Chapter 1 Introduction
Compaq Deskpro 4000N and 4000S Personal Computers
First Edition - September 1997
1-2
1.2 NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS
1.2.1 VALUES
Hexadecimal values are indicated by the letter “h” following an alpha-numerical value. Binary
values are indicated by the letter “b” following a value of ones and zeros. Memory addresses
expressed as “SSSS:OOOO” (SSSS = 16-bit segment, OOOO = 16-bit offset) can be assumed as
a hexadecimal value. Values that have no succeeding letter can be assumed to be decimal.
1.2.2 RANGES
Ranges or limits for a parameter are shown as a pair of values separated by two dots:
Example: Bits <7..4> = bits 7, 6, 5, and 4.
1.2.3 SIGNAL LABELS
Signal names are indicated using abbreviations, acronyms, or, if possible, the full signal name in
all capital letters. Signals that are meant to be active low are indicated with a dash immediately
following the name.
1.2.4 REGISTER NOTATION AND USAGE
This guide uses standard Intel naming conventions in discussing the microprocessor’s (CPU)
internal registers. Registers that are accessed through programmable I/O using an indexing
scheme are indicated using the following format:
03C5.17h
Index port
Data port
In the example above, register 03C5.17h is accessed by writing the index port value 17h to the
index address (03C4h), followed by a write to or a read from port 03C5h.
1.2.5 BIT NOTATION
Bit values are labeled with bit <0> representing the least-significant bit (LSb) and bit <7>
representing the most-significant bit (MSb) of a byte. Bytes, words, double words, and quad
words are typically shown with most-significant portions on the left or top and the least-
significant portions on the right or bottom respectively.