Specifications
Introduction
OVERVIEW
This chapter provides a brief introduction to the ZT 8832. It includes
a product definition, a list of product features, a functional block
diagram, and a description of each block. Unpacking information and
installation instructions can be found in Chapter 2, "Getting Started."
Product
Definition
The ZT 8832 is an 8MHz V40-based single board computer designed
to operate by itself or as an I/O control processor in an STD bus
system. The ZT 8832 increases system throughput by managing time-
critical operations normally assigned to the STD bus master
processor. These operations include numerical computation, serial
communication, and digital I/O using resources local to the ZT 8832,
as well as a large selection of digital and analog I/O via the SBX
expansion module. Complex systems are simplified by partitioning
the design into smaller tasks and assigning these tasks to one or more
ZT 8832s.
The ZT 8832 and the STD bus master processor communicate
through 32 Kbytes of shared (dual port) RAM, and I/O mapped
control and status registers, located on the ZT 8832. These registers
include features such as maskable and non-maskable interrupt
generation between the ZT 8832 and the master processor.
Arbitration for the 32 Kbytes of dual ported RAM is implemented
entirely in hardware. The ZT 8832 also supports a board select option
that reduces the amount of STD bus addressing space needed in a
multiple ZT 8832 configuration. With board select, up to seven
ZT 8832s can be mapped into a single 32 Kbyte range.
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