HP 54710A User's Reference Manual page 23

How the Oscilloscope Works
Hardware Architecture
Host RAM The host RAM is 4 Mbytes of nonvolatile RAM. This is
where the waveform data is held and manipulated. In addition, this is the
location of the current front-panel setup, setup memories, and waveform
memories.
Flash ROM The flash ROM contains the system firmware that controls
the operation of the oscilloscope. You can load new system firmware into
the oscilloscope by using the disk drive.
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Disk Drive The disk drive is a 3-1/2 inch, high-density, MS-DOS
compatible disk drive. You can use the disk drive to load system
firmware into the flash ROMs, load applications, save screen dumps in a
TIFF, GIF, or PCX format, or as additional storage space for saving
waveforms and front-panel setups.
User Interface Hardware The user interface hardware is the
keyboard, and the hardware that interfaces the keyboard and knob with
the system bus.
FIFO and HP-IB Hardware The FIFO is a first-in-first-out memory
that transfers waveforms through the HP-IB bus under hardware control.
This hardware control is much faster than the software control used by
other oscilloscopes. The FIFO increases the HP-IB throughput of the
oscilloscope.
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MS-DOS is a US registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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