apricot Fi Technical ReferenceCopyright Portions of this manual contain material reprinted by permission of: SONY Corporation, Copyright 1983 Trademarks MS-DOS and Microsoft are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research. lis posible tat hs manu ay opal ofarances too” daseripe Apricot products which fe not availabla in your country. Such raferences ar information should not be taken as an Understanding that these products will become available, lnformation contained in this dacument is subject to change without notice and does nat represent a commitment on the part of Apricot. Altrights reserved, no use or disclosure without written consent. Copyright * Apricot Computers pic Published in the U.K. by Published in the USA by Apricot UK Ltd Apricot Inc, Shenstone House 47173 Benicia Street Dudley Road Fremont, Halesowen California 94538 West Midlands B63 3NTPreface The Technical Reference Manual for the ACT Apricot F1 microcomputer is intended for programmers and engineers involved in hardware and software design for the F 1 The Manual is divided into three sections and a number of appendices as detailed below. 1, Overview This section provides an overall description of the F1 and is sub-divided into three chapters: System Overview This chapter presents an overall picture of the F1 concentrating on mainly the hardware, but also including information on some of the software aspects which are integral to the machines’ operation. Software This chapter provides a brief description of the operating system and it’s interface to the associated BIOS. An introduction to the software modules of the BIOS is also provided. Options This chapter forms the introduction to all the other ACT hardware options available for extending the capabilities of any machine within the range. 2. Hardware Detail This section contains detailed descriptions of all the hardware aspects of the microcomputer and is divided into a number of chapters, as detailed in the following Contents section. ‘The Systems Unit and the Keyboard of the F1 are discussed in detail with major programmable elements (e.g. serial port, display circuitry, etc.) also having separate descriptions. Preface 13. Software Detait This section contains a detailed description of alt software aspects of the BIOS and is also divided into a number of chapters. The first provides a detailed description of the BIOS as a whole. Subsequent chapters detail the features and facilities of the individual hardware device drivers. Appendices A number of appendices are included in this manual which provide general hardware reference information and also associated software information of specific use to systems/application programmers. Addenda This section details installable device drivers supplied as system software and will also be expanded to reflect updates and changes as the product continues to be developed, Associated Publications MICROSOFT MS-DOS Programmer's Reference Guide This is an absolute necessity for anybody who wants to develop software for the Apricot. It provides details of: 1, MS-DOS 2.00 system calls and interrupts. 2. How to produce and install new device drivers. 3. MS-DOS memory maps, disk layout, DOS initialisation and many more technical details. The UK source of this product is: Order Processing Dept Microsoft Ltd, Piper House Hatch Lane, Windsor, BERKS. DIGITAL RESEARCH GSX-86 Graphics Extension Programmer's Guide This is a necessity for any programmer who wishes to produce graphics based packages interfacing to Apricot’s implementation of the Digital Research GSX module. This product can be obtained through your local ACT dealer. 2 PrefaceThe 8086 Family User’s Manual This provides descriptive material on the Intel 8086 processor and includes all the necessary details on the instruction sets for asssembly language programmers. The manual can be obtained from an Intel distributor, Preface 3Contents 1.1 System Overview Introduction Details 2 3 3 Packaging and styling meee 6 Processing Capability 8 Memory 9 Disk Drives 70 Display Features 73 Keyboard 17 Printer Support #8 Communications 20 Expansion 21° Specification 1.2 Software Overview Introduction Details Applications Interface Operating Systems interface OS SooanAN ROM BIOS to Options Introduction Details Display Options RAM Expansion Boards Modem Board LAN Board Mouse Apricot MSD Expansion Unit ~QOHAMHW Contents 12. Hardware De! 2.1 NS OCOHBADAWYW 10 Systems Unit Introduction Details Mechanics Connectors Front Panel System Board Infra-Red Detector Board Disk Drive Unit Expansion Power Supply Physical dimensions System Detail Introduction Details General Processor Memory Interrupt Control Display Control Floppy Disk Control Expansion Keyboard/Mouse data System Reset RS232 Communications Parallel Printer Port System Timer Sound Generation Port Addresses 2 ContentsN we SONNOGAN Interrupt Control Introduction Details General Maskable Interrupt vectors Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) Programming the controllers Interrupt Control Sequence Maskable Interrupts Programming Display Control Introduction Details General Display modes and Features Drive Signals Circuitry Display RAM Pointer RAM Palette RAM. Mode Selection Refresh control and Timing Display Connectors Expansion Introduction Details General Expansion Slot Expansion Connector Electrical