Alpha Microsystems Eagle 250 User manual
DSM-00221-01
Eagle 250
Computer Owner's
Manual
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© 2000 ALPHA MICROSYSTEMS
FIRST EDITION: July 2000
01 Version - January 2001
To re-order this document, request part number DSO-00221-00.
FCC Notice
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a
commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a
residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at his own
expense.
Canadian Department of Communications Compliance Statement
This equipment does not exceed Class A limits per radio noise emissions for digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference
Regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications. Operation in a residential area may cause unacceptable interference to
radio and TV reception requiring the owner or operator to take whatever steps are necessary to correct the interference.
Avis de Conformité aux Normes du Ministère des Communications du Canada
Cet équipment ne deapsse pas les limits de Classe A d'émission de bruits radioélectriques pour les appareils numeriques tels que
prescrites par le Règlement sur le brouillage radioélectrique établi par le ministère des Communications du Canada. L'exploitation faite
en milleu résidential peut entrainer le brouillage des réceptions radio et tele, ce qui obligerait le propriétaire ou l'opératour à pendre les
dispositions nécessaires pour en éliminer les causes.
Battery Warning
CAUTION: Danger of explosion if battery is incorrectly replaced. Replace only with the same or equivalent type recommended by the
manufacturer. Discard used batteries according to the manufacturer's instructions.
ATTENTION: Il y a danger d'explosion s'il y a replacement incorrect de la batterie. Remplacer uniquement avec une batterie du même
type ou d'un type recommandé par le constructeur. Mettre au rébut les batteries usagées conformément aux instructions du fabricant.
For AM-3500-E100, -E200, -E300, -E400, -E500 and AM-990-01 systems replace battery with Panasonic or Ray-O-Vac BR2325 only.
For AM-3500-E250, AM-3500-E450, AM-3500-E550, AM-3500-6000, and AM-990-04 systems, replace batteries with Panasonic or
Ray-O-Vac BR1225 only. Use of other batteries may present a risk of fire or explosion. Replacement batteries may be ordered from
your authorized Alpha Micro reseller.
Safety Warning
This computer contains no user-configurable components that require opening the computer case. Because the power supply in this
computer is capable of outputting high current levels hazardous to your safety, the computer case should only be opened by an
authorized service technician.
Cet ordinateur ne contient aucune pièce configurable par l’utilisateur qui nécessite l’ouverture du boitier. L’alimentation de cet
ordinateur peut preduire des nivaeux de tensions dangereux, le boitier ne devrait donc être ouvert que par un technician autoriaé.
SOFTWARE SECURITY DEVICE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER: _________________
The Alpha Micro Software Security Device (SSD) is a customized integrated circuit that personalizes the computer, providing identity
verification for it. Certain Alpha Micro and non-Alpha Micro software may require that your computer contain an SSD in order to run
software that has been customized to run only on your computer.
Please enter the identification of your SSD above and on the Contact Information Sheet at the back of this manual. The SSD
identification number should be on your computer ID label under "SSD Serial No." Software vendors may ask you for the SSD number
if they are customizing software to run only on your computer.
