From: dvsg0223@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (David Salamon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.announce
Subject: GoldenGateII Amiga <-> PC bus Interface
Date: 24 Nov 92 00:37:03 GMT
Reply-To: dvsg0223@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (David Salamon)
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Message-Number: 280


            Specifications for the GoldenGate II Bridgecard

SUMMARY
-------
  The GoldenGate II bridgecard lets you lets you use AT-compatible IBM plug-
  in cards in your Amiga PC slots as Amiga devices, controlled by Amiga 
  software.  Software support currently includes drivers for PC serial and 
  printer ports, with more exotic cards supported through the software emulator
  CrossPC (available with CrossDOS 5.0 from Consultron).


PC HARDWARE SUPPORT
-------------------
  The GoldenGate II bridgecard will support almost all non-DMA PC plug in
  boards which are "AT-compatible", i.e. can support 8 MHz bus accesses.  
  This includes such popular items as internal modems, multi-IO
  boards, non-DMA ethernet boards, VGA boards, A/D boards, etc.  Access
  to the PC cards is at full Amiga Zorro II bus speed unless wait state
  support is turned on.

  The following IBM AT bus signals are supported:

    IO address space from  hex $0000 to $7FFF (first 32K)
    Memory address space from  hex $90000 to $FFFFF  (448K)
    16 bit data bus
    All AT bus interrupts
    Wait states (IOCHRDY signal) for both IO and memory access
    14.31818 MHz clock (OSC signal) from on-board crystal oscillator
    7.2 MHz processor clock (CLK signal)
    BALE signal


AMIGA HARDWARE DETAILS
----------------------
   The GoldenGate II bridgecard AUTOCONFIGs as a Zorro II card, and it
   can be "shut up" off the bus.  The autoconfig size is 1 Meg to correctly
   map all of the PC memory locations.  All address and data lines to the 
   PC bus are buffered to avoid loading.


ON-BOARD REGISTERS
------------------
   The GoldenGate II bridgecard includes 3 software accessable registers.

   Register 1 is read-only, and reports the status of all the interrupt
   lines, the master interrupt enable, and the wait-state control.  This is
   a 16 bit register.

   Register 2 is read/write; when read, disables the master interrupt 
   enable and returns the same 16 bit value as register 1.  When register 
   2 is written to, it sets the master interrupt enable.

   Register 3 is read/write, and it toggles the support for wait states.
   When wait-states are enabled, a default of one wait state (one Amiga
   clock cycle) is inserted into each bus read or write to maintain IBM
   bus cycle wait state compatibility.


SOFTWARE DRIVER SUPPORT
-----------------------
   Due to a lack of standards in the IBM community, there is simply no way
   to provide Amiga software support for all possible plug-in cards.

   A small number of standards DO exist, however, and we will provide drivers
   for some of these, with more coming out whenever possible.  The basic 
   software package (compatible with the previous GoldenGate board) is for
   serial and parallel ports:

     ibmser.device     a replacement serial device for internal modems and
                       multi-IO cards.  Includes automatic use of the 16550
                       FIFO buffer when available.  Support for up to 4
                       serial ports at once, equivalent of COM1-4.

     SerPrefs          set and save the intial settings of the IBM serial
                       ports.

     ShowSerial        prints out what serial chip is hooked to each IBM port 

     ibmprint.device   a new parallel output-only driver for printing through
                       IBM LPT compatible parallel ports on multi-IO cards.
                       Support for up to 3 printers at once, equivalent of
                       LPT1-3.

     IOWedge           a wedge program that allows redirection of serial and
                       parallel port information to the IBM ports even from
                       programs that do not alternate alternate device drivers.

     NewPortHandler    this handler lets you use the new IBM ports directly
                       from the CLI, by creating a mountlist entry.  For
                       example, you can mount IBMPRT: and then issue a 
                       CLI command to copy a file to the IBMPRT: device.

     Wait              this is a small program to toggle wait state support
                       on and off.

   All programs require AmigaDOS 2.0, and were written by Dan Babcock (thanks
   Dan!!).

   Details for accessing IBM IO and memory space through the GoldenGate II
   will be in the documentation.  Most boards that do not try to emulate
   system functions (like ports) will not need device drivers;  they can
   be accessed directly from your programs in C or any other high level
   language.  

   For more exotic applications, the GoldenGate bridgecard is compatible with
   the software IBM emulator "CrossPC" sold by Consultron with CrossDOS 5.0.
   CrossPC will automatically find the GoldenGate bridgecard if it is 
   installed, and map any IO location calls to the GoldenGate card.
   This allows you to use your IBM driver software directly.  Thanks to 
   CrossPC and IBeM author Mark Tomlinson for this!  

   Author Chris Hames of PC-Task has also expressed an interest in 
   putting similar GoldenGate compatibility into his emulator, and 
   this should be available in the future.


GOLDENGATE II SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
------------------------------
   The GoldenGate II bridgecard occupies one Zorro II slot aligned with
   an IBM AT slot in an Amiga 2000, 2500, 3000, or 4000.  It has essentially
   the same form factor as an XT bridgeboard.  You will need at least one
   additional open PC-AT slot for your plug-in PC card.

   The GoldenGate II requires 1 Meg of autoconfig memory space to be 
   available.


AVAILABILITY AND PRICE
----------------------
   I am selling the GoldenGate II bridgecard in two ways:

      (a) As a kit with all parts and assembly instructions, for US$95
          (You should have some soldering experience 
           to assemble this)

      (b) Fully assembled. for US$115

   Shipping charges will be US$3 within the US, US$5 to Canada, and US$10 
   to anywhere else.

   If you are interested, please send me email at  d-salamon@uiuc.edu

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