Specifications

4 - 20
4.8 CONFIGURATION EEPROM
A great deal of flexibility of system configuration has been made possible by the inclusion of a
1,024 bit serial electrically erasable EPROM (EEPROM). The device used is contained in an 8-
pin IC at location U14. The configuration EEPROM is normally used in two ways: part of it is
reserved for Ampro setup information; the rest of it is available for OEM data storage.
The 1024 bits of the configuration EEPROM have been allocated in two groups: Ampro data area,
and OEM data area. The Ampro data area is used by the board's ROM-BIOS during powerup and
reset initialization. The parameters within the Ampro data area are normally initialized and altered
using the Ampro SETUP utility. Included as a feature of the SETUP utility is the ability to display
and edit the bits of the OEM data area as well.
If you require the use of the OEM (or other) data area directly from programs, you will need to
write special software routines to read and write configuration EEPROM bits. The software
required to read and write bits to this device are somewhat complex, however; for this reason,
functions for reading and writing the configuration EEPROM have been included directly within
the board's ROM-BIOS. It is recommended that you utilize the configuration EEPROM BIOS
functions, rather than direct hardware programming, to access the device.
Note that the configuration EEPROM is not intended for constant writing. It is specified as having
a limitation of 10,000 write cycles, which should be more than enough for its intended use as a
configuration storage device. One reason to use the ROM-BIOS routines for configuration
EEPROM access is that they automatically maintain a checksum on the contents of the EEPROM.
For details on the use of the EEPROM read/write functions contained within the board's ROM-
BIOS, refer to application note AAN-8805, available from Ampro.