• The majority of the I/O ports are either read-only or write-only.

  • There is a multi-function register that requires special considerations because the functionality characteristics are totally different from the other I/O registers.

  • The 8514/A internal RGB index of the DAC is not readable.

  • The VRAM cannot be accessed directly. (It is not a dumb frame device.)

  • Special consideration must be given to handling the passthrough-mode capability of this device.

  • Video memory size is assumed to be 1MB for the following reasons:

    • The OS/2 PM Display Device Driver cannot function without it.

    • It is not possible to configure a system with multiple 8514/A adapters.
    
      The 8514/A is not a Direct Memory Access (DMA) device.


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