Risc PC x86 Card User Guide
Contents
1. Start up the Risc PC x86 Card and boot DOS from a floppy disc if you don t know how to do this see the PC DOS User Guide Once DOS has booted run FDISK to partition the drive Run FORMAT to format the drive For details on the FDISK and FORMAT programs please refer to the PC DOS User Guide Allocating memory to the Risc PC x86 Card You need to allocate some RAM for the Risc PC x86 Card to use fea I Open the Memory configuration window Memory Use the arrows or type in a number to specify the amount of DRAM to be used by the Risc PC x86 Card You can specify the following numbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 12 14 16 20 24 28 or 32 You can actually type any number in the writable box but the amount will be rounded down to the nearest legal value Click on OK Configuring your Risc PC for PC use Obviously the amount you specify 3MB is the default is dependent on the amount of DRAM in your Risc PC You need to allocate at least 4MB to run Windows It s best to allocate as much as you can spare leave yourself enough to run RISC OS applications if you re multi tasking This will enhance performance Notes You should never normally specify a figure greater than the total amount of DRAM on your machine but note that you can set PCConfig up for use on another machine Small values limit the number of applications you can run PCx86 will issue a warning if the amount of DRAM specified by the P2. requirements of MPC 11 and access is available from software which adheres to the Microsoft Windows virtual sound interface These instructions tell you how to set up your machine so that the Risc PC x86 Card can access the 16 bit sound capabilities of the Risc PC Insta ling 16 bit sound drivers Before you start you need to have e installed DOS e installed Windows 3 1 or 3 11 e a machine with no previous sound software installed remove any previously installed drivers from your system Insta ing extra drivers Here s how to install the 16 bit Sound drivers 1 With the Risc PC x86 Card window showing the DOS prompt type CD C INSTALL SOUND 2 Next just type UPDATE This runs an automatic installation program 3 Type Y to run the update program If you type N see the README file in the directory INSTALL SOUND for instructions on how to alter any files by hand 4 Type WIN to start Windows Run Drivers from the Control Panel in the Main work group A list of drivers that are currently installed will appear in the Drivers window You re going to install two new sound drivers Color Printers Irternato Microsoft Video 1 Compressor MIDI Mapper SupeiMatch Cinepak Codec Timer 6 Click on Add make sure Unlisted or Updated Driver is selected and click on OK 7 Enter the pathname of the directory into which you copied the sound drivers C INSTALL SOUND and c
3. thereof and the related documentation 4 Limited Warranty and Disclaimer Acorn warrants thar the Media upon which the Software is supplied are free from defects under normal use for a period of ninety 90 days from the date of purchase as evidenced by a copy of your receipt Your Acorn Authorised Dealer will repair or replace defective Media if returned within ninety days of purchase The Software and the related documentation is supplied as is and Acorn and its licensors expressly disclaim any warranty express or implied as to the merchantability of the Software and the related documentation or their fitness for any particular purpose In no circumstances will Acorn its licensors or its dealers be liable for any direct indirect consequential or incidental damage including loss of profits business interruption and loss of data arising out of the use or the inability to use the Software or related documentation even if Acorn or its Authorised Dealer has been advised of the possibility of such damage 5 General The above rerms and conditions supersede any prior agreement oral or written between you and Acorn relating to the Software Acorn
4. 32 bit in Control Panel Enhanced Virtual Memory You must ensure you exit Windows completely before shutting down the Risc PC x86 Card Installing extra drivers You can install extra device drivers at any time after installing PC DOS Windows This section tells you how to install e Windows Screen driver e CD ROM drivers e 16 bit sound drivers e Network drivers For the most part installing any of these drivers is automatic All you need to do is copy the appropriate drivers into your DOS partition and follow simple setup and installation instructions Important These instructions assume that you have a standard PC setup with no similar previously installed software If this is not the case you ll need to follow the instructions given in the appropriate README file on the Risc PC x86 Card floppy disc in the PCDrivers INSTALL directories to install the drivers by hand Copying the drivers to your DOS partition Before you can install any of the extra drivers supplied you need to copy them to your DOS partition 1 If you re running PCx86 shut down the Risc PC x86 Card see page 30 2 Put the Risc PC x86 Card software disc in the floppy disc drive Click on the floppy drive icon and open the PCDvivevs directory 4 Open a directory display for your main DOS partition Drive C 5 Copy the INSTALL directory from the floppy disc into your main DOS partition Insta ing the Windows Screen driver 6 Choose Dismo
5. Customer Services Before contacting any of these organisations it will save a great deal of time if you have the following information to hand e Version numbers of all software and modules in use e The hardware in use e The hardware configuration settings used by the software e The trace information from the Risc PC x86 Card See Troubleshooting on page 51 for details of how to produce this information g Reader s Comment Form Risc PC x86 Card Issue 1 Part number 1411 003 We would greatly appreciate your comments about this Manual which will be taken into account for the next issue Did you find the information you wanted Do you like the way the information is presented General comments If there is not enough room for your comments please continue overleaf How would you classify your experience with computers L Used computers before _ Experienced User Cut out or photocopy and post to Dept RC Technical Publications Acorn Computers Limited Acorn House Vision Park Histon Cambridge CB4 4AE England i Programmer TT ra Experienced Programmer Your name and address This information will only be used to get in touch with you in case we wish to explore your comments further ACORN LICENCE AGREEMENT 1 Licence The system application utilities and other software supplied in and with the accompanying product the Software whether on
6. OS 3 User Guide and see the text files within the ChangeFSI application itself As a rough guide when you convert an image to a sprite you should always display as many colours as your machine will allow and for best results try to use a square pixel mode such as 640 x 480 Vector images You ll usually have to save figures created in PC vector based drawing applications similar to Draw in a format that ChangeFSI can read Most such packages offer a number of output formats Transferring files from RISC OS to DOS Transferring files from RISC OS to DOS Text based files ASCII files will load into any DOS or Windows text editor and CSV files created by RISC OS spreadsheet applications will load into most DOS or Windows spreadsheets Bitmap images Some RISC OS applications can save bitmap images in formats understood by PC applications such as GIF TIFF or JPEG Saving bitmap and vector images as EPS files Many PC applications can import EPS files To create an EPS file of any sprite or Draw file configure the Printers application so that a PostScript printer driver is active and the output is written to File rather than to a printer On printing the sprite or Draw file an EPS file will be created which you can move into your DOS partition and import directly into the application The EPS image may only be visible when it is printed however Note You can create an EPS file from any RISC OS application which makes the SW
7. PC x86 Card If an application has a DOS compatible option you should use this in preference to other choices offered For example the Central Point Backup facility supplied with PC DOS will only work when the DOS compatible option is selected Using different mouse drivers with the Risc PC x86 Card There are a number of mouse drivers which you can use with the Risc PC x86 Card One is installed automatically with PC DOS and will be run by default whenever you start up DOS You ll probably find that this mouse driver called MOUSE COM is adequate for all your needs If you find that you run short of memory when using the Risc PC x86 Card you might consider using an alternative mouse driver AMOUSE COM This is supplied on the Risc PC x86 Card software disc in the directory PCDrivers INSTALL DOS and uses less memory than MOUSE COM Using the keyboard with the Risc PC x86 Card Once installed in your DOS partition type AMOUSE at the DOS prompt to run it Replace the relevant command in your AUTOEXEC BAT file if you want to use this driver every time you use the Risc PC x86 Card Another mouse driver is supplied with Windows and you might want to consider using this if you have Windows installed Also called MOUSE COM it is more comprehensive but uses more memory Note If you are asked by PC application software what sort of mouse your system uses you should specify a BUS mouse since this i
