User`s manual

24 TPC-1560 User's Manual
4.1 Compatibility with IBM MicroDrive
The IBM MicroDrive is one of the newly developed storage devices in
these years. Unlike other devices of similar form factors, the IBM
MicroDrive is defacto a hard disk driver rather than solid-state disk. It
therefore provides a storage solution of lower cost-per-megabyte than
SSD such as CompactFlash card or DiskOnChip. This is especially
crucial for embedded applications.
The TPC-1560 is designed to be compatible with IBM MicroDrive. IBM
offers MicroDrive in the form factor of PCMCIA by an additional
adapter card. Inserted into PCMCIA slots of TPC-1560 then it works.
However, the MicroDrive on the TPC-1560 cannot be used to boot up.
It is because of the design of the controlling circuitry of the TPC-1560
that the MicroDrive is simply a storage device. The data bus for
MicroDrive to boot up requires I/O mode or memory mode. On
contrast, the data bus inside the TPC-1560 is of IDE mode. Do not
attempt to start the operating systems on MicroDrive.