`pccard`

PCMCIA/CardBus (PC Card) server

You must be root to start this driver.

Syntax:

pccard [options]...

Options:

-a: The ioport address to be assigned to a PCMCIA card. Use a colon (:) to separate functions on multi-function cards. E.g. -a 0x300:0x320,0x340 will assign ioport 0x300 to function 1 in socket 0 and ioport 0x320 to function 2 in socket 0; ioport 0x340 will be assigned to function 1 in socket 1.
-i irq: The interrupt to use for insertion/removal events. The default is no interrupts -- the adapter is polled every second for status changes (recommended).
-l: ("el") Override PCMCIA IRQ for socket(s). E.g. -l5 will assign IRQ 5 to the card in socket 0; -l5,7 will assign IRQ5 to the card in socket 0 and IRQ 7 to the card in socket 1.
-v: Be verbose, for debugging purposes.
-w: Force the width for a PCMCIA socket (8 or 16 bits). E.g. -w8 will force an 8-bit width for socket 0; -w16,8 will force a 16-bit width for socket 0 and an 8-bit width for socket 1. This option might be needed for certain PCMCIA Ethernet adapters that report themselves as 16-bit, but only work in 8-bit mode.

The pccard server provides support under QNX 4 for PCMCIA and CardBus host adapter chips. The host adapters currently supported are (PCMCIA) Intel 82365, Cirrus CL-PD67xx, Vadem VG-46x, (CardBus) TI-11xx, TI-12xx, and TI-14xx, Ricoh R5C47x, O2 Micro OZ68xx, and Toshiba Topic97. Other CardBus adapters work only in legacy (PCMCIA) mode.

The server manages host resources (memory windows, I/O ports and IRQs) and assigns resources to PCMCIA as well as CardBus cards as they are inserted. The pccard server also supports dual-function PC Cards and assigns separate resources to each function. The only common resource assigned to dual-function PC Cards is the IRQ.

Utilities are provided to start and stop processes (as cards are inserted and removed), display server status, and display card CIS (Card Information Structure) data.

The executables involved in PC Card support are:

pccard: The server for PCMCIA and CardBus adapters.
pccard-launch: A manager that starts and stops processes as cards are inserted and removed.
pc-pin: A utility that displays PC Card information (CIS, status, and so on).

Resources and Server Configuration Files

The server manages separate resource pools for memory windows, IRQs, and ports. When a card is inserted, the server attempts to satisfy the card's memory window, IRQ, and port requirements by allocating resources from the various pools. PCMCIA resources must be in the ISA range of devices, while CardBus resources must be in the PCI range. PC Card resource pools are created as described below.

PCMCIA

Upon startup the pccard server will attempt to read the /etc/config/pcmcia.node file, where node is replaced by the node number of the machine the server is running on. If this file does not exist, the resources will be read from the /etc/config.pcmcia.cfg file. This file is identical to the one used by Pcmcia.generic, so it is suggested that you keep your original file.

CardBus

CardBus resources are assigned by the pccard server. When the server starts, it scans the PCI bus and excludes all resources that have already been assigned to devices on the PCI bus by the BIOS. When a CardBus card is inserted in a socket, pccard will determine the memory and I/O port requirements of the card and assign the required resources to the card. The IRQ will be the same as that assigned to the CardBus adapter by the BIOS.