8. You now need to install PC DOS as follows 1 Put the first PC DOS disc labelled Set up Diskette into the floppy disc drive and load the PCx86 application 2 Click on the PCx86 icon on the icon bar This will start up the Risc PC x86 Card and boot PC DOS from floppy disc The PC DOS Welcome screen will be displayed 3 Install PC DOS by following the on screen instructions 4 Go to Using the Risc PC x86 Card on page 27 Upgrading an existing system Upgrading existing PC486 software Read the following notes and bearing them in mind follow the instructions in Basic software installation on page 7 Move your existing PCConfig and PC486 applications to an area that will not be seen by the filer when you next start your machine preferably to a floppy disc You must reconstruct any customised configuration settings by using the new PCConfig Don t attempt to short cut the process by copying an existing Config file from PC486 to PCx86 When following the instructions in Setting up a DOS partition on page 11 you can specify your existing DOS partition instead of creating a new one If you do this you can also omit the section Installing PC DOS on page 20 If you use the AMOUSE COM mouse driver copy the latest version from the directory PCDrivers INSTALL DOS to the DOS directory on your hard disc partition see Using different mouse drivers with the Risc PC x86 Card on page 31 Installing extra drivers If you wan
9. from the PC Card Single tasking mode 1 Open the PC RISC OS window 2 Choose one of the following options e Middle mouse button only You can only return to RISC OS by clicking Menu e Alt Break key only You can only return to RISC OS by pressing Alt Break e Middle mouse button or Alt Break key You can return to RISC OS by clicking Menu or by pressing Alt Break e Do not allow return to RISC OS This prevents you from switching back to RISC OS from Single tasking mode 7 Click on OK Booting from floppy disc aa You can make the Risc PC x86 Card boot from floppy disc if there is eee One in the disc drive and from the hard disc if there isn t Booting 1 Open the Booting window 2 Switch on Allow PC Card to boot from floppy disc 3 Click on OK You should ensure this option is enabled before you attempt to install PC DOS but once installed you can run PCConfig again and turn this option off if you want Basic software instal ation Setting advanced options PCConfig allows you to set certain advanced options such as the cache used by the Risc PC x86 Card By their nature these options and their settings will depend on what type of processor chip is fitted to your Risc PC x86 Card Important Please refer to the README file supplied on the software floppy disc to find out which options are available for your particular Risc PC x86 Card and how they should be configured To set
10. mode 25 e Use the arrows or enter a number in the Memory to use for video box to allocate a different amount of memory Entering higher values than the suggested figure e g from 25 100 will enable Windows to run somewhat faster 7 Click on OK Note If you re running short of DRAM try configuring a lower resolution mode for Windows to run in Basic software insta lation Configuring the Risc PC x86 Card start up behaviour You can specify how the Risc PC x86 Card will behave when you start it up by running PCx86 1 Open the Start up window 2 Choose one of the following three options e Start up on Icon bar no window will be displayed until you click on the icon bar icon e Start up in full screen the PC will use the entire screen This mode is single tasking the Risc PC x86 Card will run more quickly but the RISC OS desktop won t be available we pe Once in this mode you can return to the RISC OS desktop PORSE OS using the method currently set in the PC RISC OS window see below e Start up in a RISC 0S window the PC will appear inside a window on the RISC OS desktop This mode is multi tasking you have access to both RISC OS and the PC but the Risc PC x86 Card will run more slowly This is the default setting 6 Click on OK Configuring your Risc PC for PC use Setting the RISC OS PC Card switching options es You can choose how to return to the multi tasking RISC OS desktop PC RISC Os
11. not start if your DOS partition is read only when viewed from RISC OS ensure that you haven t locked the hard disc by using the Lock screen of the Boot configuration window Using the Risc PC x86 Card Using the Risc PC x86 Card You can operate the Risc PC x86 Card in either single or multi tasking mode By default it starts up in the way you specified in PCConfig s Start up window see page 17 Single tasking mode In single tasking mode the full speed of the Risc PC x86 Card is available the whole screen appears as though you re just using a PC and the RISC OS desktop is suspended Returning to Multi tasking mode You can return to multi tasking mode and the RISC OS desktop using whichever methods you ve set in PCConfig s PC RISC OS window by default you can press Menu or Alt Break Multi tasking mode In multi tasking mode the Risc PC x86 Card runs in a RISC OS window along with other RISC OS applications the Risc PC x86 Card runs more slowly but extra features are available When in multi tasking mode the PCx86 window must have the input focus as indicated by its title bar being yellow before you can use it Click Select over the window to give it the input focus Important While the PCx86 window has the input focus you cannot access the RISC OS command line by pressing F12 To access the command line either close the PCx86 window or give the input focus to another RISC OS application e g click Selec
12. these advanced options 1 Click Menu over PCConfig s icon bar menu and choose Open Advanced configuration 2 Set any options in the Advanced configuration window as described in the README file 3 Click on OK Note There are yet more advanced options not normally visible in this window To make these options visible in the Advanced configuration window edit the file PCConf ig Conf Data to remove the character from the start of the title string Always make a backup copy of your existing Conf Data file before you attempt to modify it directly Saving the configuration When there are unsaved changes in any of PCConfig s windows an asterisk will appear in the main PCConfig window s title bar When you ve finished setting options in PCConfig click on Save Your settings will be saved into a configuration file inside PCx86 You can run PCConfig at any time if you want to change the configuration of your Risc PC x86 Card Simply run PCConfig make any changes and save the configuration as described above The changes will come into effect next time you start up PCx86 Maximising memory You can free up some additional memory when you ve finished using PCConfig by resetting your machine Insta ing PC DOS Installing PC DOS Once you ve configured a DOS partition you can install PC DOS by following the steps in the subsections below For complete details on the PC DOS Setup program refer to the PC DOS 7
13. want to install 2 Scroll down to Options correct Continue Setup and press Return You don t have to decide which tools to install now since you can install other tools at any time see page 23 The PC DOS manuals give more details of which tools you can choose to install Back up any old versions of DOS Note If you created a new DOS partition when you ran PCConfig or you don t want to back up an old copy of DOS ignore this section The next screen allows you to back up any old versions of DOS you may have onto floppy discs Make sure you have some blank high density floppy discs you ll probably need about six the backup program will format them for you automatically Follow the instructions on screen Basic software installation Perform the installation Simply follow the instructions on screen inserting the remaining PC DOS installation discs when prompted A progress bar will be displayed indicating how much of the installation is remaining Depending on the number of tools you re installing you may not need to use all five installation discs When the installation is complete you ll be asked to remove any floppy discs from the drive and press a key to restart your computer What next 1f you ve bought Microsoft Windows now is a good time to install it Follow the installation instructions in the Windows documentation but see Using Microsoft Windows on page 37 for additional information on configu
