BC 4035
Chapter 1 - Introduction

Overview

The BC 4035 Series processors are computers on single PC-style, plug-in boards. The BC 4035 includes a 80486 processor running at 33, 66, or 100MHz.

Hardware

Each BC 4035 Series computer provides all the functionality of a standard PC. It includes video support, two serial ports, one parallel port, keyboard and mouse support, on board memory, and floppy and IDE hard drive support. Each BC 4035 also has an integrated Ethernet controller with a 10Base-T connector.

A BC is the bus controller for the ISA bus in which it is installed. The BC can be installed only in a Cubix backplane. Cubix backplanes are often divided into groups, each with an independent bus, thereby allowing the installation of multiple BC processors in a single Cubix enclosure.

The BC 4035 Series processor is designed for installation in several Cubix enclosures:

• The BOS (Branch Office System) is a stand alone unit that may contain up to five BC 4035 processors.

• ERS II - Contains a 16-slot ISA backplane that can be divided into eight separate bus groups. May contain up to eight BC series processors and is available as a rack mount unit only.

• ERS/FT II - Fault Tolerant version of ERS II. May contain up to eight BC series processors and is available as a rack mount or table top unit.

• PowerSMP - Version of the ERS/FT II with support for dual Pentium Pro processors (DP6200).

Each Cubix enclosure is equipped with an integrated multiplexor (mux) that allows a single monitor, keyboard, mouse, and floppy disk drive to be shared by all of the BC processors installed in the enclosure. The ability to condense multiple processors in Cubix enclosures provides a manageable platform ideal for remote communications, fax servers, e-mail servers, and many other file server or specialty server applications.

A brief overview of the BC 4035’s features is listed below.

Table 1 - 1

Comparison - BC 4035 Processor Board

*See Chapter 4 for SIMM configurations before installing additional SIMM modules.

Software

Integrated onto each BC Series processor is a BIOS developed by American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI). In addition, Cubix provides software to support these features specific to the Cubix architecture:

• Mouse Multiplexing - software is required to allow a single mouse to be multiplexed between multiple BC processors

• Cubix Supervisory System - Cubix optionally provides a system that monitors and controls the BC processors and requires software support on each BC

• Ethernet Interface - to use the integrated Ethernet controller requires installation of 10Base-T drivers

• Enhanced Video - to increase the video resolution in certain environments requires installation of video drivers

Board Identification

ISA and EISA boards are differentiated by the contour of their edge connectors. Other differences to look for are the processor type (80386, 80486, or Pentium) and the location of the SIMM sockets. Before installing additional SIMM modules, reference Chapter 4 for the correct SIMM configurations.

Figure 1 - 1, BC 4035 Board

This document, and all Web contents, Copyright © 1997 by Cubix Corp., Carson City, NV, USA.