Specifications

Other Interfaces
Many additional standard interfaces are provided on the VP 110/01x board. These interfaces
consist primarily of those found in a regular desktop or mobile PC, and are outlined below.
6.1 Serial Port
A single RS232 serial interface is provided, and connects via the front panel The front panel
connector is an RJ45 type, and an adapter cable is required to convert to a D-type connector of
the appropriate size and gender. There are several commercial types available, but the wiring
required for one typical cable is detailed in Section A.5.5. The serial port is implemented in the
PC chipset used on the board, using a standard 16550 style device. The serial line may be
configured for speeds up to 115kbaud.
With some operating systems, or in some applications, it is preferable to use a serial terminal as
an operator console device for the board. In this case, it will be necessary to configure the board
for operation with a Serial Console. When configured in this mode, the PC BIOS firmware will
re-direct its output to the COM1 port, and similarly will take its input from this port, rather than
using a VGA PMC adapter and PC keyboard. A board DIL switch must be set to select this
mode. The state of the switch can be read from Status & Control register 0 (see Section 8.1).
The serial line speed used for the Serial Console mode may be selected from the BIOS Setup
screen for Main configuration.
VP 110/01x 6-1
Switch 1 - Console Mode
ON - Serial (Default)
OFF-KBD&VGA
ON
OFF
1
2
3
4
Figure 6-1 Console Mode Switch