
[Introduction]

    This is the Help file for the AMIDiag 4.5 System Information 
    utility (Sysinfo).

    System information lists all standard configuration details for
    PC hardware and software configurations. Sysinfo also provides 
    information about SCSI, EISA, PCI, Plug & Play, and
    PCMCIA devices, as well as sound cards. No other utility 
    provides as much information about your computer.


    Help File Hypertext

    Some words in this Help file are highlighted. You can select these
    words to display additional information. Press <Tab> when a 
    highlighted word is selected to display the next occurrence of this
    word. Press <F1> when a highlighted word is selected to display 
    Help information about the word.

    Press <F2> to display the Help index. Press <F1> while selecting 
    any item in the Help index to display Help on that item.


[System Configuration]

    The system configuration menu item displays a summary of the
    hardware components that Sysinfo has detected in your computer.
    You can use this information to verify that the operating system 
    recognizes all hardware components in your computer. Included is
    a summary of motherboard, Disk subsystem, adapters and other details.

 
[Motherboard]
  
    This option lists a summary of the actual hardware components 
    that Sysinfo detected on the motherboard. The motherboard is the
    primary circuit board in your computer and contains the CPU, 
    DRAM, cache memory, and system BIOS ROMs. Some items listed as 
    adapters by Sysinfo (COM ports, printer ports, etc.) may be
    built into the motherboard itself. 


[Memory]

    This option lists the base memory, extended memory, ROM, and
    RAM space detected by Sysinfo. This information may not be the same
    as listed by the system BIOS. Many system BIOS only recognize the
    first 64 MB of system memory and may not consider upper memory.


[I/O Ports]

    This option lists all detectable I/O ports in your computer. 
    Sysinfo identifies all {ISA}, {EISA}, {PCI}, {Plug&Play}, 
    and {PCMCIA}-related I/O ports.

    Use this option to find free I/O ports when installing a new 
    adapter card that requires an I/O address. If you install an 
    adapter card without determining if the I/O port is free, you
    may introduce an I/O port conflict and you system may hang.


[Hardware Interrupts]

    This option lists all detectable {IRQ} in your computer.
    Sysinfo identifies all ISA, {EISA}, {PCI}, {Plug&Play}, and
    {PCMCIA} {IRQ}. Display this list when you installing a 
    new adapter card to identify free IRQs.


[DMA Assignment]

    This option lists DMA use in your computer. Sysinfo identifies
    all {ISA}, {EISA}, {PCI}, {Plug & Play}, and {PCMCIA} {DMA}.
    Display this list when installing a new adapter card to identify
    free DMA channels.


[CMOS Information]

    CMOS (Complementary Metallic Oxide) is a method of fabricating
    integrated circuits (ICs). This term is more commonly applied to 
    the type of IC manufactured by this method, a type of
    nonvolatile Random Access Memory that requires very little power.

    The date, time, disks, display, and other vital configuration 
    parameters are stored in CMOS RAM, which is powered by a battery.
    Sysinfo lists this information when you choose this option.


[BIOS information]

    The system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is the ROM-based 
    low-level software that controls many PC devices. American 
    Megatrends makes the best system BIOS in the industry. AMIBIOS
    is both the fastest and the most compatible system BIOS. 

    When you select this option, the BIOS name, version number, and 
    features are displayed. The keyboard controller BIOS information 
    is also displayed.


[Adapter information]

    Select this option to list all adapter cards in your computer. 
    This list includes all detectable ISA and configured EISA, PCI, 
    and Plug & Play adapter cards. After you install an adapter card, 
    select this option to see if the new adapter card has been 
    detected by Sysinfo. If not, the operating system may not be
    able to use the new adapter card.

  
[Display details]

    Select this option to display the properties of the Display 
    subsystem. The video adapter, monitor, the VGA or VESA VGA 
    chipset type, and the supported video modes and colors are displayed.