14. C memory size is not available Configuring a printer connection Normally you shouldn t need to worry about this as the default Printing settings are designed to allow printing to most printers connected to the Risc PC narallel nort to work automaticallv Open the Printing options window Choose Use RISC OS printer stream for LPT This will force any printing to LPT1 to go to the RISC OS printer stream In this case make sure you ve run Printers before you start up the Risc PC x86 Card you can then quit it if you re short of memory as this defines where any print data is sent Basic software insta lation 3 Click on OK when you ve changed any settings in the window Here s what all the options mean in the Print options window e Ignore RISC OS printer stream will stop the PC card software from attempting to use the RISC OS printer stream e Use RISC OS printer stream for LPT 1 will force any printing to LPT I to go to the RISC OS printer stream e Use RISC OS printer stream for LPT2 will force any printing to LPT2 to go to the RISC OS printer stream e Allow PC Card to access parallel port directly will enable the PC Card to access the parallel port hardware directly Selecting this will switch on Ignore RISC 0S printer stream Note The parallel port is taken over by the Risc PC x86 Card and can t be used by RISC OS until you quit PCx86 Notes e Ifyou use Acorn Access with a printer attached t
15. Card on page 27 gives you a basic introduction to using the Risc PC x86 Card Transferring fies between DOS and RISC OS on page 33 discusses how you can get the most out of your Risc PC x86 Card by sharing files between the two environments Using Microsoft Windows on page 37 shows you how to install and use Microsoft Windows Ignore this chapter if you re not going to use Windows on your computer Installing extra drivers on page 39 describes how to connect CD ROMs use 16 bit sound use a Windows Screen driver and connect to a PC network Advanced use on page 49 discusses more advanced configuration options and programming details You can ignore this chapter if you want Lastly Troubleshooting on page 51 provides help in the event of a problem and tells you where you can get support if you need it Introduction Packing list You should have a box containing the following items e This User Guide e Risc PC x86 Card software disc or discs containing Boot e IPCx86 e PCConfig e PCDrivers directory actually a DOS partition containing new device drivers e Readme file containing any late changes or additions to the instructions in this manual You ll also receive the following items if you buy the full product they are not supplied with the Upgrade kit e Risc PC x86 Card e PC DOS containing e Five floppy discs e PC DOS 7 User s Guide e PC DOS Registration Card e Owner Support Registration Card e Pro
16. I call PDriver Selectlllustration as opposed to PDriver_SelectJob to start a single page print job Contact the publisher of the application for more details For more information about Printers see the RISC OS 3 User Guide Using ChangeFSI from the command line ChangeFSI when run from the RISC OS command line can convert sprites into various formats recognised by DOS In particular it can create PBM Portable Bitmap files which many other systems recognise For full information refer to the text files in the ChangeFSI application itself Using Microsoft Windows If you want to install Windows in your DOS partition you should allow around 20MB for the Windows installation itself and several MB for the swap file used by Windows You ll also need space typically 30MB for each Windows application you want to install These figures can be reduced if you don t perform a full Windows installation see the Windows documentation for more details As a very rough guide however you need to specify a DOS partition of at least 80MB if you want to use Windows comfortably Things to note when installing Windows In order to use the Risc PC x86 Card with Windows 3 1 or 3 11 you must do the following when installing Windows 1 Choose Custom Setup in the Windows Setup window The window will then change to allow you to set various options Things to note when insta ing Windows 2 Go to the Display option and choose VGA Versio
17. If you have a MIDI card fitted to your machine once you have followed the above installation instructions MIDI capability is available under Windows if you carry out the following procedure Ga 1 Run the MIDI Mapper from the Control Panel of the Main group lt Mol Mapre 2 Set General MIDI E Show E Setups D Patch Maps Key Maps k Description General MIDI setup Networking your Risc PC x86 Card 3 Click on Edit and set all the channels to use the Acorn SBE drivers then click on OK Src Chan Dest Chan Port Name Patch Map Name Active S8E16 MIDI Dut SBE16 MIDI Dut SBE16 MIDI Dut SBE16 MIDI Out SBE16 MIDI Out SBE16 MIDI Qut E D D C9 C9 D C9 DJ D E9 A a D a KI To check MIDI works 1 Under Windows load the Media Player from the Accessories work group 2 Choose Devices MIDI Sequencer and choose a MIDI file to play if there are no existing MIDI files you ll need to copy one into your DOS partition and then choose it using the MID1 Sequencer Networking your Risc PC x86 Card It is possible to link your Risc PC x86 Card to PC networks and run it as a client thus allowing you to communicate with other PCs If you wish to do this you should contact your Acorn dealer who will be able to provide you with details of the additional software required and suitable network cards together with price information Advanced use This chapter describes
18. Risc PC x86 Card User Guide Risc PC x86 Card User Guide Acorn Copyright 1995 Acorn Computers Limited All rights reserved Published by Acorn Computers Technical Publications Department Neither the whole nor any part of the information contained in nor the product described in this manual may be adapted or reproduced in any material form except with the prior written approval of Acorn Computers Limited The product described in this manual and products for use with it are subject to continuous development and improvement All information of a technical nature and particulars of the product and its use including the information and particulars in this manual are given by Acorn Computers Limited in good faith However Acorn Computers Limited cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any information or particulars in this manual This product is not intended for use as a critical component in life support devices or any system in which failure could be expected to result in personal injury Acorn supplies its products through an international dealer network These outlets are trained in the use and support of Acorn products and are available to help resolve any queries you may have The Risc PC x86 Cards are designed by Acorn Computers Limited ACORN is a trademark of Acorn Computers Limited PC DOS is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation Windows and the Wind
19. Scrn key on the keyboard to capture the PC screen Closing down the Risc PC x86 Card There are two ways of closing down the Risc PC x86 Card e Suspending the Risc PC x86 Card e Shutting down the Risc PC x86 Card completely Resetting the Risc PC x86 Card Suspending the Risc PC x86 Card If at any time you want to return to RISC OS but you don t want to shut down the Risc PC x86 Card completely you can suspend it This means that you can return to using the PC at any time without having to wait for it to reboot e To suspend the PC when in single tasking mode click the Menu button This returns control to RISC OS e To suspend the PC when in multi tasking mode move the input focus to another RISC OS window To return to the PC display again click Select on the icon bar icon or on the PC screen itself Shutting down the Risc PC x86 Card Important Before quitting PCx86 always exit Windows and return to the DOS prompt This will ensure all your work is saved Failure to do this may result in an inconsistent hard disc which could lead to data loss or prevent you from using the Risc PC x86 Card properly When you ve finished using the Risc PC x86 Card shut it down completely to return full control to RISC OS 1 If you re running Windows quit any applications then Exit from the Program Manager or press Alt F4 to return to DOS 2 Choose Quit from PCx86 s icon bar menu Resetting the Risc PC x86 Card Reset t
20. User s Guide Run the DOS setup program It s best to do this by booting from floppy disc 1 Make sure you ve saved the Boot from floppy and Start up ina RISC OS window settings in PCConfig s configuration windows 2 Put the PC DOS disc labelled Set up Diskette into the floppy drive 3 Double click on PCx86 to load it PC DOS will boot from the floppy disc then the PC DOS Welcome screen will appear 4 Press Return to continue Basic software installation Specify any international settings After the DOS Welcome screen a screen is displayed which lets you change the time date character set keyboard layout and 1SO font 1 Use the Up and Down arrows to scroll through the list Press Return on any setting you want to change and follow the on screen instructions Note The settings in this window should be as follows Country United Kingdom Keyboard UK English Font Non ISO Font This ensures that the keyboard gives the correct symbols see Using the keyboard with the Risc PC x86 Card on page 32 for more details 2 When you re satisfied with the settings scroll down to Options correct Continue Setup and press Return Insta ling PC DOS Install any optional tools The next screen allows you to choose which PC DOS tools to install By default only Central Point Backup for DOS is selected 1 Use the Up and Down arrows and the Return key to select any other tools you
