(
Direct
Memory
Access)
DMA refers to a data transfer method. It consists in accessing the central memory directly through the main data bus, without the main processor being aware of it.
On Atari platforms,
DMA is used for Hard Drive and
FloppyDrive data transfers. On
STE?,
TT? and
Falcon030? platforms,
DMA is used for sound playback and recording (
Falcon030? only). On the
Falcon030? platform, it is also used to transfer data from or to the
DSP? memory. The BLiTTER chip also transfers its data using
DMA.