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Branch
Office System
Chapter 2 - System Family
System Family
Overview
Power Supply
Processor Bay
Multiplexor/Front Panel
Drive Bay
Input/Output
Auxiliary Junction Panel
The Cubix Branch Office System contains an ISA 6 slot passive backplane divided into groups. A group consists of either a single PC slot or a series of PC slots connected together. Also included is a disk drive bay capable of housing five 3.5" disk drives. Since the backplane is a standard ISA component, PC-compatible boards (such as network interface controllers) are supported. With a Cubix BC Series bus controller card and NIC installed in each group, the BOS System provides multiple networked workstations. The number of workstations and expansion slots depends upon the configuration of the 6-slot backplane. For example, the 6slot segmented backplane can be configured to have three groups of PC slots with each group containing two slots. With a BC Series board installed in each group, this is functionally equivalent to three AT-class computers, each with one expansion slot.
The BOS ISA Backplane is available in eight specific configurations. These are defined in Appendix A. Following is a general description pertaining to any of the BOS configurations.
The Cubix Branch Office System consists of six main sections:
* The Power Supply Bay houses a 172 watt power supply which provides power to the system.
* The Processor Bay contains the 6-slot passive backplane.
* The Multiplexor/Front Panel permits the system BC processors to share a VGA monitor, keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, and reset pushbutton. The panel also permits Cubix multiport adapters to share LEDs indicating serial port status, and BC processors to share LEDs indicating processor status. It also displays IES module status.
* The Drive Bay supports the floppy and hard disk drives, and CD ROM drive.
* The rear panel provides power entry and signal routing.
* The Auxiliary Junction Panel is an option which provides mountings and space for auxiliary I/O adapter boards.
Figure 2-1 shows the front view of the BOS 110 system. Figure 2-2 shows the front view of the BOS 120 system. Figure 2-3 shows the front view of the BOS 130 system. Figure 2-4 shows the rear view of the BOS systems.
The Cubix BOS contains an internal 172 watt switching power supply. The supply is fan cooled. When the power supply load is properly limited to 172 watts average, and the air inlet temperature of the subsystem is maintained between 00C and 400C, the power supply will provide long trouble-free service. Please refer to Appendix B for Power Supply Load Considerations.
Figure 2-5 shows the BOS 2Å1Å1Å1Å1 ISA Backplane.
Features of this backplane are:
* Between the group of two slots and each of the four single slots are connectors that permit shunting (joining) adjacent groups to form a variety of backplane configurations (see Appendix A).
The multiplexor muxes the keyboard, video, mouse, reset, status LEDs, and floppy disk drive signals from each Cubix processor to a single set of devices. The keyboard, video, and mouse connectors on each Cubix processor are attached to the multiplexor panel. On the end bracket of the multiplexor panel a keyboard, video, and mouse connector are attached to the physical I/O devices which are then shared by the BC processors. The reset signal from each Cubix processor is multiplexed to the reset pushbutton on the front console. The floppy disk drive controller signals from each BC processor are multiplexed into a single shared drive, or dual shared drives, located on the front panel.
Operation of the multiplexor is controlled from the Front Console as illustrated in Figure 2-1 , BOS System Front Panel.
The PROCESSOR pushbutton selects a group in the backplane. The current group is displayed on the front panel next to the PROCESSOR label. The BOS will cycle through five groups, regardless of the configuration of the backplane.
The PORT GROUP pushbutton selects a multiport adapter. Although multiport adapters are an optional component of BOS systems, at least one is usually installed. A maximum of five multiport adapters may be installed in a single system. The currently selected adapter is indicated by the PORT GROUP display.
The PORT pushbutton selects a port (0 to 7) on the current PORT GROUP. The current port is indicated by the PORT display.
When the RESET PROCESSOR pushbutton is pressed, the BC currently installed in the group selected by the PROCESSOR pushbutton will be rebooted.
When the CONSOLE keyswitch is placed into the LOCK position, all of the pushbuttons are disabled. In addition, the keyboard, mouse, and floppy are disabled (the floppy may be enabled for Group 1 by an option switch as described below).
The BOS front panel display includes LEDs for three devices: the multiport adapter (displayed in the column labeled MP), the BC processor (displayed in the column labeled BC), and the IES module (displayed between the BC and MP columns). These LEDs are defined as follows:
LAN Illuminated by the BC when the on-board 10 Base-T is active
DISK Illuminated by the BC when the IDE hard disk is accessed
PORT DATA The BC column represents the status of the COM1 RS 232 signals. The MP column represents the status of the selected PORT RS 232 signals.
IES Green indicates that the IES module is functioning
Red indicates that the IES module has failed
SYSTEM Green indicates that there are no environmental faults
Red indicates that there is one or more environmental faults, including:
Power Supply Failure
Voltage Threshold Exceeded
Fan Failure
Temperature Threshold Exceeded
Floppy Fuse Failure
Keyboard Fuse Failure
SNMP LINK Green indicates that the Cubix Data Highway connected to the IES is functioning
Red indicates that the Cubix Data Highway is down
* The BC processor LEDs are supported only on newer BC models. Consult the BC Series Hardware Installation Guide provided with the processor to determine if this function is available.
Option Switches
A two position switch mounted near the left front edge of the multiplexor is used to select the following option:
* Floppy/Group 1 (when front key switch is locked, the floppy is forced to be connected to Group 1 permitting power on "BOOT" for the BC in channel one.)
Two 2-position switches are provided on the multiplexor panel which allow the correct mouse interface when using Cubix QL 3222 type processors in channels 4 or 5.
Appendix F describes the operation of the multiplexor in detail and the effect of the option switches. It also contains detailed information about the multiplexor panel.
The disk drive bay in the BOS 110, 120 will accommodate up to five third-height 3.5" hard disk drives.
Each disk drive requires two connections: one for power and one for data. The disk drives obtain power from connectors on the ISA backplane - five connectors are supplied. The 40 pin ribbon data cables for each IDE disk drive installed in the system are connected directly to the Cubix processor IDE disk drive controller header located on the top edge of the BC board.
Figure 2-6 shows the connectors on the rear.
The RJ11 connectors route the IES supervisory data to the Cubix Data Highway. The VIDEO OUT, KEYBOARD, and MOUSE connectors route the keyboard, video, and mouse signals in to and out of the BOS System.
An optional Auxiliary Junction Panel may be installed in the Cubix Branch Office System. The Auxiliary Junction Panel is installed in the right rear panel of the subsystem and allows the user to customize solutions for a wide range of I/O requirements.
The Cubix processor boards provide several I/O functions via internal headers. To access the I/O, these headers are connected to an I/O adapter printed circuit board (PCB) installed in an auxiliary junction panel.
The panel, illustrated in Figure 2-7, provides space to install up to three DB-25, three DB-9, and two RJ11 connectors. Typically this panel is used to provide parallel printer (DB-25), COM2 (DB-9), and the Cubix Data Highway connectors (RJ11).
This document, and all Web contents, Copyright © 1997
by Cubix Corp., Carson City, NV, USA.
