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10. INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION
This section describes the steps needed to get your Helix SBC up and running, and assumes that you also have a
Helix Development Kit or Helix Cable Kit. The Cable Kit includes all cables needed for the I/O, except the LCD
and backlight. The Development Kit includes the Cable Kit, an AC adapter to power the board, an IDE flashdisk,
and the flashdisk programmer board.
10.1 Quick Setup
1. Attach VGA cable 6981084, PS/2 keyboard / mouse cable 6981083, and USB cables 6981082 as
needed.
2. Attach display, keyboard, and mouse (if needed) to the cables.
3. Connect power to power input connector J4 using AC adapter PS-5V-04 or your own power supply with
power cable 6981009. The input connector and cable keyed to prevent incorrect connection. However
ensure that the red wire +5V is on pin 1 of the board connector J4.
WARNING: Attaching the power connector incorrectly will destroy the Helix SBC!
4. For a quick verification that the system is set up and working properly, if no boot device is attached, the
system will boot to FreeDOS on the on-board virtual flash drive. In order for this to work, the on-board
flash drive must be enabled. See instructions in section 11.4.
10.2 Boot Device Options
Helix can boot to an IDE device, a USB device, or the on-board 2MB virtual floppy drive. Helix has a single IDE
channel that can support up to two devices simultaneously (Master and Slave). IDE devices connect to J12, which
is a 44-pin, laptop style IDE connector. This connector has pin 20 cut to match the key pin on Diamond cable
number 6981004.
WARNING: It is possible to destroy the Helix SBC by connecting an IDE cable incorrectly (reverse
orientation or offset from correct position). Always used keyed cables to avoid connection errors.
The Boot device selection and priority are configured in the BIOS Boot menu. See Chapter 11 for detailed BIOS
instructions. Only devices which are currently attached to the SBC will appear in the list of options. Therefore if
you want to select a hard drive or USB device as the boot device, you must connect it to the SBC first, then boot
up and enter the BIOS, then select it as a boot device.
The following are a few example boot scenarios.
Install an IDE flashdisk directly on the IDE connector J12.
Connect a laptop IDE hard drive directly to J12 through a 44-pin ribbon cable such as Diamond Systems
cable 6981004.
Use cable 6981004 to connect an IDE flashdisk programmer board to J12. You can then install a
flashdisk on the programmer board and connect another 40-pin or 44-pin IDE compatible device to the
programmer board. Note that the 44-pin cable will provide +5V power from the SBC to the IDE device, but
the 40 pin cable does not carry +5V, so you will need to provide power separately. You can use cable
6981006, attached to J5 on Helix, to provide power from the board to 40-pin devices.
Attach a bootable USB device to one of the USB ports with USB cable number 6981082.
Attach no external storage device to Helix. The system will boot to the FreeDOS installed on the on-board
virtual floppy drive, as long as it is enabled in the BIOS.
Helix User Manual Rev A
www.diamondsystems.com
Page 28
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