Specification Pin Detail Address Allocation Using Interrupts Expansion Board Layout Contents 3Nn o Floppy Disk Interface Introduction Details General Disk Write Disk Read Disk formatting Read/write head positioning 70 FDC detail 10 General 771 Processor Interface 11 Data Requests 12 Interrupt Requests 74 Disk Drive Control” 15 Command Register 16 Status Register 16 Track Register 76 Data Register 17 Programming Considerations 17 General 18 Disk Drive Selection 78 Motor Control 79 Head Loading 19 Head Positioning 23 Data Transfers 28 Formatting Commands 33 Force Interrupt Command 35 Interface Connection Detail 35 System Connections 37 Disk Drive Unit Connections 39 Track Format BVAMHOW 4 Contenis2.7 Serial Interface Introduction Details General SIO Overview SIO Architecture Processor interface Write Register Definition Write Register Summary Write Register O Write Register 1 Write Register 2 Write Register 3 Write Register 4 Write Register 5 Write Register 6 Write Register 7 Read Register Definition Read Register O Read Register 1 Read Register 2 SIO Interrupt Sequence Keyboard/Mouse Data Sound Generation Channel A Programming Details Copy Registers Initialisation Generating Sound RS232C Communications General RS232C Connector Detail Channel B Programming Details Copy Registers Setting the Base Vector Asynchronous Communications $10 Pin Detail System Connections Channel A Connections Channel B Connections Contents &i) NNAN OO BOW & Printer Interface Introduction Details General Data Transfers Connector Detail Address Altocation Programming Considerations Data Port Printer Status Data Strobe N o Timer Introduction Details General Channel modes Clock rates Interrupts Channel usage Address allocation Programming Considerations Initialisation 10 Setting the base interrupt vector 70 Channel 0: Expansion Interrupts 77 Channel 1: RS232C baud rate 74 Channel 2: Sound Frequency 16 Channel 3: System Clock 76 Return from Interrupt Sequence 2.10 Sound Generation Introduction Details General Generating Sound Address allocation Programming Considerations General Initialisation Simple tones Complex sounds ©© ®VATAKAN N SCOOBYWN DAAA & Contenis2.11 Disk Drive 2 Introduction 4 Details 4° General 4 interface Details 6 Interface Connections (Outputs) 7 \nterface Connections (Inputs) 9 Disk Drive Mechanism 9 Read/Write Heads 9 Head Positioning Mechanism 9 Head Load Mechanism 10 Sensors and Detectors 70 Drive Switch Settings 12 Drive Specification 73 Disks 73° General 73 Disk Precautions 74 Disk Insertion/Removal 74 Write Protecting 14 Disk Format 2.12 Keyboard 2 Introduction 3 Details 3 Mechanics 4 Circuitry 4 Keyboard Scanning 5 Data Transmission Format 6 Keycode Data Encoding 77 Special Keys Contents 7Section 3: Software Detail 3.1 Guide to the BIOS 2 Introduction 3 Bootstrap § Initialised drivers 7 Initiatised BIOS 8 Built-in functions 9 Memory Map 11 Software interrupts 76 Hardware interrupts 77 Pointers 20 ASCII and Bit Screen Images 20 RAM BIOS for MS-DOS 27 Disk Label Sector and Configuration Table 3.2 Control device 2 Overview General application 3 Introduction 4 Lowlevel Control device access § High level Control device access 7 Errors 8 Specific application 9 Device Numbers 10° Screen 12 Keyboard 74 ~~ Serial l/O 78° Parallel 1/O 20 Mouse 27 Clock 22 Sound 24 Floppy disk 26 Winchester 8 ContentsScreen driver Overview Application interest Screen images Using ESCape sequences Screen environment Apricot compatible mode Colour ANSI ESCape sequences Windows and Cursor addressing Fonts Ascii control codes ESCape Sequence Table Systems interest Screen Bit Image Character attributes 40 Column mode Scrolling Configuration table Keyboard driver Overview Appli Changing the keyboard table Implementing STRING keys Changing the keyboard driver operation Special Keys Default STRINGS. Prefixes User Interrupt (F9 hex) Systems interest Initialisation Steering Down-code handler Queues Configurator Apricot compatibility Configuration table Contents 92 on Serial 1/0 Driver Overview Applications interest Configuring the Serial Driver Generic differences User Interrupts Systems interest Configuration table MH AGDWWN 2 a Parallel 1/0 Driver Overview Applications interest Systems interest NNN wo why 4 Clock Driver Overview Applications interest Systems interest Sod oo Sound Driver Overview Applications interest Systems interest ~a 2 ) Disk Driver Overview Applications interest Non-MSDOS systems Drive types Label Sector MS-DOS format Disk formats Disk Swapping Systems interest Configuration data OO OBVQRAROWN 40° Contents3.10 GSX — GIOS Details 2 BS QW Overview Applications interest Display features Calling GSX Additions to GSX 1.3 Systems interest System files Contents 77Appendices: A — Diagnostic Error Codes B — Default Keyboard Table C — Ascii codes D— Circuit Diagrams E— ESCape sequence reference table 2 Specials 3 Character attributes 4 Screen attributes 5 Colour 6 Cursor positioning 7 WP primitives 10 Driver environment 13 Keyboard interaction 718 Generic obsoletes F — Language interfaces Overview Interpretive Basic The Data Segment Register Non-BIOS routine calls Compiled Basic The Data Segment Register Non-BlO§ routine calls 'C’ Programming Language The Data Segment Register Non-BlO$S routine calls OO DWNN OH Nh 3 Index 12 ContenisSection’ FZ a EG B OverviewSystem Cverview Contents Introduction Details Packaging and styling Processing Capability Memory Disk Drives Display Features Keyboard Printer Support Communications Expansion Specification Ilustrations 1. Apricot F 1. System Overview 1.1/7 1.4Introduction The F1 is a full function business microcomputer, complete with a minimum of 256 Kbyte of RAM and a single double-sided MicroFloppy disk drive. It contains a sophisticated ROM based BIOS and the capability to drive either a monochrome or a colour monitor in a variety of resolutions and modes. The standard features found on the F1 micro are: 1, Parallel printer interface. 