This document may contain references to products covered under the following U.S. Patent Number(s): 4,530,048
ALPHA MICROSYSTEMS
2722 Fairview Street
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 -INTRODUCTION 1-1
THE EAGLE 250 DOCUMENTATION PACKAGE 1-1
What’s in This Book? 1-1
Graphic Conventions 1-2
HARDWARE FEATURES 1-2
Options 1-3
SOFTWARE FEATURES 1-3
CHAPTER 2 -USING YOUR COMPUTER 2-1
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS AND INDICATORS 2-1
REAR PANEL CONFIGURATION 2-3
TURNING THE COMPUTER ON 2-4
TURNING THE COMPUTER OFF 2-4
REBOOTING THE COMPUTER 2-5
CHAPTER 3 -KEEPING YOUR COMPUTER HAPPY 3-1
WHERE SHOULD THE COMPUTER BE? 3-1
REGULAR MAINTENANCE 3-2
Cleaning the Computer Cabinet 3-2
Caring for Tape Drives and Tapes 3-2
Caring for the Diskette Drive and Diskettes 3-4
BACKING UP YOUR DATA 3-4
Using a Streaming Tape Drive 3-5
Using a DAT Drive 3-7
Warm Booting 3-8
CHECKING THE DISK 3-8
The REDALL Command 3-9
The DSKANA Command 3-9
DSKANA Options 3-11
The CHECK Option and Automatic Backups 3-11
CHAPTER 4 -WHAT IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG? 4-1
IF THE PROBLEM IS WITH ONE TERMINAL 4-1
IF THE PROBLEM AFFECTS MORE THAN ONE USER 4-2
IF YOU CAN’T CONTACT YOUR DEALER 4-2
FOR MORE INFORMATION 4-3
Page ii Table of Contents
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
CHAPTER 5 -ABOUT AMOS 5-1
THE TERMINAL KEYBOARD 5-1
Correcting Typing Mistakes 5-2
USER NAMES 5-3
Logging On 5-3
Adding User Names 5-4
HOW AMOS STORES INFORMATION 5-4
Device Names 5-4
Accounts 5-5
File Names 5-6
File Specifications 5-6
Organizing the Disk 5-7
Logging Into Other Accounts 5-8
Adding New Accounts 5-8
CHAPTER 6 -WHERE TO NOW? 6-1
APPENDIX A -THE CONTROL CHARACTERS A-1
ABOUT YOUR COMPUTER 1
ABOUT YOUR DEALER 1
ABOUT ALPHA MICRO 1
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
Chapter 1 -
Introduction
Welcome to the Eagle 250 Owner’s Manual. This book is for the new owner of an Eagle 250 computer.
It tells you how to keep your computer running happily, what to do if something should go wrong, and
how to get the most out of your computer hardware and software.
THE EAGLE 250 DOCUMENTATION PACKAGE
Besides this Owner’s Manual, two other documents describe the Eagle 250:
•The Eagle 250 Installation and Technical Manual, DSO-00222-00, describes how to set up the
system hardware and software, and includes technical details about system performance,
capability, and configuration.
•The Eagle 250 Service Manual, DSO-00223-00, contains instructions on adding and changing
components in an installed Eagle 250.
These other documents are intended for Alpha Micro dealers and, in the case of the Service Manual,
authorized technicians. If your computer is installed and running, this Owner’s Manual has the
information you need for its day-to-day operation and maintenance.
What’s in This Book?
This book contains five chapters:
•Chapter 1 - Introduction: describes the documentation and covers the hardware and standard
software included with your computer.
•Chapter 2 - Using Your Computer: tells you how to turn the computer on and off, and talks about
the controls and indicators on the front and back of the computer.
•Chapter 3 - Keeping Your Computer Happy: discusses the operating conditions the computer
prefers and the regular care and maintenance you can use to keep it running properly.
•Chapter 4 - What if Something Goes Wrong?: gives you procedures to follow to assist your
Alpha Micro dealer if certain system problems occur.
•Chapter 5 - About AMOS: discusses AMOS, the Alpha Micro Operating System. While most or
all of it may be invisible to you, the AMOS software enables your computer to run the
applications you use every day.
•Chapter 6 - Where to Now?: lists some other Alpha Micro documents you may find useful.
Page 1-2 Chapter One
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
Graphic Conventions
Like other Alpha Micro documents, this Owner’s Manual uses some standard symbols and special
typefaces to make our examples and explanations easier to read and understand:
Symbol Description
This means STOP!, and signals an important warning or restriction. Be sure to
read the text next to this symbol carefully, as it could help you avoid serious
problems.
This marks a hint—a shortcut or an easier way to do something.
This indicates a note: information which relates to the current topic, and may be
important for you to remember.
Text We show characters the computer displays on your screen, such as prompts and
information messages, in this typeface.
TEXT In examples, we use this typeface for the characters you type on your keyboard.
KEY This symbol refers to a non-character key on your keyboard. For example: DIR
ENTER tells you to press the ENTER key at the end of the DIR command.
CTRL /C This combination of symbols tells you to hold down the first key and press the
second key. For example, to type a CTRL /C (Control-C), press the CTRL key
and, while holding it down, type a C.
HARDWARE FEATURES
The Eagle 250 comes in an attractive, compact deskside enclosure, as shown below. Inside the enclosure
are:
•A CPU (Central Processing Unit) board using the Motorola MCF5102 ColdFire CPU chip.
•At least one SCSI-2, Wide SCSI-2, or Ultra SCSI disk drive for permanent data storage.
