20
Memo
Aren’t flash cards only used in personal computers and digital cameras
Flash cards may be thought of as only being used for data storage in notebook PCs and
digital cameras. It is true that PC-ATA cards and CompactFlash were designed to be
inserted into a PC card slot, but flash cards are not only used as HD or FD replacements in
PC card slots. Although the control method is different from that used up to now, since the
cards contain flash memory it is natural that they should be able to be used as program ROM.
For example, with a general-purpose sequence that handles a large program, if it is necessary
to change the program according to its intended use, a flash card could be used instead of
writing data in program ROM. Program replacement can be achieved simply by switching
cards. In a system in which the program size and number of variables may increase in the
future, an initial small-capacity card could be replaced when necessary at a later date with a
larger-capacity card.
There is no need for a special device to write data to a card or verify its contents; this can be
done using an ordinary personal computer. By adopting a slightly different perspective and
looking at flash cards as system components, a variety of different uses can be found.
Task File Region:
The task file region contains the following registers, and is used for data
exchange (reading/writing) between the card and the host.
Register names
Data register
Drive head register
Error register
Status register
Feature register
Alternate status register
Sector count register
Command register
Sector number register
Device control register
Cylinder low register
Cylinder high register
Drive address register
Note:
For details of register settings, see the descriptions of task file register contents in the
appendices.