    Sysinfo detects most VGA cards. Support for some video modes 
    may vary depending on VGA memory size and the operating 
    mode of the adapter.


[Network information]

    Select this option to list information about the networks your
    computer is attached to. You must be logged in to a network
    before Sysinfo can provide this information.

    The first network screen displays the Novell NetWare servers 
    your computer is attached to and their version number. 

    Select a server (if more than one server is listed) and press I 
    to display the features of the Novell configuration running on 
    the selected server. 

    Select a server and press D to display the volumes supported by
    the selected server.

    Select a server and press U to display a list of the users logged 
    onto the server. You can even send a message to any listed user.


[SCSI information]

    Select this option to list all SCSI disk, CD-ROM, and tape drives 
    attached to all SCSI host adapters in your computer. This list
    includes the size and address of the SCSI devices. This information 
    is collected from the DOS ASPI device driver. If the ASPI driver 
    is not loaded, all SCSI devices may not be displayed.


[PCMCIA information]

    Select this option to display a list of installed PCMCIA devices.

    PCMCIA adapters have sockets for PCMCIA cards. This option
    displays the status of up to four sockets. As you insert a PCMCIA
    PC Card in the socket, the PC Card name and is displayed. Press 
    <F1>, <F2>, <F3> or <F4> (see the screen instructions) to
    display detailed information on the card in each socket.


[Power Management]

    Select this option to display information about power management
    use in your computer.

    Power management is available in new desktop computers as well as
    in portable computers. Power management features are designed to
    conserve power and preserve battery life in notebook and laptop PCs.
    
    The standard power management API (Applications Program Interface)
    is APM (Advanced Power Management). APM allows the operating 
    system to control computer power. The BIOS or operating system can
    power down devices that are not being used. The devices can be powered
    on as needed.

    Sysinfo uses the APM interface to retrieve power management 
    information. If APM is not implemented on your computer, this option
    will not work.

[Modem information]

    Select this option to display information about the modem installed
    in your computer.


[Multimedia information]

    Select this option to identify and display information about
    Soundblaster-compatible adapter cards in your computer. You do 
    not have to load Soundblaster drivers or edit system files. 
    Sysinfo finds this information by directly reading the hardware.


[EISA information]

    Select this option to display detailed information about all 
    EISA slots in an EISA computer. If the EISA slots are not 
    configured, the Slot IDs are not displayed and no EISA 
    information is available. This option will not display any
    information if you do not have an EISA computer.

    If the slots are configured via the ECU (EISA Configuration 
    Utility), EISA configuration information such as IRQ, DMA, 
    I/O port, ROM, and RAM assignments is displayed.


[PCI information]

    When you select this option, Sysinfo scans all {PCI} slots
    and displays the PCI information it found. Some adapter cards
    sit on a PCI slot but are not true PCI cards. A true PCI card 
    must have been assigned nonvolatile RAM that is identified as 
    PCI configuration space. If this space is not available, Sysinfo 
    cannot find PCI data. These types of cards are identified as 
    ISA cards by Sysinfo and are listed in the Adapter list. 

    The system BIOS must support PCI configuration before you can 
    use PCI adapters in your computer.


[PLUG&PLAY information]

   Select this option to display all {Plug&Play} information. 
   Before Sysinfo can display this information, the system BIOS must 
   have plug and play support. Sysinfo displays information from 
   the system BIOS.


[Physical drives]

    Select this option to list the physical drives in your computer, 
    not the drives you address as C:, D:, etc. Sysinfo displays the 
    drive unit number for IDE and SCSI drives. It also identifies the
    vendor and model number.


[Logical drives]

    Select this option to display the logical drives in your
    computer. Logical drives are all drives you can access from DOS
    as A:, C:, D: etc. Sysinfo lists all drives with the volume name, 
    serial numbers and the drive type (local, network, assigned, etc).

[Memory map]

    Select this option to display a DOS memory map, which shows you 
    exactly how DOS is using system memory.


