Introduction To Cs8900A Technical Reference Manual - Cirrus Logic Crystal LAN CS8900A Reference Manual

INTRODUCTION TO CS8900A
TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL
This Technical Reference Manual provides the in-
formation which will be helpful in designing a
board using the CS8900A, programming the asso-
ciated EEPROM, and installing and running the
CS8900A device drivers. It is expected that the
user of this technical reference manual will have a
general knowledge of hardware design, Ethernet,
the ISA bus, and networking software. Recom-
mended sources of background information are:
ISA System Architecture by Shanley and
Anderson, Mindshare Press, 1992, ISBN 1-
881609-05-7
Ethernet, Building a Communication Infra-
structure, by Hegering and Lapple, Addison-
Wesley, 1993, ISBN 0-201-62405-2
Netware Training Guide: Networking Technol-
ogies, by Debra Niedenmiller-Chaffis, New
Riders Publishing, ISBN 1-56205-363-9
57
ISA Bus
pins
6
As shown in the Figure 1, the CS8900A requires a
minimum number of external components. The
EEPROM stores configuration information such as
interrupt number, DMA channel, I-O base address,
memory base address, and IEEE Individual Ad-
dress. The EEPROM can be eliminated on a PC
motherboard if that information in stored in the sys-
tem CMOS. Note also that the Boot PROM is only
needed for diskless workstations that boot DOS at
system power up, over the network. Also, the LEDs
are optional.
The hardware design considerations for both moth-
erboards and adapter cards are discussed in
"HARDWARE DESIGN" on page 7. The EE-
PROM programming considerations are described
in "JUMPERLESS DESIGN" on page 45.
Cirrus provides a complete set of device drivers, as
discussed in "DEVICE DRIVERS AND SET-
UP/INSTALLATION SOFTWARE" on page 56.
The drivers reside between the networking operat-
ing system (NOS) and the CS8900A. On the
CS8900A side, the drivers understand how to pro-
EEPROM:
Stores Configuration
Information &
IEEE Address
EEPROM
RAM
Control
ISA
Bus
Logic
Media Access
Control
Memory
(MAC).
Manager
Ethernet
protocol
processing.
Boot PROM:
Used to boot diskless
workstations.
Figure 1. Hardware Application Summary
LED
10BASE-T
Clock
Control
RX Filters &
Receiver
10BASE-T
TX Filters &
Encoder,
Transmitter
Decoder
&
PLL
AUI
Transmitter
AUI
Collision
Boundary
Power
AUI
Scan
Manage
Receiver
Test Logic
AN83
10BASE-T
Transformer
AUI
Transformer
(Attachment
Unit
Interface)
AN83REV3