2. Asynchronous and synchronous RS232 communications capabilities. 3. Expandibility (via an ACT compatible expansion Slot and/or a separate Expansion Unit), A, Low profile professionally styled Keyboard with OWERTY typewriter layout, calculator keypad and function keys. Flexible display driver circuitry which allows the programmer to drive a colour monitor (optional) in a variety of resolutions and display modes, Alternatively, the same circuitry can be configured to drive a monochrome monitor or a standard domestic TV (requires the optional TV modulator). Instead of being linked to the Systems Unit by a cable, the Keyboard uses an infra-red link for transmission of keycodes and other data (time and date information, hardware reset, etc). Multiple machine environments where infra-red interference could occur from other users are catered for by the use of a “light-pipe”. This acts as a transmission line which directs the infra-red from the Keyboard to its parent Systems Unit. a 7.1/2 System OverviewDetails Packaging and Styling The F 1 is composed of two main sections as previously mentioned; the Systems Unit and the Keyboard (see Figure 1). The machines are made into a full computer system by the addition of an appropriate display device. (A variety of different monitors are currently available as optional items from ACT. These include 9 inch and 12 inch monochrome monitors and a 10 inch colour monitor). 1. Main Sitch ane Fase assoreby 22S input for Monochrome Display 3. Centonies Port 4, Composite Visco Jack Socket 6, Colour/Menechrame D spay Connector E.ns2a3 Port ‘expansion Pla 8. Expansion Cave? Sn Tranamiters Figure 1. Apricot F1 System Overview 1.7/2The Systems Unit houses the majority of the control electronics, including the processing system and interfaces for: 1. Amonochrome or colour monitor. 2. A standard domestic TV via an optional modulator. 3. Infra-red keyboard/mouse data. 4. Printers/plotters and similar devices. 5. External communications equipment. 6. Sound Generation. It also contains the system RAM, a MicroFloppy disk drive, a power supply and a loudspeaker. The Keyboard consists of a standard QWERTY typewriter section plus calculator keypad (with an identical key top layout to the Apricot pc/xi range of products), a block of 10. “fixed/programmable” function keys, and four recessed keys which perform specific fixed functions. It also includes: 1. Four AA batteries which form the power source for the keyboard electronics. 2. A processing system which provides the interface between the keys and the infra-red transmission circuitry. 3. Areal time clock/calendar. Freedom of user desk space was one of the criteria for using an infra-red cordless link between the Keyboard and the Systems Unit. This provides the user with a much greater flexibilty in positioning the Keyboard relative to the Systems Unit as compared with the standard cable link approach. Four LED indicators are located on the front of the Systems Unit on the left-hand side of the disk drive slot. These provide the user with indications of various states within the machine, as specified by the associated indicator legend. The indicators are normally illuminated to show the following states: No Scroll STOP key is active. Caps CAPS LOCK key is active. Disk The disk within the disk drive is being written to or read from, Power The machine is switched on. 1.0/4 System OverviewConnections for a printer, a display monitor (monochrome or colour), and external communications equipment are all located on the back of the Systems Unit. Connections for the optional modulator for driving a standard domestic TV are located internally within the Unit. A connector on the right-hand side of the Unit is provided for linking in an optional Expansion Unit. This is not the only method of expansion available within the machine. A single Expansion Slot is also located within the Systems Unit. This is electrically and physically compatible with all the current ACT Expansion Boards. The mains switch is also located on the rear of the unit. This is part of a combined mains switch/fuse holder module. The fuse is located behind a hinged flap on the switch module _ housing. Amains changeover fink option is located internally within the Systems Unit to cater for the two standard mains operating voltages used throughout the world. This allows the F1 to be configured at the factory for either 110V or 240V operation, To meet the desirable goal of quietness of operation, the F1 does not employ a fan for cooling (the major noise source on most other micros). Instead, cooling is provided by the natural airflow created in and around the machine by the positioning of vents in the case relative to the internal components which generate most of the heat. System Overview 1.1/5