Microprocessor Based Personal Computer

System
1–2 THE MICROPROCESSOR-BASED
PERSONAL COMPUTER SYSTEM

 Computers have undergone many changes recently.

 Machines that once filled large areas reduced to
small desktop computer systems because of the
microprocessor.
◦ although compact, they possess computing power only
dreamed of a few years ago
 Figure 1–6 shows block diagram of the personal
computer.
 Applies to any computer system, from early
mainframe computers to the latest systems.
 Diagram composed of three blocks
interconnected by buses.
◦ a bus is the set of common connections
that carry the same type of information
Figure 1–6 The block diagram of a microprocessor-based computer system.
The Memory and I/O System
 Memory structure of all Intel-based personal
computers similar.
 Figure 1–7 illustrates memory map of a personal
computer system.
 This map applies to any IBM personal computer.
◦ also any IBM-compatible clones in existence
Figure 1–7 The memory map of a personal computer.
 Main memory system divided into three parts:
◦ TPA (transient program area)
◦ system area
◦ XMS (extended memory system)
 Type of microprocessor present determines
whether an extended memory system exists.
 First 1M byte of memory often called the real or
conventional memory system.
◦ Intel microprocessors designed to function
in this area using real mode operation
 80286 through the Core2 contain the TPA (640K bytes) and
system area (384K bytes).

◦ also contain extended memory

◦ often called AT class machines

 The PS/l and PS/2 by IBM are other versions of the same basic
memory design.

 Also referred to as ISA (industry standard architecture) or

EISA (extended ISA).

 The PS/2 referred to as a micro-channel architecture or ISA

system.

◦ depending on the model number

 BUS STRUCTURES

9
 Pentium and ATX class machines feature addition
of the PCI (peripheral component
interconnect) bus.
◦ now used in all Pentium through Core2 systems
 Extended memory up to 15M bytes in the 80286
and 80386SX; 4095M bytes in 80486 80386DX,
Pentium microprocessors.
 Many 80486 systems use VESA local,VL bus to
interface disk and video to the
microprocessor at the local bus level.
◦ allows 32-bit interfaces to function at same clocking
speed as the microprocessor
◦ recent modification supporting 64-bit data bus has
generated little interest
 ISA/EISA standards function at 8 MHz.
 PCI bus is a 32- or 64-bit bus.
◦ specifically designed to function with the Pentium
through Core2 at a bus speed of 33 MHz.
 Three newer buses have appeared.
 FIRST NEWER BUS:
 USB (universal serial bus).
◦ intended to connect peripheral devices like keyboards, a
mouse, modems, and sound cardsto the microprocessor
through a serial data path and
a twisted pair of wires
◦ The main idea is to reduce system cost by reducing the
number of wires.
◦ Another advantage is that the sound system can have a
separate power supply from the PC, which means much
less noise.
 Data transfer rates are 10 Mbps for USB1.
 Increase to 480 Mbps in USB2.
 The second newer bus :
AGP (advanced graphics port) for video cards.
 The port transfers data between video card and
microprocessor at higher speeds.
◦ 66 MHz, with 64-bit data path
 Latest AGP speed 8X or 2G bytes/second.
◦ This video subsystem change has been made to
accommodate the new DVD players for the PC.
 Latest new buses are
serial ATA interface (SATA) for hard disk drives;
PCI Express bus for the video card.
 The SATA bus transfers data from PC to hard disk
at rates of 150M bytes per second; 300M bytes
for SATA-2.
◦ serial ATA standard will eventually reach speeds of
450M bytes per second
 PCI Express bus video cards operate at 16X
speeds today.
The TPA
 The transient program area (TPA) holds the DOS
(disk operating system) operating system;
other programs that control the computer system.
◦ the TPA is a DOS concept and not really applicable in
Windows
◦ also stores any currently active or inactive DOS
application programs
◦ length of the TPA is 640K bytes
Figure 1–8 The memory map of the TPA in a personal computer. (Note that this map will
vary between systems.)

• DOS memory map shows

how areas of TPA are used for
system programs, data
and drivers.
– also shows a large area of
memory available for
application programs
– hexadecimal number to left of
each area represents the
memory addresses that begin
and end each data area
 Hexadecimal memory addresses number each
byte of the memory system.
◦ a hexadecimal number is a number represented in
radix 16 or base 16
◦ each digit represents a value from 0 to 9 and
from A to F
 Often a hexadecimal number ends with an
H to indicate it is a hexadecimal value.
◦ 1234H is 1234 hexadecimal
◦ also represent hexadecimal data as 0xl234 for
a 1234 hexadecimal
 Interrupt vectors access DOS, BIOS (basic I/O
system), and applications.
 Areas contain transient data to access I/O devices
and internal features of the system.
◦ these are stored in the TPA so they can be changed as
DOS operates
 The IO.SYS loads into the TPA from the disk
whenever an MSDOS system is started.
 IO.SYS contains programs that allow DOS to
use keyboard, video display, printer, and
other I/O devices often found in computers.
 The IO.SYS program links DOS to the programs
stored on the system BIOS ROM.
 Drivers are programs that control installable I/O
devices.
◦ mouse, disk cache, hand scanner, CD-ROM memory
(Compact Disk Read-Only Memory), DVD
(Digital Versatile Disk), or installable devices, as well
as programs
 Installable drivers control or drive devices or
programs added to the computer system.
 DOS drivers normally have an extension of .SYS;
MOUSE.SYS.
 DOS version 3.2 and later files have an extension
of .EXE; EMM386.EXE.
 Though not used by Windows, still used to
execute DOS applications, even with Win XP.
 Windows uses a file called SYSTEM.INI to load
drivers used by Windows.
 Newer versions of Windows have a registry
added to contain information about the system
and the drivers used.
 You can view the registry with the REGEDIT
program.
 COMMAND.COM (command processor)
controls operation of the computer from the
keyboard when operated in the DOS mode.
 COMMAND.COM processes DOS commands as
they are typed from the keyboard.
 If COMMAND.COM is erased, the computer
cannot be used from the keyboard in DOS mode.
◦ never erase COMMAND.COM, IO.SYS, or
MSDOS.SYS to make room for other software
◦ your computer will not function
The System Area
 Smaller than the TPA; just as important.
 The system area contains programs on read-
only (ROM) or flash memory, and areas of
read/write (RAM) memory for data storage.
 Figure 1–9 shows the system area of a typical
personal computer system.
 As with the map of the TPA, this map also includes
the hexadecimal memory addresses of the various
areas.
Figure 1–9 The system area of a typical personal computer.

• First area of system space

contains video display RAM
and video control programs
on ROM or flash memory.
– area starts at location A0000H
and extends to C7FFFH
– size/amount of memory
depends on type of video
display adapter attached
 Display adapters generally have video RAM at
A0000H–AFFFFH.
◦ stores graphical or bit-mapped data
 Memory at B0000H–BFFFFH stores text data.
 The video BIOS on a ROM or flash memory, is at
locations C0000H–C7FFFH.
◦ contains programs to control DOS video display
 C8000H–DFFFFH is often open or free.
◦ used for expanded memory system (EMS) in PC or XT
system; upper memory system in an AT
 Expanded memory system allows a 64K-byte page
frame of memory for use by applications.
◦ page frame (D0000H - DFFFFH) used to expand
memory system by switching in pages of memory from
EMS into this range of memory addresses
 Locations E0000H–EFFFFH contain cassette
BASIC on ROM found in early IBM systems.
◦ often open or free in newer computer systems
 Video system has its own BIOS ROM at location
C0000H.
 System BIOS ROM is located in the top 64K bytes
of the system area (F0000H–FFFFFH).
◦ controls operation of basic I/O devices connected to
the computer system
◦ does not control operation of video
 The first part of the system BIOS (F0000H–
F7FFFH) often contains programs that set up
the computer.
 Second part contains procedures that control
the basic I/O system.
Windows Systems
 Modern computers use a different memory map
with Windows than DOS memory maps.
 The Windows memory map in Figure 1–10 has
two main areas; a TPA and system area.
 The difference between it and the DOS memory
map are sizes and locations of these areas.
Figure 1–10 The memory map used by Windows XP.
• TPA is first 2G bytes from
locations 00000000H to
7FFFFFFFH.
• Every Windows program
can use up to 2G bytes of
memory located at linear
addresses 00000000H
through 7FFFFFFFH.
• System area is last 2G
bytes from 80000000H
to FFFFFFFFH.
 Memory system physical map is much different.
 Every process in a Windows Vista, XP, or 2000
system has its own set of page tables.
 The process can be located anywhere in the
memory, even in noncontiguous pages.
 The operating system assigns physical memory to
application.
◦ if not enough exists, it uses the hard disk
for any that is not available
I/O Space
 I/O devices allow the microprocessor to
communicate with the outside world.
 I/O (input/output) space in a computer system
extends from I/O port 0000H to port FFFFH.
◦ I/O port address is similar to a memory address
◦ instead of memory, it addresses an I/O device
 Figure 1–11 shows the I/O map found in many
personal computer systems.
Figure 1–11 Some I/O locations in a typical personal computer.