[Device drivers]

   Select this option to list all device drivers installed in your
   computer, including device drivers built into DOS. Sysinfo
   identifies most popular device drivers by name.


[Software interrupts]

   Select this option to list all software interrupts in your
   computer and the owner of the software interrupt.


[DOS Environment]

    This option will display the detail DOS environment.


[List autoexec.bat]

    Select this option to display the current AUTOEXEC.BAT file.


[List config.sys]

    Select this option to display the current CONFIG.SYS file.


[XMS environment]

    Select this option to display extended memory use.


[EMS environment]


    Select this option to display enhanced memory use.


[Change color set]

    Select this option to change the Sysinfo screen color scheme. 
    You can also press <F10> to change the Sysinfo screen colors.

[View system files]

    Select this option to view AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI
    SYSTEM.INI and other text files. This options will default the
    AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS directory to boot drive and WIN.INI,
    SYSTEM.INI directory to the Windows directory set in path
    command. Before the files are displayed, program will prompt
    you change the directory if you want to.
 
[Execute Batch]

    Select this option to run selected items from the Sysinfo menu 
    and transfer the output from these items to another file or device.
    First select one or more items from the Sysinfo menu via <F3>.


[About]

    Select this option to display the Sysinfo version number.


[Exit Sysinfo]

    Select this option to quit Sysinfo to return to AMIDiag.


[DMA]

    Direct Memory Access (DMA) is the direct transfer of data to 
    or from a peripheral device (such as a hard disk) with no 
    intervention from the CPU.

    A DMA controller, when programmed, handles all the related issues
    in a DMA transfer, such as DMA timing and number of bytes to
    transfer.


[IRQ]

    A hardware interrupt (IRQ) is a signal to the CPU that stops the
    current CPU activity and allows it to perform a higher priority 
    task. An interrupt is usually generated by a peripheral device 
    demanding attention. After the interrupt is serviced, the 
    suspended activity is resumed at the point it was stopped.


[CMOS]

    Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) is a method of 
    fabricating ICs. It is more frequently used to specify an IC 
    produced by this method. All CMOS ICs consume very little energy.

    The CMOS RAM is used in IBM AT-compatible systems to store vital
    system configuration data. The CMOS RAM is battery backed, so that
    its content remains intact even when the system is switched OFF.


[ISA]

    Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) is the architecture of the
    IBM PC/AT. It is 16 bits wide.


[EISA]

    Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) is an extension
    to the ISA bus standard that permits 32-bit operation. EISA also 
    allows level-triggered interrupts, so that the same interrupt
    can be shared by more than one device.


[PCI]

    Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is a popular local bus 
    standard. A local bus allows peripheral devices such as the display 
    controller and disk controller to sit on the CPU bus so they operate
    much faster.


[PCMCIA]

   The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA)
   developed and maintains a standard for credit-card-sized 
   PC peripherals devices, called PC Cards.

   PC Cards, can include I/O controllers, memory, and mass storage
   devices. PC Cards are mostly used in AT-compatible notebook 
   computers. A major advantage is the PC Card size and portability.


[Plug&Play]

   Plug-and-play is a new computer industry standard that permits a
   computer to automatically configure system resources, foregoing the
   necessity for hardware switches and jumpers.
 

[Cache]

    Caching speeds access to information in a slower device by 
    storing a part of the slow devices information in a much
    faster device. 

    For example, ISA system memory uses DRAMs (Dynamic Random 
    Access Memory) with typical access times of 60 to 70 nanoseconds.
    However, if most memory accesses are to a 64 KB block of 
    system DRAM memory, the data in that 64 KB of DRAM can be 
    copied to cache memory.

    Cache memory uses SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) with 
    typical access time of 12 to 14 nanoseconds. 

    As long as the 64 KB block of data is not modified, the
    CPU can access this data from fast cache memory, permitting
    a significant boost in performance.

[End of Help]

    End of help file.
