10 Mbps ARCNET (ANSI 878.1) Controller with 2Kx8 On-Board RAM
Datasheet
If the device is configured to handle both long and short packets (see "Define Configuration" command),
then receive pages should always be 512 bytes long because the user never knows what the length of the
receive packet will be. In this case, the transmit pages may be made 256 bytes long, leaving at least 512
bytes free at any given time. Even if the Command Chaining operation is being used,512 bytes is still
guaranteed to be free because Command Chaining only requires two pages for transmit and two for
receive (in this case, two 256 byte pages for transmit and two 512 byte pages for receive, leaving 512
bytes free). Please note that it is the responsibility of software to reserve 512 bytes for each receive page if
the device is configured to handle long packets. The COM20022I 3V does not check page boundaries
during reception. If the device is configured to handle only short packets, then both transmit and receive
pages may be allocated as 256 bytes long, freeing at least 1KByte at any given time.
Even if the Command Chaining operation is being used, 1KByte is still guaranteed to be free because
Command Chaining only requires two pages for transmit and two for receive (in this case, a total of four
256 byte pages, leaving 1K free).
The general rule which may be applied to determine where in RAM a page begins is as follows:
Address = (nn x 512) + (f x 256).
Revision 02-27-06
Page 48
SMSC COM20022I 3V
DATASHEET
SMSC [ SMSC CORPORATION ]
