MZ104-Frequently Asked General Questions

Note: These FAQs apply to all the MZ products.  Any reference to an MZ104 is relevant to any of the MZ products including MZ104, MZ104+, MZ104-EV, MZ104-6SER.

                                           

 

  1. Why does the MZ104 come to a halt when loading a DOS IDE CDROM driver or when Linux is probing the IDE ports at startup?
  2. DiskOnChip fails during boot when we're using serial redirection without video. Why is this happening and how can I fix it?
  3. How much FLASH memory will the device support and what are the numberand page sizes?
  4. What data rates (min/max) are supported on the I2C bus and how is it set?
  5. Does the BIOS support SMM?
  6. What power savings modes are supported?
  7. What emulation/test support is available via the JTAG port?
  8. What details are available on the Linux image?
  9. Will the MZ104 BIOS support a logo loader option?
  10. How much RAM is available in the RTC?
  11. Why does the primary IDE channel support two devices and the secondary IDE channel only one?
  12. What is the "core processor" inside of the MZ104? What CPU is it most like? How do we get a data sheet or specifications on the core processor?
  13. Is the Linux kernel included?
  14. The floppy drive seems inoperational when the MZ104 is configured with a Diskonchip and IDE hard drive. The Diskonchip always becomes the default boot device regardless what the boot sequecence is set in CMOS. How can I fix it?
  15. I received my MZ104 Starter kit which has a Diskonchip programmed with a Linux image. What is the root password?
  16. Where would I find information on how to create a bootable Linux image?
  17. The utility board interfers with the ISA/104 backplane when connected to the MZ104? How can I use it?
  18. Why do I lose video display after I upgraded the bios?
  19. Why does Linux halt when detecting devices on the IDE interface during the kernel boot process? How do I get around this problem?

                                                                          

 

1. Why does the MZ104 come to a halt when loading a DOS IDE CDROM driver or when Linux is probing the IDE ports at startup? Link to the top of the FAQ

You need to disable the secondary IDE port on the MZ104. To do that, set "Local Bus IDE Adapter" setting to "Primary". Since there is only one IDE port on the MZ104, this change has no effect on any IDE devices.

2. DiskOnChip fails during boot when we're using serial redirection without video. Why is this happening and how can I fix it? Link to the top of the FAQ

M-Systems, the company that makes DiskOnChip, has a firmware bug fix for their product that eliminates this problem.
3. How much FLASH memory will the device support and what are the number and page sizes? Link to the top of the FAQ

The MZ104 will support up to four independent regions of FLASH memory, each of which can be up to 16MB deep. This gives a grand total of up to 64 MB. Each region must have an access "window" that resides in the address range C0000-EFFFF. The size of the access "window" can be different for each region. The "window" or Page size will determine the number of pages within each region. See the Data Book for details.

4. What data rates (min/max) are supported on the I2C bus and how is it set? Link to the top of the FAQ

The I2C bus supports data rates at two speed levels: 100 kbps and 400 kbps. Our chip has an interface that will run to 1.5Mbps. Since it uses a handshake mechanism no setting is required.

5. Does the BIOS support SMM? Link to the top of the FAQ

Yes. See the Data Book for specific details.

6. What power savings modes are supported? Link to the top of the FAQ

Four power saving modes are supported: On, Doze, Standby and Suspend.

7. What emulation/test support is available via the JTAG port? Link to the top of the FAQ

The JTAG port will support most standard manufacturing test requirements such as input test forcing, read of any pin, and I/O tri-stating.

8. What details are available on the Linux image? Link to the top of the FAQ

At this time, there are no known issues that should require any special consideration when building a kernel, or using any of the standard distributions of Linux.

9. Will the MZ104 BIOS support a logo loader option? Link to the top of the FAQ

Yes.

10. How much RAM is available in the RTC?  

There are a total of 242 bytes in the RTC.

11. Why does the primary IDE channel support two devices and the secondary IDE channel only one? Link to the top of the FAQ

Both IDE channels now support 2 devices.

12. What is the "core processor" inside of the MZ104? What CPU is it most like? How do we get a data sheet or specifications on the core processor? Link to the top of the FAQ

The MZ104 processor core is a 32bit x86 processor with full floating point unit. This device is similar to those marketed by AMD as the AM5x86 and by Cyrix as the 586. It is not the same as the Pentium core marketed by Intel, which is a dual pipeline 64 bit processor. All the information about the processor core is available in the Data Book.

13. Is the Linux kernel included? Link to the top of the FAQ

Linux Kernel is only included with the purchase of a starter kit.

14. The floppy drive seems inoperational when the MZ104 is configured with a Diskonchip and IDE hard drive. The Diskonchip always becomes the default boot device regardless what the boot sequecence is set in CMOS. How can I fix it? Link to the top of the FAQ

This problem is caused by the factory-installed firmware in the Diskonchip which renders it the default boot device. By using an alternative firmware which makes the Diskonchip the last boot device, hard disk, floppy drive and Diskonchip can be accessed simultaneously. The file name of the alternative firmware is: DOC43P.EXB. This file is part of the M-System DOS utilities and it can be downloaded from our MZ104 page. In order to peform the firmware update, the IDE drive must be disconnected from the MZ104.

15. I received my MZ104 Starter kit which has a Diskonchip programmed with a Linux image. What is the root password? Link to the top of the FAQ

There are currently two Diskonchip images available. One with network support and one without. There is no root password for the former and 'doc' for the latter.

16. Where would I find information on how to create a bootable Linux image? Link to the top of the FAQ

M-Systems provides an application note and the required utilities. Please download from M-Systems' web site: www.m-sys.com

17. The utility board interfers with the ISA/104 backplane when connected to the MZ104? How can I use it? Link to the top of the FAQ

Please consult MZ104 user manual which depicts how the utility board can be interfaced to the MZ104 without interferring with the backplane.

18. Why do I lose video display after I upgraded the bios? Link to the top of the FAQ

If you are using video card based on Chips&Technologies 65545 video controller, you will experience this problem. There will be a bios fix from ZFLinux.

19. Why does Linux halt when detecting devices on the IDE interface during the kernel boot process? How do I get around this problem? Link to the top of the FAQ

Since there is only one IDE channel available on the MZ104, you must set the LOCAL BUS IDE ADAPTER to Primary in CMOS.
 
 
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