4. INPUT/OUTPUT OPERATIONS
The SIGMA 2 system utilizes three unique input/output
systems. The standard, byte-oriented I/O system includes
four byte-oriented I/O channels. This copobll ity may be
expanded to a total of 20 channels. The optional external
interface system may be used in two ways: to send and
receive 16-bit data, and to generate control signals and
sample status conditions. These two independent I/O sys-
tems incorporate sufficient flexibility to satisfy the different
requirements of general-purpose and real-time environments,
yet their inherent simplicity adds to SIGMA 2 system relia-
bility, maintainability, and ease of use. In addition, a
direct-to-memory interface is available for special
appl ications.
BYTE·ORIENTED I/O SYSTEM
The SIGMA 2 central processor can operate several byte-
oriented devices simultaneously. The CPU multiplexes its
I/O service among the operating devices in a manner that
keeps all devices running concurrently. The central pro-
cessor has two words of register storage (I/O channel reg-
isters) reserved for each operating device. These enable
the CPU to indicate the location in memory the transmis-
sion is goi ng to or coming from, and what action is to be
taken at the conclusion of the operation.
The basic SIGMA 2 central processor contains I/O channel
registers for 4 I/o channels; since 2 registers are required
for each channel, 8 I/O channel registers are standard.
Up to 32 additional I/O channel registers may be added to
the CPU (in increments of 8) for use with a maximum of
20 I/o channels.
Once "started" by an SIO instruction, peripheral devices
request service asynchronously from the byte I/O system.
Each such I/O service request causes the CPU to enter an
I/O mode of operation, during which instruction execution
ceases. The amount of time taken from computation de-
pends on the particular configuration (cable lengths, prior-
ity, etc.) as well as the particular device; this time varies
from 4 microseconds for one byte to 10.5 microseconds for
four bytes. When the combined I/O rate for all active de-
vices reaches 350, 000 to 400, 000 bytes/second, the amount
of time left for computation is effectively zero.
DEVICE NUMBER
Each peripheral device controller attached to the byte I/O
system is assigned an 8-bit device number at installation
time. This number is manually selected by switches within
each device controller, based on the equipment configura-
tion for the specific installation. The device number not
only identifies the particular device (and, if appropriate,
the control unit) but also designates which I/O channel
controls the device. Devices are generally of two types:
those that do not share a control unit with other devices
(for example, card readers, card punches, or printers), and
22 Input/Output Operations
those that do (for example, magnetic tape units or XDS RAD
files). A device that does not share its control unit with
other devices has a single-unit device controller number
associated with it. A device controller that operates more
than one device has a block of 16 device numbers assigned
to it. The two forms of device numbers are:
Single devices Multiunit devices
For single devices, the 5 low-order bits of the device num-
ber are the I/O channel number. Mul tiunit devices use a
device controller number, specified in bits 9-11, which is
also the I/O channel number. Therefore, only channels
0-7 can accommodate multiunit device controllers (one con-
troller on each channel).
The channel number of a given device determines which
I/O channel registers are used to control the transmission to
and/ or from the device.
I/O channel registers are numbered from 8 through 47. The
two I/O channel registers associated with each channel num-
ber can be computed with the following formulas:
first register=(2 x channel number) + 8
second register=(2 x channel number) + 9
Thus, devi ces with devi ce numbers fromathrough 19 use
I/O channel registers 8 through 47. (Registers 8 and 9 are
for channel 0, registers 10 and 11 are for channell, and
so forth.) The SIGMA 2 system does not include device
numbers from 20 through 31. However, devices with device
numbers from 32 through 51 may be attached to these same
channels and also use I/O channel registers 8-47 respec-
tively. The same is true for devices with numbers from
64-83 and 96-115. Thus, channel s 0-7 may accomodate
four single devices; however, only one such device may
operate at a given instant on a given channel.
Each channel in a SIGMA 2 system can have a device oper-
ating at the same time; the only limitation is the total data
transfer rate of the system (approximatel y 350, 000 to
400, 000 bytes per second).
I/O
CONTROL DOUBLEWORDS
During an I/O operation, the I/O channel registers contain
an I/O Control Doubleword (IOCD), which has the follow-
ing format: