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3.13 The User and Printer Ports.
IC69 is a 6522 Versatile Interface Adapter (VIA) which is used to provide both a standard Centronics
parallel printer interface and the user port on the BBC Microcomputer. The printer port uses lines PA~ to
PA7 of this VIA, which are buffered by an octal 3-state driver (IC70). Thus, because this driver is fitted,
the printer port may only be configured as an output device. When this port is not being used to drive a
printer, it may well be used for driving other user output devices (e.g. a digital-to-analogue converter)
The remaining eight lines (PB0 to PB7) of the user VIA allow the user to interface devices which produce
digital signals to the computer. This port can be configured to be an output port or an input port, the
option being software selectable.
For further details on the 6522 VIA consult the comprehensive data sheet given at the end of this book.
3.14 The Reset Circuitry.
When the BBC Microcomputer is switched on, a capacitor (C10) is charged up by a resistor (R20) which
is connected to the +5V power supply rail. The signal at the junction of the CR network provides a reset
signal (RSTA), which is low at switch-on and rises to +5V when the capacitor is fully charged. Whenever
the break key is pressed and also on power up, a timer integrated circuit, type LM555 (IC16), produces
another reset signal (RST).
The RSTA reset signal is only used to reset the system VIA (IC3) whilst the RST signal is a general reset
signal which is used throughout the remaining circuitry. In this way the operating system can interrogate
the system VIA to determine whether the reset signal was produced at power-up (RSTA) or simply by the
break key (RST)
3.15 The Analogue Port.
A four channel, dual-slope integrating, 12-bit Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC), type PD7002 (IC73),
is used to convert analogue signals to the digital form required by computer's data bus. The digital
outputs of this device are connected directly to the system data bus. The end-of-conversion (EOC) signal
from the ADC is fed to the CB1 input (pin 18) of the system VIA (IC3), which then requests an interrupt
(IRQ).
The ADC derives its reference voltage (V
ref
) from the forward voltage drop across three silicon diodes
connected in series (D6, D7 and D8). A resistor (R71) limits the current through these diodes.
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