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EXP Computer EXP Sound card User Manual

Page 17

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PCMCIA SOFTWARE INFORMATION

If you have installed the PCMCIA software, such as SystemSoft

’s

CardSoft

or Databook

’s

Cardtalk, then PCMSND.EXE will call these PCMCIA software

to enable the card. If you don

’t

have one, the PCMSND still can directly

access your hardware to enable the card. In this case, your computer should
have an Intel 82365SL Personal Computer Interface Controller (PCIC) or
another compatible controller.

PCMCIA software contains several components: Socket services, Card
services, Resource Initialization Utility and Card Installation Utility. The
remainder of this section will explain the four components and list the device
driver names for the major PCMCIA software.

Socket Services provide the interface between a system

’s

BIOS and the host

controller chips (such as the Intel 82365SL PCIC, Vadem 468, etc ) Socket
Services includes functions such as configuring a socket for an I/O or
memory interface and controlling socket power voltages. The Socket
Services driver you have varies with the host computer chip of your
computer.

Card Services provides the interface between the PC Card and the PCMCIA
sockets. Card Services must be aware of the I/O, IRQ, and memory
resources already used by the system so it can accurately assign unused
resources to the PC Cards.

To ensure Card Services will operate reliably regardless of the system it is
installed on, some PCMCIA software provides its own resource initialization
utility, which will check I/O ports, IRQs, and memory addresses and then
report that information to Card Services.

The Card Installation Utility detects the insertion and removal of PC cards,
and automatically determines the card type upon insertion so the card and
socket will be configured properly.