Lab No 9

USMAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Computer Science
Computer Organization & Assembly Language – CS223

9
Instructor: Muhammad Wasim
Semester: BS – IV

Objective:

Study of a Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller IC

Name of Student: _____________________________________________

Roll No: ______________________________Sec. __________

Date of Experiment: ___________________________________________

Marks Obtained/Remarks: _____________________________

Signature: _____________________________

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Theory

Normal Processor operation:

If a byte of data has to be transferred from the (I/O) device to the memory the usual flow of data is as
follows:

I/O Memory Processor

PIO
This process is time consuming and keeps the processor busy in data transfer. One instruction is needed
to bring data in the processor and the other instruction is needed to transfer data from the processor to
memory. This is called PIO or programmed I/O.

The DMA approach eliminates the processor by letting the DMA controller transfer the data directly
between the device and memory. The processor just supplies 1) the starting source address
2) The starting destination address, the number of bytes to transfer.

3) The number of bytes to transfer.

After specifying the three things the processor initiates the DMA cycle and lets go the control of its
buses i.e. data , address and control. Data is directly transferred between the I/O device and memory as
indicated below:

I/O Processor Memory

DMA

Do It Yourself
1) What is PIO ?

2) What is DMA ?

3) What are the three things required for DMA transfer?

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4) How is DMA initiated by the processor?

5) What does the processor do during DMA?

6) Please refer to 8237A datasheet provided. How many DMA request lines does the 8237A have?