21. antee together with proof of the date of purchase must be produced when any claim is made Any costs of carriage to and from the supplier must be paid by the purchaser If ACORN agrees with the supplier that the equipment should be forwarded to ACORN for repair then ACORN will arrange for collection and return of the equipment at no charge In all other cases the supplier will be responsible for effecting any necessary repairs in accordance with ACORN s service policy Any repairs under this guarantee will be carried out at no cost to the original purchaser If any equipment returned is found to comply with its original specification ACORN reserves the right to charge a reasonable fee for testing the equipment and for return carriage The liability of ACORN under this guarantee shall be limited to the cost of repair or complete replacement at ACORN s discretion of equipment which proves to be defective ACORN does not accept liability for any loss or damage during transit to or from the supplier or ACORN but every effort will be made to investigate claims of loss or damage if these arise THIS GUARANTEE DOES NOT AFFECT OR PREJUDICE THE PURCHASER S STATUTORY RIGHTS Guarantee procedure To claim under this guarantee proof of date of purchase is required This is provided by your copy of the invoice from the supplier from whom the equipment was originally purchased Keep the invoice safe and produce it to support any claim you may make und
22. as this will void the warranty of the product and is likely to cause damage to both the card and the processor e All further references to the Risc PC x86 Card apply to the Risc PC 486 Card and both variants of the Risc PC x86 Second Generation Card e Note that the Risc PC x86 Card and its associated software requires a minimum of 4MB of DRAM in which to run e If you are new to using PC DOS or Windows we recommend that you buy one of the many books available on the subject in addition to the manuals supplied with those products What s in this guide e You ll find references to the DOS and Windows operating systems throughout this guide Although every effort has been made to ensure the guide is as complete as possible some parts must inevitably assume a certain amount of knowledge about DOS or Windows This is especially true of the later chapters which deal with more advanced use of the Risc PC x86 Card Always refer to the manual for the relevant operating system if you are in any doubt What s in this guide Hardware installation on page 5 and Basic software installation on page 7 give you complete details on how to install the Risc PC x86 Card in your computer and how to install all the relevant software Upgrading an existing system on page 25 tells you what to do if you ve already got an existing version of the PC486 software installed or if you need to re install this latest PCx86 software Using zbe Risc PC x86
23. ay and choose Other Display Requires disk from OEM at the bottom of the list Display Display _ Video 7 512K 720x512 256 colon Keyboard XGA G4Nx4AD 16 colors XGA 640x480 256 colors XGA large fonts XGA small fonts Other display Require Mouse 4 Type in the location of the Windows Screen driver C INSTALL WINDOWS and click on 0K 5 Make sure Configurable ARM Driver 4 8 16 32 bpp is highlighted and click on OK 6 Click on OK in the Change System Settings window 7 You ll be asked to insert one of the discs you used when you installed Windows Insert the disc and click on 0K Note The OEMSETUP INF file supplied with this version has to assume a particular version of Windows when prompting for discs Here it assumes version 3 11 of both Windows and Windows for Workgroups If you have a different version 3 0 or 3 1 or even a version supplied by a manufacturer other than Microsoft some of the files may be on different discs particularly vddvga3 0 386 which is on disc 1 in version 3 1 and disc 2 in version 3 11 Just insert the disc containing the requested file shown in the bottom right of the setup screen rather than the prompted disc if this is the case 8 When asked type in the location of the screen driver ARMDRV DRV C INSTALL WINDOWS 9 When asked click on Restart Windows Installing CD ROM drivers The new driver will be loaded the next time you r
24. disc on ROM on CD ROM or on other media the Media together with the related documentation are licensed to you by Acorn Computers Limited Acorn Acorn or its licensors rerain ownership of all intellectual properry rights in the Software This licence permits you to use the Software on a single Acorn computer and you may make one copy of the Software for back up purposes only You may be granted additional rights which will be specified in the accompanying Software You must reproduce on any back up copy of the Software all copyright and proprietary notices which appear on the original copy of the Software You may transfer all of your licence rights in the Software and related documentation ONLY in conjunction with the transfer of the accompanying product AND provided that the transferee has read and agreed to accept the terms and condition of this licence 2 Restrictions Except as authorised above or expressly permitted by statute you may not copy modify decompile reverse engineer rent lease gift loan distribute or transfer possession of the Software or the related documentation in whole or in part 3 Termination This licence is effective until terminated You may terminate the licence by destroying the Software and all copies thereof and the related documentation This licence will terminate automatically without notice if you fail to comply with any of its provisions Upon termination you must destroy the Software and all copies
25. duct Warranty Policy Australasia You should keep the box containing the card in case you need to return it for any future upgrades If any of these items are missing or damaged please contact your Acorn Computers authorised dealer immediately Please take the time to fill in and return the Owner Support Registration Card The information this provides is used to improve the quality of our products and services Operating systems supported Operating systems supported PCx86 runs DOS and Windows up to Version 3 11 Other operating systems may be supported in the future Please contact Acorn on 01223 254254 for details Hardware installation Precautions in use To avoid electrostatic discharge when installing or removing the Risc PC x86 Card avoid contact with the 1C and connectors and hold only the edge of the printed circuit board After extended use the chip will become warm to the touch If you find it necessary to remove the Risc PC x86 Card make sure that the card has cooled down sufficiently before touching it Installing the Risc PC x86 Card in your machine 1f you don t feel confident about carrying out this installation take the Risc PC x86 Card and your computer to your supplier who will fit it for you A charge may be levied by the supplier for installing the card such a charge shall be entirely at the discretion of the supplier concerned Acorn Computers Limited cannot accept any liability for damage done
26. efresh rate and hence a flickering display In this case edit the monitor definition file by commenting out the low frequency 640x480 amp 800x600 display mode to give a better display Selection of modes for games Applications typically games which program the video controller to generate unusual screen modes can only be supported if such a mode is provided by RISC OS Where a mode does not exist PCx86 will revert to multi tasking and show the Risc PC x86 Card display in a window You can add RISC OS modes to your monitor definition file to allow such applications to single task but you should not attempt to do so unless you understand what you are doing An application note number 254 is available from Acorn Customer Services describing in detail how to do this PC applications using CMOS settings PC CMOS settings are constructed when the Risc PC x86 Card is booted not saved in the CMOS memory of the Risc PC Any applications which save their status in the PC CMOS area will not retain these values after the PC card support software has been quit Where to go for support Where to go for support In the event of a particular piece of software failing to function correctly on the Risc PC x86 Card you should contact the following organisations in the order specified below e The supplier of the PC software which is failing to function e Your On Site Service and Hotline Support as described on your guarantee card e Acorn
27. er this guarantee Contents Introduction 1 What s in this guide 2 Packing list 3 Operating systems supported 4 Hardware installation 5 Precautions in use 5 Installing the Risc PC x86 Card in your machine 5 Basic software installation 7 Updating your copy of Boot 7 Installing the Risc PC x86 Card software 8 Configuring your Risc PC for PC use 8 Installing PC DOS 20 What next 23 Installing optional tools at a later date 23 Quick instructions 24 Upgrading an existing system 25 Upgrading existing PC486 software 25 Re installing this version of PCx86 26 Using the Risc PC x86 Card 27 Starting the Risc PC x86 Card 27 Using the Risc PC x86 Card 28 Closing down the Risc PC x86 Card 29 Resetting the Risc PC x86 Card 30 Configuring the Risc PC x86 Card 30 Using different mouse drivers with the Risc PC x86 Card 31 Using the keyboard with the Risc PC x86 Card 32 Transferring files between DOS and RISC OS 33 Restrictions 33 Translation of DOS and RISC OS filenames 34 Transferring files from DOS to RISC OS 35 Transferring files from RISC OS to DOS 36 Using Microsoft Windows 37 Things to note when installing Windows 37 Installing extra drivers 39 Copying the drivers to your DOS partition 39 Installing the Windows Screen driver 40 Installing CD ROM drivers 42 Installing 16 bit sound drivers 43 Networking your Risc PC x86 Card 48 Advanced use 49 Swapping to multi tasking from DOS 49 New SWI to generate PC int