• Access to most I/O

devices should always
be made through
Windows, DOS, or
BIOS function calls.
• The map shown is
provided as a guide to
illustrate the I/O space
in the system.
 The area below I/O location 0400H is considered
reserved for system devices
 Area available for expansion extends from I/O
port 0400H through FFFFH.
 Generally, 0000H - 00FFH addresses main board
components; 0100H - 03FFH handles devices
located on plug-in cards or also on the main
board.
 The limitation of I/O addresses between 0000 and
03FFH comes from original standards specified by
IBM for the PC standard.
The Microprocessor
 Called the CPU (central processing unit).
 The controlling element in a computer system.
 Controls memory and I/O through connections
called buses.
◦ buses select an I/O or memory device, transfer data
between I/O devices or memory and the
microprocessor, control I/O and memory systems
 Memory and I/O controlled via instructions stored
in memory, executed by the microprocessor.
 Microprocessor performs three main tasks:
◦ data transfer between itself and the memory or I/O
systems
◦ simple arithmetic and logic operations
◦ program flow via simple decisions
 Power of the microprocessor is capability to execute
billions of millions of instructions per second from a
program or software (group of instructions) stored in
the memory system.
◦ stored programs make the microprocessor and
computer system very powerful devices
 Another powerful feature is the ability to make
simple decisions based upon numerical facts.
◦ a microprocessor can decide if a number is zero,
positive, and so forth
 These decisions allow the microprocessor to
modify the program flow, so programs appear to
think through these simple decisions.
Buses
 A common group of wires that interconnect
components in a computer system.
 Transfer address, data, & control information
between microprocessor, memory and I/O.
 Three buses exist for this transfer of information:
address, data, and control.
 Figure 1–12 shows how these buses interconnect
various system components.
Figure 1–12 The block diagram of a computer system showing the address, data, and control
bus structure.
 The address bus requests a memory location
from the memory or an I/O location from the I/O
devices.
◦ if I/O is addressed, the address bus contains a 16-bit
I/O address from 0000H through FFFFH.
◦ if memory is addressed, the bus contains a memory
address, varying in width by type of
microprocessor.
 64-bit extensions to Pentium provide 40 address
pins, allowing up to 1T byte of memory to be
accessed.
 The data bus transfers information between the
microprocessor and its memory and I/O address
space.
 Data transfers vary in size, from 8 bits wide to 64
bits wide in various Intel microprocessors.
◦ 8088 has an 8-bit data bus that transfers 8 bits
of data at a time
◦ 8086, 80286, 80386SL, 80386SX, and 80386EX transfer
16 bits of data
◦ 80386DX, 80486SX, and 80486DX, 32 bits
◦ Pentium through Core2 microprocessors transfer 64
bits of data
 Advantage of a wider data bus is speed in
applications using wide data.
 Figure 1–13 shows memory widths and sizes of
8086 through Core2 microprocessors.
 In all Intel microprocessors family members,
memory is numbered by byte.
 Pentium through Core2 microprocessors contain
a 64-bit-wide data bus.
Figure 1–13a The physical memory systems of the 8086 through the Core2
microprocessors.
Figure 1–13b The physical memory systems of the 8086 through the Core2
microprocessors.
 Control bus lines select and cause memory or I/O
to perform a read or write operation.
 In most computer systems, there are four control
bus connections:
 MRDC (memory read control)
 MWTC (memory write control)
 IORC (I/O read control)
 IOWC (I/O write control).
 overbar indicates the control signal is active-low;
(active when logic zero appears on control line)
 The microprocessor reads a memory location by
sending the memory an address through the
address bus.
 Next, it sends a memory read control signal to
cause the memory to read data.
 Data read from memory are passed to the
microprocessor through the data bus.
 Whenever a memory write, I/O write, or I/O read
occurs, the same sequence ensues.