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- OSMKPA01.FAX
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- TITLE
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- PCMCIA Overview for Data Communications for IBM
- Thinkpads and IBM Modems
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- PCMCIA SUPPORT UNDER OS/2 2.X
-
- This section will highlight support features for PCMCIA
- support under OS/2 2.x. The base support for PCMCIA is
- enabled in OS/2 2.1 and later releases.
-
-
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- GENERAL PCMCIA OVERVIEW
-
- OS/2 2.1 supports the level 2.0 Personal Computer
- Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)
- specification for credit-card sized adapters such as
- memory, I/O devices, modems, and LAN Adapters. OS/2 2.1
- is enabled to support environments which comply with
- the three layers of the PCMCIA architecture. This means
- that OS/2 2.1 contains the Card Services support which
- allows PCMCIA adapter manufacturers to write Client
- Device Drivers and Personal Computer System
- Manufacturers to ship Socket Services.
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-
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- PCMCIA HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
-
- There are three major hardware components defined in
- the PCMCIA architecture: Cards, Sockets and Adapters.
- PCMCIA cards are treated in much the same way as
- standard removable media (such as diskettes). The card
- slots (called sockets) are open bays which the cards
- are inserted in without removing system covers or
- powering off the system unit. Adapters are connected to
- the host system's bus. The adapters map the host system
- bus technology to the PCMCIA technology.
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-
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- PCMCIA SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION
-
- There are three major software components defined in
- the PCMCIA architecture: Card Services, Clients and
- Socket Services. The following sections will give a
- description of the required software layers for PCMCIA
- support.
-
-
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- CARD SERVICES
-
- The Card Services component is an operating system
- specificlayer that provides the Card Services functions
- defined in the PCMCIA interface specification. The Card
- Services interface functions are provided according to
- the operating system's details for the client device
- driver model environment. Card Services relies on the
- operating system and Socket Services interfaces in
- order to facilitate requests from PCMCIA clients. The
- functions, features and availability of the Card
- Services component is the responsibility of the
- operating system developer/manufacturer.
-
-
- OS/2 2.1 contains the PCMCIA Card Services layer of
- support. The OS/2 Card Services support provides PCMCIA
- 2.00 Card Services conforming interfaces as a 16-bit
- inter-device driver communications interface (IDC). The
- PCMCIA Card Services layer is responsible for
-
- managing system resources on behalf of the Client
- Device Drivers and the Socket Services Layer. Client
- Device Drivers must use the Card Services interfaces to
- obtain access and configuration support for the various
- PC Cards supported by the client.
-
- Card Services are enabled under OS/2 2.1 using the
- PCMCIA.SYS and VPCMCIA.SYS device drivers.
-
-
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- CLIENT DEVICE DRIVERS
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- Clients manage the device characteristics in an
- operating system specific environment and can be
- generalized as card-specific device drivers. The Client
- Device Drivers are required to manipulate the PC Card
- and provide the application transparency for the card
- devices. Therefore, for any given card (device) there
- must be specific device driver for each supported
- operating system. In addition, one client device driver
- can simultaneously manipulate several cards of the same
- type. Clients rely on the Card Services interfaces in
- order to set up and remove accessibility to the PCMCIA
- cards (devices). The functions,features, and
- availability of client device drivers is the
- responsibility of the PCMCIA card developer/manufacturer.
- Client Device Drivers for OS/2 2.1 use the OS/2 Card
- Services IDC interface to setuP and release the various
- resources (IRQ, IO ports,Memory addresses, etc.) for PC Cards.
- The Client DevicE Drivers are supplied by the adapter
- manufacturer.
-
-
- SOCKET SERVICES AND RESOURCE MAP UTILITIES
-
- The PCMCIA Socket Services component is a
- hardware-specific layer that isolates the details of
- the adapter and socket logic from the other software
- components. The Socket Services component provides the
- functions defined in the PCMCIA interface
- specification. Ideally, this software layer is built as
- a BIOS extension so that a single implementation can
- service multiple operating systems. However, it is
- acceptable to have device driver versions, since
- several situations preclude the availability of ROM
- solutions(as would be the case when you are adding
- adapters in existing host systems). The functions,
- features, and availability of the Socket Services
- Component is the responsibility of the hardware
- (adapter option or system unit) developer/manufacturer.
-
-
- The PCMCIA Socket Services layer might be implemented
- in either ROM BIOS or as a device driver. OS/2 Card
- Services uses the PCMCIA Socket Services 2.00
- interfaces implemented in a 16-bit IDC interface. Since
- no ROM BIOS implementations of Socket Services were
- available to test with, OS/2 2.1 only supports
- implementations built as OS/2 Physical Device Drivers.
-
-
- The Resource Utility is a special Client Device Driver
- which should be provided by the PC manufacturer. This
- special client is called the Resource Utility or
- Resource Client. The Resource Client is responsible for
- providing Card Services with a system specific resource
- map for the personal computer. The Resource Client does
- not own any PC Cards or devices and is only active
- during the PCMCIA subsystem initialization. OS/2 Card
- Services initialize with a generic default system
- resource map which might not utilize the current
- system's resources in an optimal manner. Hence, it is
- strongly recommended that a system specific Resource
- Client be provided by each system manufacturer with
- system model resource details.
-
-
-
- PCMCIA SUPPORT LAYERS
-
- The following table identifies the various PCMCIA
- Layers.
-
-
- __________________________________________________|
-
- PCMCIA DEVICE TYPE | WHO SHOULD SUPPLY |
- __________________________________________________|
-
- Card Services | Operating System |
- __________________________________________________|
-
- Client Device Driver | PCMCIA Card Manufacturer |
- __________________________________________________|
-
- Socket Services | PC Manufacturer |
- __________________________________________________|
-
- Resource Utility | PC Manufacturer |
- __________________________________________________|
-
- Table 10-1. PCMCIA SUPPORT LAYERS
-
-
-
- PCMCIA AND OS/2 2.1 SUMMARY In summary, OS/2 2.1
- provides the PCMCIA Card Services layer. There are
- other PCMCIA layers which are required in order to have
- a fully functioning PCMCIA configuration. The Socket
- Services and Resource Utility should come
- with the system unit/adapter option and should be
- located on the Hardware Options Reference/Setup
- diskette along with installation instructions. The
- Client Device Drivers should be provided by the PC
- Card/Device manufacturer and should be located on the
- PC Card Reference/Setup diskette along with
- installation instructions. It should be noted that some
- PC Cards do not come with any software support or
- hardware reference diskettes. These PC Cards
- require/expect a third party program to manage the PC
- Card. Care should be taken when purchasing PC Cards as
- to what requirements exist. Developers who are
- interested in writing OS/2 2.1 device drivers (Socket
- Services, Resource Map Utilities or Client Device Drivers)
- should consult chapter thirteen in the OS/2 2.1 DDK
- Input/Output Device Driver Reference manual(S71G-1898-0)
-
-
-
- IBM is aware of our customer's problems in obtaining
- these pieces and is working with the PCMCIA
- manufacturers to resolve this situation.
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-