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The Tern LittleDrive is a standalone communication system controller that supports 10 serial ports, 80 I/O lines including 22 high-voltage, high-current drivers, and an LCD interface. The LittleDrive can be used in computer networking, process control, protocol switching, ISDN front ends, and remote data acquisition and control.

The Philips Octal UART SC26C198 provides eight full-duplex UARTs. Each UART has a 16-byte receiver FIFO and a 16-byte transmit FIFO. Automatic flow control uses Xon/Xoff or hardware CTS/RTS handshaking at one of 22 baud rates. Ten RS-232 drivers support full-duplex TxD/RxD and handshaking. Up to six RS-485 drivers can be installed. Two UARTs from the installed processor controller can use the other two RS232 drivers.

Two PPI (82C55) provide 48 I/O lines. There are 14 sinking solenoid drivers and eight sourcing drivers (350 mA, 50V). An optional switching power supply supports up to 35V DC input without generating excess heat.

This board is designed to work with a controller board such as the 586 Engine.