Soekris Net 4501 Manual
Soekris Net 4501 Manual
Soekris Net 4501 Manual
2 SPECIFICATIONS..........................................................................................5
2.1 Overview........................................................................................................................................ 5
3 BIOS ...............................................................................................................6
3.1 Overview........................................................................................................................................ 6
The net4501 is based on the ElanSC520 embedded processor from AMD, and is basically a PC compatible
embedded computer optimized for network and communication applications.
This manual assumes that the reader has a deep understanding of PC Architecture, and will only cover
areas specific to the net4501. Most of the net4501 functionality and interfaces are either following official
PC standards, or unofficial de-facto standards.
2 Specifications
2.1 Overview
Processor Single Chip AMD ElanSC520, 100 Mhz or 133 Mhz clock.
Core Chipset Integrated in the ElanSC520.
Main Memory 16-64 Mbyte PC100 SDRAM, soldered on board.
BIOS 128 Kbyte FLASH, soldered on board.
Contain Soekris Engineering comBIOS.
Bus Expansion 1 - PCI slot, 3.3V only, limited power available.
1 - Mini-PCI type IIIA socket.
Ethernet Up to three Ethernet Controllers using the National Semiconductor
DP83815 PCI busmaster chip, supporting 10BaseT and 100BaseT.
RJ-45 Connectors at board edge with built in LED’s for link status and
network activity.
Serial Ports 1 or 2 serial ports, using 16550 uarts in the ElanSC520.
1 standard with PC type DB-9 connector at board edge.
1 optional with 10 pins header.
Storage 1 CompactFlash type I/II socket.
Real Time Clock Integrated in the ElanSC520. Backup power is provided by a rechargeable
lithium battery, which can supply power for minimum 1 month.
Supervision Watchdog timer, integrated in the ElanSC520.
General Purpose I/O 8 bits of programable input/output pins, connected directly to the
ElanSC520.
Power Supply 6-20V DC, 10W maximum, using a DC input Jack at board edge, or
5V DC, using connector on board.
Power Consumption Max 7W without using expansion connectors.
Environmental Conditions Operating:
0°C - 60°C temperature
10% - 90% relative humidity, non condensing.
Storage:
-20°C - 85°C temperature
5% - 95% relative humidity, non condensing.
EMI/EMC All interfaces intended for external connections are protected against
emissions and emmunity.
Agency Compliance When using the optional metal case:
CE Marking EN55022 Class A
CE Marking EN55024
FCC Part 15 Class A
Physical Size Board only: 4.85” x 5.70” (124mm x 145 mm)
Small metal case: 5.95” x 6.2” x 1” (151mm x 158mm x 26mm)
Wide metal case: 5.95” x 10.2” x 1” (151mm x 260mm x 26mm)
Please note that there is limited power available for the two PCI expansion connectors. There are only 3W
available on the 3.3V power pins, there is no power available on the +12V and –12V power pins. And
when using the DC Input Jack as the power source, only very limited amount of power is available on the
5V pins, as the 5V is then supplied by a linear regulator.
CAUTION: Please note that the Standard PCI connector is a 3.3V signaling only connector, and is
keyed for that. Do not insert a 5V PCI expansion board upside down, that can cause permanent damage
both to the net4501 and the expansion board.
3 BIOS
3.1 Overview
The net4501 comes with the Soekris Engineering netBIOS. The BIOS is designed especially for setup and
operation using the serial port as the console. The BIOS is located in Flash memory, and can be upgraded
over the serial port. Critical system setup parameters are also saved in the Flash memory, so the system will
not lose any setup information due to CMOS battery backup power loss.
Load operating system from a boot device, using int19 system call. Drive can either be a valid int13 drive
entered as a hexadecimal number, or a special number. For example “80” will be first fixed disk drive,
normally the CompactFlash on the net4501, and that is also the default if no parameter is entered. Currently
defined special number is “F0”, which will try to boot over the network, using the PXE boot ROM.
reboot
Will reboot the BIOS, normally used after changing system parameters.
download
Start downloading a binary image over the serial ports, using the XMODEM protocol. After entering the
command, start sending at the terminal program at the other end. Will time out after 30 seconds if it does
not detect the start of a XMODEM transfer. Downloaded binary image will be saved in memory at
4000:0000.
flashupdate
Update the system flash BIOS with image at 4000:0000, normally the one just downloaded using the
“download” command.
time [HH:MM:SS]
Update the time in the battery backed Real Time Clock, or if no parameter, show the current date and time.
