
A 12 MHz motherboard costs about
$80 these days, an 8 MHz unit about $65,
usually less without the BIOS (more
about this later). These boards have eight
expansion slots for adding anything and
power supplies are only $35.

What really makes this board attractive, however, is the C-THRU-ROM by
DATALITE. This software package does
things that $20,000 in-circuit emulators
just dream about.
It lets you write your programs in Microsoft C 5.x or Turbo C 2.X, cross load
the executable and the C symbol table to
the target system, and DEBUG ON THE
TARGET SYSTEM IN C (using a debugging environment very similar to Microsoft's CodeView). Finally, it lets you bum
the whole works into EPROM, all for less
than $500.
XT Motherboards
The usual XT motherboard will hold
up to 640K of parity checked RAM and
40K of ROM. This ROM space is usually
mapped as 8K of BIOS residing at paragraph FEOO and 32K of ROM BASIC at
F600. Both of these ROM spaces are
available for embedded programs.
In most embedded applications, 640K
is overkill since RAM is usually only
used for variables and stack. Other applications, such as data loggers and pattern
recognizers, make good use of everything they can get. Also, RAM is a
Text Continued on page 12

Figure I-Motherboard 1/0 Map
I/O DECODED

I/O USED

FUNCTION

OOOOh - 001Fh

16

DMA control.l.er

0020h - 003Fh

2

Interrupt control.l.er

0040h - 005Fh

4

Timer counter

0060h - 007Fh

4

PPI (S255) chip

OOSOh - 009fh

4

DMA page registers

1

NMI mask bit

OOAOh - OOBFh

•••
MICRO CORNUCOPIA, #51, Jan-Feb 1990

9

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