•From 4MB to 256MB of Random Access Memory (RAM), used to store data and programs
during processing.
•A tape backup device. Depending on the device you’ve ordered, you may be able to store up to
26GB of data on a single tape. The tape drive is accessible through the computer’s front panel.
•For the standard Eagle 250, from eight to 32 serial input/output ports for connecting terminals,
printers, modems, and workstations. The Eagle 250LC contains only 4 serial input/output ports.
There are connectors for these ports on the back panel of the computer.
•An Ethernet network interface. You can attach your Eagle 250 to a computer network through a
connector on the back panel. You can then share information between computers, use PCs to run
programs on the Eagle 250, share printers, and much more. If your network is attached to the
Internet, you’ll be able to access the Eagle 250 from practically anywhere in the world.
Introduction Page 1-3
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
Options
Your computer may have additional devices, such as an internal diskette drive accessible through the
front panel, an external RAID disk subsystem for extremely reliable, high-capacity data storage, an
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to guard against data loss during a power failure, and more.
SOFTWARE FEATURES
All Eagle 250 computers use AMOS, the Alpha Micro Operating System. AMOS lets the various parts of
the hardware talk to each other—for example, it sends characters from the computer’s CPU to your
terminal screen or to the printer—and performs the calculations and information storage that is the heart
of the computer’s function.
Almost all Eagle 250’s also have at least one software application. An application is a software program,
or group of programs, which perform related tasks for a specific purpose. For example, an application
may contain all the programs needed to run a dental office—billing, scheduling, keeping patient records,
and so on—a hardware store, or any other business. Popular general purpose applications include word
processors, spreadsheets, electronic mail, and lots more.
The application software on your Eagle 250 was added by your dealer for your specific situation, so it
isn’t discussed in this manual. For information on the applications you have, please contact your Alpha
Micro dealer.
For more information about AMOS, including how to use some common AMOS commands,
please see Chapter 5. Depending on how your dealer configured your computer, AMOS may be
completely “hidden”: your application may include options for all the features you need, so you
never enter any AMOS command directly. In that case, while you may find the information in
Chapter 5 interesting, you don’t really need to know any of it.
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
Chapter 2 -
Using Your Computer
This chapter discusses some of the basic things you need to know to use your computer: what the buttons
and lights on the front panel mean, what attaches where on the back panel, and how to turn the computer
on and off.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS AND INDICATORS
Figure 2-1, below, shows the computer’s front panel. The panel has these controls and indicators:
•The two-character status display shows various codes depending on the state of the computer. It
is also used during the computer’s self-test feature.
•The Power light is lit whenever the computer is turned on.
•The Turbo light indicates system activity.
•In some configurations, the Turbo button puts the system into a special diagnostic state known as
LEVEL7. This is necessary only if you are having certain hard-to-diagnose system problems. If
you have this feature, do not use it unless you are told to by your dealer. If you don’t have this
feature, the Turbo button has no effect.
•The Reset button lets you reset the computer. When you press it, the hardware resets and the
computer reboots. To avoid losing data, make sure there are no applications running and the
H.D.D. light is out before you press this button. See the section on “Rebooting the Computer”
later in this chapter.
•The H.D.D. light is lit whenever the computer is reading from or writing to a disk or tape.
•The Power switch, at the top right of the computer, turns it on and off. This switch is not shown
in Figure 2-1.
Page 2-2 Chapter Two
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
Figure 2-1: Front Panel Controls and Indicators
Two-character status display
Turbo button
Reset button
Power light
H.D.D. (disk/tape
activity) light
Turbo (system activity) light
Using Your Computer Page 2-3
Eagle 250 Owner's Manual, Revision 01
REAR PANEL CONFIGURATION
The illustration below shows the Eagle 250 rear panel configuration.
4 or 8 STANDARD DB9
SERIAL PORTS
(RJ-45 CONFIGURATION
OPTIONALLY AVAILABLE)
10-BaseT
ETHERNET
PORT
EXTERNAL SCSI PORT
BOOT PORT
01
23
45
67
115
SCSI
0
9-PIN UPS
STATUS
PORT
25-PIN
PARALLEL
PORT
SERIAL I/O
EXPANSION
SLOTS FOR RJ-45
CONNECTORS
OPTIONAL
AM-90 BOARDS
Figure 2-2: Eagle 250 Rear Panel Configuration
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