RetroTechCollection

IBM PS2 Hardware Interface Technical Reference (May 1988)

The IBM Personal System/2 Hardware Interface Technical Reference, First Edition (May 1988), is IBM's 625-page family-wide hardware interface reference for the PS/2 line. It is the volume the thin model-specific technical references tell you to read alongside them: everything common to the family lives here.

What it contains

edit
  • Micro Channel architecture in full — the channel definition; signal descriptions for the 16-bit, 32-bit, matched-memory and auxiliary video extension sections; the connector pinouts for all four; and the channel signal groups.
  • Bus ownership and arbitration — the central arbitration control point, local arbiters, preemption, programmable fairness and the inactive state, and the arbitration bus priority assignments.
  • Channel support — the address bus translator, data bus steering and level-sensitive interrupt sharing.
  • Micro Channel critical timing parameters — basic transfer cycle, simplified basic transfer cycle, I/O and memory cycle, and the default cycle.
  • System-specific implementation and performance notes, and a Compatibility chapter for developers moving code from the PC line.

What it does not contain

edit

Not a service manual: no FRUs, no removals, no symptom-to-FRU index, no component values and no schematics. It also does not cover BIOS — that is in the BIOS Interface Technical Reference — and it predates XGA, so the video chapters cover VGA only.

By October 1990 IBM had split this book into two: Architectures and Common Interfaces. Only the Common Interfaces volume is hosted here.

What it settles

edit

If a PS/2 adapter does not work in a particular slot, this is the book that says why: it defines which slots carry the matched-memory extension, which carry the auxiliary video extension, and what a card may draw. It is also the source for the arbitration priority assignments used when diagnosing a bus-master card that starves the system.

Download it here: IBM PS2 Hardware Interface Technical Reference May88.pdf

edit
Retrieved from "https://wiki.retrotechcollection.com/index.php?title=IBM_PS2_Hardware_Interface_Technical_Reference_(May_1988)&oldid=13099"