28. errupts 49 Troubleshooting 51 Generating debugging information on the Risc PC x86 Card 51 Problems with insufficient memory 52 Error Messages from Al CD SYS 52 Monitor modes 53 PC applications using CMOS settings 53 Where to go for support 54 Introduction The Risc PC 486 card and Risc PC x86 Second Generation Cards are second processor cards which fit all Acorn Risc PC computers They allow you to run a PC environment including standard DOS and Windows applications from the RISC OS desktop DOS is supplied with this product but if you want to install Windows you ll have to buy it separately When running such cards share the computer s resources such as DRAM CD ROM drives with RISC OS making installation of PC specific hardware unnecessary There are two variants in the Risc PC x86 Second Generation Card product range The low cost entry level Risc PC x86 Second Generation Card is not processor upgradable The other cards in the range Risc PC x86 Second Generation Card S come with a socketed processor enabling them to be upgraded from a range of x86 processors If you have purchased an upgradable Risc PC x86 Second Generation Card S and want to upgrade your x86 processor please phone 01223 254254 to arrange your upgrade This involves returning your card to an authorised Agent as the upgrade involves processor dependent modifications to the board and application software Do not attempt to upgrade the card yourself
29. es present otherwise PCx86 will refuse to work displaying the error message No CD ROM dvives wovking Note that the RISC OS CDFS does not actually require this so you may not already have it correctly set 2 Choose Configure from the CD ROM s icon bar menu and set the number of CD ROM drives to 1 or more if you have several CD ROM drives and then reset your machine using Ctrl Break to bring the new configuration into effect When accessing a CD ROM drive from DOS you must ensure that additional DRAM is available in addition to that already required by the Risc PC x86 Card and software Typically the amount of memory required is equivalent to the CD ROM buffer size set from within RISC OS To check this 3 Click Menu on the CD ROM icon on the icon bar 4 Choose Configure Buffers from the CDFS menu The current buffer size will be ticked on the Buffers menu Note If this is set to None CD ROM performance will be poor We recommend that it s set to at least 16K per disc in use Next time you use the Risc PC x86 Card you should be able to access any CD ROM drives fitted Note CD ROM drives not supported by Acorn may not work correctly Contact Acorn Aleph One or your supplier for help Installing 16 bit sound drivers If you ve got Acorn s 16 bit sound card this upgrade will provide support for playback of WAV files under Windows The device drivers provided with the Risc PC x86 Card support the sampled sound output
30. estart Windows and a different hourglass shape is used to indicate its presence You need to specify the RISC OS screen mode and the amount of memory needed for the PC screen Use PCConfig to do this see page 8 for details If you experience problems with the screen display under Windows with some applications try reverting to the VGA version 3 0 driver using the Windows Setup window Installing CD ROM drivers It is possible to use CD ROM drives attached to your machine from your Risc PC x86 Card A CD ROM extension was automatically installed when you installed DOS Note Having followed these installation instructions the drivers will work under both DOS and Windows Here s how to install the CD ROM drivers 1 With the Risc PC x86 Card window showing the DOS prompt type CD C INSTALL CDROM 2 Next just type UPDATE This runs an automatic installation program 3 Type Y to run the update program If you type N see the README file in the directory INSTALL CDROM for instructions on how to alter any files by hand If you re unfamiliar with DOS and editing text files from within DOS you should consult the PC DOS User s Guide that came with the Risc PC x86 Card 4 Shut down the Risc PC x86 Card see page 30 Configuring RISC OS to recognise CD ROM drives You need to set up RISC OS CDFS to recognise the CD ROM drive 1 Use Boot s Discs configuration window to specify the number of CD ROM driv
31. gue box is switched on and then click on Create in the PCFormat window The DOS partition file will be created From within DOS and Windows this partition will appear as drive C If you re creating a second DOS partition repeat steps 1 to 5 above using the Drive D section of the Hard disc setup window When you ve finished changing the settings in the Hard disc setup window click on 0K Specifying a DOS format SCSI device If you have a SyQuest removable SCSI hard drive attached to your computer you can elect to use this as one of your DOS hard discs 1 Click on DOS format SCSI device in the Disc setup window 2 Use the arrows to specify the ID 3 4 To find out the ID number of a SCSI device press FI2 and type Devices at the prompt Leave the number of Heads and Sectors blank or set to zero as this will allow the PCx86 software to set these values automatically Note If you get errors when trying to read or write to your SyQuest drive you ll need to set the number of Heads and Sectors according to the drive s documentation When you ve finished changing the settings in the Disc setup window click on 0K Basic software insta ation Formatting a SCSI hard disc under DOS If your SCSI hard disc is not already formatted under DOS you ll need to do the following when you ve finished using PCConfig it s described here for convenience 1 2 3 4 Ensure that Drive C is set to DOS format SCSI device
32. he PCx86 and PCConfig applications from the software disc 1PCXBE PCx86 is the application which lets you use the Risc PC x86 Card PCConfig is an application for configuring the way that PCx86 works and is described in the next section 2 Remove the Risc PC x86 Card software disc from the floppy drive and reboot your machine this is important Configuring your Risc PC for PC use Now you need to use PCConfig to allocate hard disc space and memory and set up a few other options v 1 Double dick on PCConfig Its icon will appear on the icon bar PGContig Basic software insta ation 2 Click on the icon bar icon to open the PC Card configuration window This application works in the same way as the Configure window you see when you double click on Boot clicking on one of the icons will open up a window in which you can set relevant options The sections below describe each of PCConfig s windows When you ve set up using PCConfig make sure you Save your settings as described in Saving the configuration on page 19 Setting up disc space for the Risc PC x86 Card In order for the Risc PC x86 Card to work you need to set aside some hard disc space for it to use This can take the following forms e DOS partition part of a hard disc SCSI 1DE etc on your machine made to look like a blank formatted PC hard disc e DOS format SCSI device a whole SCSI hard disc which has been formatted u
33. he Risc PC x86 Card by pressing Ctrl Alt Del This will reboot your Risc PC x86 Card and may take several minutes This is particularly important if you ve altered your CONFIG SYS or AUTOEXEC BAT files and want the alterations to come into effect Configuring the Risc PC x86 Card When the PC starts up two files affect its configuration These must be in the root directory of the DOS partition for DOS to work Using the Risc PC x86 Card e CONFIG SYS sets up the DOS operating system by defining data structures which determine how many files can be open what languages can be displayed and what device drivers are installed to access memory CD ROMs etc It is consulted by DOS when the Risc PC x86 Card starts up e AUTOEXEC BAT isa standard batch file which contains executable DOS commands It is read by the system after CONFIG SYS once DOS is running It s here that standard programs which you always want to be run are started e g mouse drivers virus checkers Environment variables are also specified here Setting up these files is beyond the scope of this manual and you should refer to the chapter on Configuring your system in the PC DOS User s Guide for more details The subject will also be covered in detail in any commercially available book on DOS Configuration of DOS applications Whenever possible you should run applications in DOS compatibility mode to ensure that they work correctly with the Risc
