RE: the FECPC1 Computer
The FECPC1 is the name given to a standard PC compatible computer that FEC buys, sets up and then furnishes with or for use with our FEC line of semiconductor testers. The computer consists of all new standard PC components freely available on the market.
The cabinet may
be used with its detachable rack mounting ears as a standard 19” x 3.5”
rack mount, or without the ears used on the bench top. When used on the
bench top the dimensions are 3.5” high, 17” wide and 20.5” deep. The
cabinet is a standard item readily available on the market. We also
supply the same computer in a smaller benchtop style case where the
rack mount is not convenient.
The peripherals include at least 128MB of RAM, at least 2GB on drive C:, a 3.5” 1.4MB diskette drive, a CD-ROM drive, six USB ports (front/back), one RS232C type serial port, two standard parallel printer ports * and an onboard ethernet port using a VIA VT6103L 10/100Mb/S chip. A DOS driver for the VIA chip is included. We also include a LCD monitor.
A USB port can be used (among other things) to run a flash memory drive for backup or for transferring files to other computers.
OPERATING SYSTEM
FEC buys the computer with no operating system and then we install FreeDOS, which is an MSDOS-compatible operating system distributed under GPL licensing. We supply the source code for this system as well as a complete description of the GPL licensing. You may use FreeDOS as well as our software on as many systems as you wish with no licensing fees.
We also install the latest versions of all of our major software applications as well as a number of very useful utilities.
The software is also supplied on a CD-ROM along with a “startup” diskette, which together would allow you to re-install the operating system and the software on this or on most other computers.
Should you have the need, we will supply (at no charge) earlier versions of our tester software on diskettes.
All of our software is (and will continue to be) FreeDOS based. Although some of our software will run in DOS windows on some versions of WINDOWS, we recommend that you use pure DOS (or FREEDOS) running in an FECPC1 or other similar pure DOS computer.
You can learn more about FreeDOS at www.freedos.org or on our FreeDOS page.
*
LPT1 is an integrated peripheral and the second one is a PCI add-in
card installed by FEC. LPT1 has been qualified by FEC as suitable for
interface to our testers such as FEC200, CV300 etc. that are controlled
in real time by the PC. (Testers such as the VF40 or PLS1000 that are
controlled via the serial port do not use the parallel port).