The time should be entered in 24 hours format, as “hour:minutes:seconds”.
date [YYYY/MM/DD]
Update the date in the battery backed Real time Clock, or if no parameter, show the current date and time.
The date should be entered as “year/months/date”.
set parameter=value
Set a BIOS system parameter to a value. See section 3.4 for a list of currently available parameters to set.
Note that a reboot is required after changing most parameters before the new value will be used.
show [parameter]
Show the current value of a parameter, or if no parameter, show a list of all parametes and their current
value.
d[b|w|d] [adr]
List the content of the memory, in both ascii and hexadecimal. “db” will show it as 8 bit bytes, “dw” will
show it as 16 bit words and “dd” will show it as 32 bit doublewords. “adr” is a memory address in
hexadecimal, either in 16 bit seg:offset format or as a single linear 32 bit address. If no address is entered, it
will continue listing from last address, if “d” is entered alone, it will list in the last used format.
i[b|w|d] port
Input and show the content of a port address. “ib” will input a 8 bit byte, “iw” will input a 16 bit word and
“id” will input a 32 bit double word. The port address is in hexadecimal from 0 to FFFF.
Output a value to a port address. “ob” will output a 8 bit byte, “ow” will output a 16 bit word and “od” will
output a 32 bit double word. The port address is in hexadecimal from 0 to FFFF, and the value is a
hexadecimal number.
Enter values in memory. “adr” is a memory address in hexadecimal, either in 16 bit seg:offset format or as
a single linear 32 bit address. “value” is one or more 8 bit bytes.
ConSpeed
Serial Console speed baud rate. Value can be 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400 or 57600, default is 19200.
ConLock
Protecting the serial console port from modifications using int14 system calls. Value can be “enabled” or
“disabled”, default is “enabled”. Useful for preventing MS-DOS from changing the console speed on start
up.
BIOSentry
To control if the “Press Ctrl-P for entering Monitor.” message should be displayed during before booting.
Value can be “enabled” or “Disabled”, default is “enabled”. Useful for making it harder for end users to
enter the monitor and modify BIOS settings. Note that pressing “Ctrl-P” will still work for entering the
monitor.
PCIROMS
To control if the BIOS will execute code found in PCI expansion ROM’s. Value can be “enabled” or
“disabled”, default is “enabled”. Can be used to disable problematic ROM’s on PCI boards, or to shorten
the BIOS boot time.
FLASH
To set the disk channel of the onboard CompactFlash socket. Value can be “primary” or “secondary”,
default is “primary”. Useful if the system is used with an external IDE controller.
BootDelay
To set the delay time before booting an operating system. Value can be from 2 to 16 seconds, default is 5
seconds.
J2, PCI
JP2, CF
J2, PCI
JP11,
COM2
JP3, User
J2, PCI
I/O
J3, Mini-
PCI
JP6, Eth2
5 Software Installation
The net4501 is designed to be fully PC compatible, but has some limitation due to the design decision to
leave out the video, keyboard, floppy and IDE interfaces.
• Booting an install program using the PXE boot ROM, and then installing the rest over the network.
Only some operating systems support PXE booting and/or installation over the network.
• Preloading the CompactFlash card on another system. As the CompactFlash emulates an IDE device, it
can be connected to a host system using either an IDE-CompactFlash adapter, a PCMCIA to
CompactFlash adapter or a USB based reader/writer. Differences in sector translation using IDE
devices can complicate doing the loading on another system. The net4501 uses a simple algorithm for
sector translation, if there are less than 1024 tracks, it will use the native CHS that the CompactFlash
reports, if more than 1024 tracks, it will use LBA translation. So the host system will need to match
that, and that will also normally be the case. In some cases it may be necessary to change the
translation settings in the host system’s BIOS.