34. ice vsbpd 386 The line device vsbd 386 should not appear The file AUTO EXEC BAT should contain the line SET BLASTER A220 17 D1 H5 P330 T6 The following files should be in the WINDOWS SYSTEM directory SBE16AUX DRV SBEL6SND DRV VSBPD 386 Using the Risc PC x86 Card Starting the Risc PC x86 Card To start the Risc PC x86 Card simply run the PCx86 application from your hard disc 1 Make sure there are no floppies in the disc drive 2 Run PCx86 by double clicking on its icon Note You ll only need to follow the next step if you ve changed the Start up option in PCConfig from its default value Start up ina RISC OS window 3 Click on the PCx86 icon on the icon bar or choose Single task from its icon bar menu to start up the Risc PC x86 Card You ll see the Risc PC x86 Card start up message followed by a memory test on the card This is followed by the message Booting from and the floppy disc light will be illuminated briefly even if you are booting from a hard disc When PC DOS has booted you ll see the DOS prompt C DOS gt Now you can use the Risc PC x86 Card as you would a normal PC Possible problems If your DOS hard disc partition is not bootable or you have inserted a non system DOS disc into the floppy drive an error message to this effect will appear Remove the floppy disc or insert a system DOS disc and try again Similarly the Risc PC x86 Card will
35. ition with a different name do one of the following e delete the default name type in a name for the partition and drag the Drive_C icon onto the directory display in which you want your partition to be created e delete the default name and type in the full pathname for the partition 2 If you re using an existing DOS partition go straight to step 6 If you re creating a new partition continue with step 3 3 If you re setting up a DOS partition for the first time click on Create Important You must NOT do this if you are using an existing DOS partition or you ll lose all information in it After clicking on Create the PCFormat window will appear 4 Use the arrows to specify the size of the DOS partition you want to create Configuring your Risc PC for PC use You ll need to specify at least 6MB in order to be able to install a minimal version of PC DOS If you want to install the optional tools supplied with PC DOS you ll need 18 5MB You ll also need to allow space for your own personal files If you intend to install and use Microsoft Windows please refer to Using Microsoft Windows on page 37 before deciding on the size of your DOS partition Note The largest partition you can specify is dependent on hard disc size and the version of RISC OS and is currently limited to 512MB by PCConfig When you ve specified the size of the partition you want ensure that the Initialise ready for use option in the dialo
36. lick on OK Instal ing 16 bit sound drivers cs Media Player 8 Select Acorn SBE16 Auxiliary Audio and click on OK Insert the disk with the unlisted updated or vendor pravided driver in CAINSTALLASOUND 8 Media Vision amp MIDI Mapper Roland LAPC B Roland MPU B Timer i 9 Click on Add ON oe ae Te eee ants 10 Repeat steps 7 to 10 to install the Acorn SBE16 Wave and MIDI driver 11 Click on Restart Now to restart Windows to install both drivers F The Acorn SBE16 Wave and MIDI driver has been F added For the new driver to take effect you must quit and restart Windows Note 16 bit sound is only available under Windows it isn t fully supported by PC DOS However the above procedure may allow some DOS games and applications to use 16 bit sound For more information about 16 bit sound see your Acorn dealer Testing the 16 bit sound drivers Here s how to check that 16 bit sound works 1 Start Windows if it s not already running 2 Load the Media Player from the Accessories group Insta ing extra drivers 3 Choose Devices Sound and choose a WAV file to play CD Audio lt 4 MIDI Sequences TN RE Directories c windows B c P gt windows CI msapps system Fi E List Files of Type Drives Es EE 4 Click on the Media Player s Play button to play the WAV file MIDI capability
37. lt Thus a character in a DOS file automatically becomes a when the file is transferred to RISC OS and vice versa In general it s best to use only alpha numeric characters and the underscore character _ for naming files which you want to transfer between file systems You can use the command DOSMap to specify mappings between DOS filename extensions and RISC OS filetypes See the RISC OS3 User Guide for details Transferring fi es between DOS and RISC OS Transferring files from DOS to RISC OS Text based files You can load any ASCII text only files created in DOS or Windows into a RISC OS text editor such as Edit Note however that you should avoid editing DOS system files such as CONFIG SYS or AUTOEXEC BAT with a RISC OS text editor it s best to use the DOS editor E as it preserves the necessary control characters You can load CSV files such as those created by many DOS and Windows spreadsheets into most RISC OS spreadsheet or database applications Bitmap images Bitmap images from DOS or Windows can be in one of many different formats such as TIFF PCX BMP or GIF When moving images into RISC OS you ll usually want to convert them into a sprite so that you can view them in Paint or include them in any appropriate RISC OS application The ChangeFSI application distributed with RISC OS can convert many images into sprite or PEG format For full details about ChangeFSI see the RISC
38. n 3 0 Make sure the options in Windows Setup are as follows Computer MS DOS System Display VGA Version 3 0 Mouse Microsoft or IBM PS 2 Keyboard Enhanced 101 or 102 key US and Non US keyboards Keyboard layout British Language English International Codepage Multi Lingual 850 Network No Network Installed After making these selections you can proceed with the installation as detailed in the Windows documentation Notes The Risc PC x86 Card can run Windows in any mode Standard Enhanced or Extended although different amounts of RAM will be required for each mode Note that you can only run Windows in Enhanced Mode if you have at least 4MB of PC memory free 8MB is preferable and additional RAM will increase performance accordingly Before starting Windows you must ensure that the amount of free memory on your Risc PC is equal to this value plus the amount of memory needed to run PCx86 if you want to achieve reasonable performance It is possible to run Windows in Standard Mode using less than 4MB of PC memory but this is not recommended You can install the Windows Screen driver supplied on the Risc PC x86 Card floppy disc This is described on page 39 You can run DOS applications in DOS boxes within Windows using the Risc PC x86 Card To do this set the execution options in the PIF file to exclusive and not background To improve file access with Windows for Workgroups set file access to
39. n configure PCx86 to generate extensive and useful debugging information as follows 1 Shut down the Risc PC x86 Card and quit PCx86 2 Hold down the Shift key while double clicking on PCx86 to open a directory display on its contents 3 Load the Conf ig file into Edit and search for the line which reads Trace Off 4 Change this line to read Trace on You will also need to direct the messages these tools generate to a file otherwise they will appear on your screen To save debugging messages in a file Prob ems with insufficient memory 1 Load the Run file into Edit and scroll to the end of the file You will see two lines which begin with Run one of which is commented out with a vertical bar at the start and one of which is not 2 Delete the vertical bar from the start of the line which is commented out and comment out the other line by inserting a vertical bar at the beginning 3 Save the file this causes all trace information to go into a file called TraceFi le inside the PCx86 application directory 4 Reload PCx86 and run the problem program again You may then examine it after you quit the application 5 Copy the TraceFile onto a floppy disc and return it to your support hotline Details about who to contact are given in Where to go for support on page 54 Problems with insufficient memory If the configured value for the PC memory size is slightly greater than the available DRAM on your Risc PC
40. nder DOS As there is no speed advantage to be gained in using a DOS format SCSI device over a normal DOS partition we only recommend using this option for removable devices such as SyQuest drives You can specify up to two partitions You must create one partition E sc tup OF specify an existing one for the Risc PC x86 Card to work but the second is optional Configuring your Risc PC for PC use 1 Open the Disc setup window adie charadise4 drive c 2 Click on the up and down arrows at the top of the window to specify the Number of hard disc partitions you want to create The default which you ll probably want to use to start with is 1 You can specify zero one or two partitions 3 Set the type of each partition If you choose DOS partition go to Setting up a DOS partition on the next page e If you choose DOS format SCSI device go to Specifying a DOS format SCSI device on page 12 Basic software insta lation Setting up a DOS partition 1 Specify the file name for the partition in the DOS partition box If you re happy with the default name suggested and you re creating a new DOS partition just leave this setting as it is If you want to use an existing DOS partition on your machine e g one set up using PC Soft the software based PC emulator or a previous installation of the Risc PC x86 Card you should drag its icon into this box or type in its full pathname If you want to create a part
41. o to the end of this chapter and look at Quick instructions on page 24 where you ll find basic information which will get you started quickly If you feel that you need more help just follow the instructions below Updating your copy of Boot To update your copy of Boot 1 Insert the Risc PC x86 Card software disc into the floppy drive of your machine and click on the floppy disc icon to display the contents of the disc 2 Click on the hard disc icon on the icon bar to open the root directory display Insta ing the Risc PC x86 Card software 3 Press Menu over the hard disc directory display and make sure the Filer Options submenu settings are as follows Force Off Newer On Drag the Boot application from the software disc and copy it into the root directory of your hard disc This will automatically add the new version of DOSFS to the Boot Choices Boot PveDesk directory It also adds the modules necessary to run PCConfig and provide sound DMA support to your existing System directory Important You must not delete the Boot application from the root directory of your hard disc before copying the new version across The version on the software disc is not a complete application 5 If you want reset the Filer Options settings to where they were Installing the Risc PC x86 Card software To install the PC software on your hard disc 1 Make anew directory in your root directory called PC Copy into it t
42. o your machine other computers will not be able to access that printer e Printing over AUN to an Acorn printer spooler is not supported Configuring serial port usage The Risc PC x86 Card can use the Risc PC s serial port directly Serial par Allowing you to use a serial device such as a modem To enable this 1 Open the Serial Port window 2 Switch on Allow PC Card to access the serial port directly 3 Click on OK Note When this option is on the port is taken over by the Risc PC x86 Card and can t be used by RISC OS until you quit PCx86 Configuring your Risc PC for PC use Configuring the video display You can use PCConfig to set both the screen mode used by Windows and the amount of memory to be allocated for use by the Windows display driver splay 1 Open the Display window This works in the much the 2 Use the menu icons to define the display Colours and Resolution used whenever Windows is run You can only choose square pixel modes having a resolution of 640 x 480 or greater and 16 256 32K or 16M colours Note If the Monitor type option in Boot s Screen configuration window is set to Auto these options will be greyed out 3 If you re using a 256 colour mode it s best to allow Windows to use its own colour Palette 4 Allocate screen memory by doing one of the following e Click on Use to use the suggested memory allocation This is the amount of memory for the screen
43. ows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation All other trademarks are acknowledged Published by Acorn Computers Limited Part number 1411 003 Issue 1 September 1995 Guarantee valid in UK only This equipment is guaranteed by Acorn Computers Limited ACORN against mechanical and electrical defects subject to the conditions set out below Note Items which by their nature or design only have a restricted life are not guaranteed beyond such life Period of validity This guarantee shall be valid for a period of twelve 12 months from the date of purchase Other conditions 1 This guarantee is personal to the original purchaser is not transferable and shall not be valid unless the equipment was purchased from ACORN or from an approved ACORN supplier This guarantee will be invalidated if the equipment is misused or damaged or is modified in any way without the written consent of ACORN or if any original component or accessory has been replaced by any component or accessory of a type not recommended or approved by ACORN or if operated other than in accordance with the Risc PC x86 Card User Guide Any claims made under this guarantee must whenever possible be made through the supplier from whom the equipment was originally purchased If this is not possible a claim may be made to any other approved ACORN supplier appointed by ACORN to service the equipment a list of whom can be supplied on application This guar
44. ring Windows for use on the Risc PC x86 Card There s information on using your Risc PC x86 Card in the next chapter Installing optional tools at a later date You can install any of the optional tools at a later stage 1 Place the PC DOS disc labelled Set up Diskette into the floppy drive 2 Type a setup e at the DOS command line At the optional tools screen select the tools you want to install and follow the on screen instructions Quick instructions Quick instructions If you re confident about installing the software supplied and using it to configure your Risc PC x86 Card and set up a DOS partition on your hard disc follow these quick instructions If you need help or get stuck follow the more detailed instructions earlier in this 1 Copy the Boot directory from the Risc PC x86 Card software disc onto the root directory of your hard disc 2 Copy the PCx86 and PCConfig applications from the Risc PC x86 Card software disc onto your hard disc 3 Remove the Risc PC x86 Card software disc from your disc drive and reboot your computer 4 Run PCConfig to configure your PC and set up a DOS partition You can create a new DOS partition or if you want to use an existing one you can drag it onto the Disc setup window For a full description of PCConfig refer to Configuring your Risc PC for PC use on page 8 5 You now need to install PC DOS as follows Save any changes you ve made and quit PCConfig
45. running PCx86 may cause the Risc PC x86 Card to crash leaving the 386PCSupport module with almost all the available DRAM 1f this occurs you will have to reboot your Risc PC Error Messages from Al CD SYS The Risc PC CD ROM driver uses several error messages to alert you to problems These are as follows ERROR Invalid line in CONFIG SYS This message means some of the text following DEVICE A1CD SYS in your CONFIG SYS file is incorrect Currently you may only have the phrase D name after this name is the name by which the CD ROM extensions will know the device driver it should be no more than 8 characters long If you do not specify name it will default to MSCD000 See Installing CD ROM drivers on page 42 for full details about installing the CD ROM device driver Troubleshooting ERROR Cannot find BIOS services This means you are trying to run AICD SYS on a system which is not a Risc PC x86 Card e g a normal DOS system or PC Soft ERROR No CD ROM drives working PCx86 has been unable to find any working CD ROM drives This may be because the drive is switched off or the Acorn CD filing system and driver CDFS is not loaded or you have not configured at least one CD ROM drive as noted above Monitor modes By default mode 27 is used for VGA 640x480 display and mode 31 is used for SVGA 800x600 display in DOS and Windows For some monitors the default definitions of these modes may give a slow r
46. s the type that is emulated Using the keyboard with the Risc PC x86 Card As long as you installed PC DOS according to the instructions given in Installing PC DOS on page 20 you should find that your keyboard works correctly with the Risc PC x86 Card To get the keyboard to give the correct symbols it must be configured as a UK English keyboard when you install PC DOS A KEYB command will be added to your AUTOEXEC BAT file during installation to ensure that all relevant DOS and Windows software behaves correctly Transferring files between DOS and RISC OS Many file types are only useful or meaningful within the realms of one operating system However you can use some file types in both operating systems with a little care Transferring files between DOS and RISC OS is best achieved using RISC OS You can treat the DOS partition on your hard disc just like any other directory simply double click on it to see the files it contains You can then move files between RISC OS and DOS directories as you would move them between RISC OS directories It s possible to transfer many types of data such as images text files and spreadsheet information between RISC OS and PC applications so long as a you save the data in a format which can be read by the destination application Restrictions It s important to realise that there are some restrictions involved when transferring files between DOS and RISC OS e Before cop
47. some of the more technical features available with the Risc PC x86 Card Swapping to multi tasking from DOS You can stop PCx86 or set it multi tasking from DOS program control The calls are Int 15h with AX BAOOh go into multi tasking mode Int 15h with AX BAOlh quit PCx86 may not have immediate effect Both return AX OOBAh carry clear for success Note You can disable the various methods used by PCx86 to switch from single tasking to multi tasking mode by altering the Conf Data file see Setting advanced options on page 19 New SWI to generate PC interrupts 386PC GeneratelRQ 0x4468E Enter with RO number of PC interrupt line to waggle 0 15 Some interrupt lines may be unavailable depending on hardware This SWI should be safe to call at any time the interrupt to the PC may be postponed if it is not available New SWI to generate PC interrupts Troubleshooting Like any 1BM compatible computer the Risc PC x86 Card may fail to run some PC application software perfectly games and utility programs which drive PC hardware directly are the most notorious culprits While every effort has been made to support such software it is impossible to guarantee that every available program will work If you do find that one of your programs does not run on the Risc PC x86 Card please contact the appropriate support group as described on page 54 Generating debugging information on the Risc PC x86 Card You ca
48. t air flow to cool them If you find that your main processor is in this slot you must remove it and place it in the processor slot towards the front of the case before installing the Risc PC x86 Card Locate the Risc PC x86 Card over the processor card slot nearest the back of the computer making sure that it is in the same orientation as the main processor card with the board offset on your left assuming that the front of the Risc PC is towards you 5 Push the Risc PC x86 Card down firmly onto its socket Replace the top cover of the computer Replacing the top cover of the computer is explained in Part 3 Inside the computer of the Risc PC Welcome Guide Basic software installation Important The README file on the Risc PC x86 Card software floppy disc may contain changes or additions to the instructions given in this manual Please read it Before you can use your Risc PC x86 Card you need to e update your Boot file e install the Risc PC x86 Card software onto your computer e use PCConfig to set up your Risc PC for PC use this includes setting up a DOS partition on your hard disc e install PC DOS If you want to install any extra drivers e g CD ROM drivers 16 bit sound drivers Windows Screen driver or network software you can do this later on This is described in Installing extra drivers on page 39 If you re familiar with RISC OS and feel confident about performing the steps above you might like to g
49. t over an Edit window UsIng the mouse in multi tasking mode When running in multi tasking mode up to two mouse pointers will be visible on your computer screen the RISC OS pointer and the PC pointer either DOS or Windows depending on what software you are running Using the Risc PC x86 Card The mouse can only drive one pointer at a time so you need to choose Connect mouse from the Risc PC x86 Card window menu to be able to use the PC pointer Click Menu to reconnect the mouse to the RISC OS pointer Entering single tasking mode If you double click over the PCx86 window it will switch to single tasking mode you can return to the desktop by pressing Menu or Alt Break or whichever method you ve set in PCConfig s PC RISC OS window When the mouse is connected to the PC pointer you won t be able to switch from multi tasking to single tasking mode by double clicking reconnect the mouse to the RISC OS pointer first by clicking Menu If you close the window whilst the PC is in multi tasking mode you can restore it by either clicking Select on the PCx86 icon on the icon bar or choosing Single task from the icon bar menu Saving and printing the screen Pressing Menu over the PC screen when in multi tasking mode displays a menu which allows the screen to be saved in sprite i e Paint and text i e Edit formats Note that in some PC applications you ll only be able to save data as a sprite You can also use the Print
50. t to install any of the extra drivers provided follow the instructions in Installing extra drivers on page 39 Don t be tempted to use short cuts as this may result in an inconsistent Windows setup If you ve already installed the CD ROM or 16 bit sound drivers do not use the automated batch files UPDATE BAT They ll result in multiple installations Instead follow the instructions in Re installing this version of PCx86 below If you ve already installed CD ROM drivers then you need only replace AICD SYS with the one supplied on the floppy disc in directory PCDrivers INSTALL CDROM Re instal ing this version of PCx86 Re installing this version of PCx86 If you need to re install this version of PCx86 follow the instructions in Basic software installation on page 7 bearing in mind the notes in Upgrading existing PC486 software above CD ROM drivers If the CD ROM drivers have installed correctly the following lines should appear in your CONF IG SYS file DEVICE C DOS AICD SYS D MSCD000 D LASTDRIVE Z optional depending on machine configuration and the following line should appear in AUTOEXEC BAT C DOS MSCDEX D MSCD000 16 bit sound drivers If the 16 bit sound drivers have installed correctly the SYSTEM INI file in the WINDOWS directory should contain the following lines once only and sndblst dvy port 220 int 7 midipovt 330 dmachannel 1 hdmachannel 5 dev
51. to the product during installation of internal upgrades whether or not carried out in accordance with the instructions in this document Note that you are advised not to have both a podule PC card and the Risc PC x86 Card installed on your Risc PC at the same time Insta ing the Risc PC x86 Card in your machine Remove the top cover of the computer Before removing the top plastic cover of the computer 1 switch off the computer 2 remove the power lead from the wall socket Do not reconnect the power lead to the wall socket until you have replaced the cover of the computer Do not make any adjustments inside the computer while the power lead is connected to the wall socket To remove the top cover of your machine follow the instructions in Part 3 Inside the computer of your Welcome Guide Fit the Risc PC x86 Card I Remove the Risc PC x86 Card from its packaging Be careful to avoid touching the connector pins Check that all connector pins are straight If any appear crooked or splayed please contact your supplier Identify where the processor card slots are in the case of your Risc PC There are two next to one another and their position is described in Part 3 Inside the computer of your Welcome Guide The main processor card will be in one of the slots Important note The Risc PC x86 Card must be installed in the processor slot nearest the back of the computer to ensure that both processors have sufficien
52. unt from the floppy disc drive icon bar menu then remove the floppy disc 7 Start up the Risc PC x86 Card again so that you can see the DOS prompt Now that you ve followed the instructions in this section you re ready to install the drivers You don t have to install them all at once for example there s no point in installing the CD ROM drivers if you have no CD ROM drive connected to your machine Installing the Windows Screen driver Note During this process you ll be asked to insert one of the Windows installation discs make sure you have them to hand The Windows Screen driver accelerates Windows on the Risc PC x86 Card The version supplied will work in modes using up to 16 million colours at any resolution your monitor and computer are capable of displaying For example the following table shows some of the modes an AKF60 monitor is capable of displaying with differing amounts of VRAM in your computer er VGA SVGA XVGA 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 OMB 256 colours 256 colours 16 colours 1MB 32K colours 32K colours 256 colours 2MB 16M colours 16M colours 32K colours Here s how to install the Windows Screen driver 1 With the Risc PC x86 Card window showing the DOS prompt type WIN to start Windows 2 Start the Windows Setup application in the Main work group and choose Options Change System Settings Insta ling extra drivers 3 Click on the arrow to the right of Displ
53. ying files from your DOS partition into your RISC OS file space you need to freeze the Risc PC x86 Card by choosing Freeze from the PCx86 icon bar menu e Important Never try to change your DOS partition or any files within it from RISC OS when PCx86 is running This means for example that you must quit PCx86 before using RISC OS to delete files from your DOS partition not just Freeze it Trans ation of DOS and RISC OS fi enames Translation of DOS and RISC OS filenames DOS filenames are in 8 3 format that is a name of up to 8 letters followed by a full stop followed by an extension of up to 3 letters The full stop and extension may be omitted but in practice they rarely are When moving a file from a DOS partition to RISC OS the filename will automatically be changed The full stop in a DOS filename will become a character and the filename will be truncated to 10 characters including the When moving from RISC OS to DOS only the first 8 letters of the filename will be used DOS does not preserve case unlike RISC OS and will display names in upper case For example the DOS file REPORT59 DOC would become REPORT59 D in RISC OS and the RISC OS file NewReport would become NEWREPOR in DOS There are other characters with special meanings in either DOS or RISC OS These will automatically be translated when transferring files between systems as follows RISC OS DOS 2 2 rt amp
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