Axxon Lf755kb User manual

MODEL LF755KB

4 PORT RS422 PCI EXPRESS

SMPTE INTERFACE

(LOW / STANDARD HEIGHT)

SERIAL I/O CARD

INSTALLATION

MANUAL

HIGH-PERFORMANCE UART FAMILY

This document describes the installation and use of the

Axxon Computer Corporation 4 Port RS422 SMPTE Interface PCI Express (PCIe) Bus

Adapter.

Release Version 1.0 (11 March 2008)

Installation Guide for Axxon LF755KB PCI Express

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1 INTRODUCTION

Thank you for choosing the Axxon line of high performance I/O cards. Please take a few moments to read through

this documentation. Device drivers and utilities for this Axxon MAP/950 product are supplied for functionality under

Windows 9x, ME, XP (32/64 bit), NT4, 2000, 2003, Vista (32/64 bit), Linux (32/64 bit), OS/2, QNX , SCO Unix

operating systems.

2 LICENCE AGREEMENT

This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or

merchantability or any other warranties whether express or implied. The receiver assumes all risk and liability for

loss, damage, claims or expense resulting from use, possession or resale of any software and / or hardware

products furnished by Axxon Computer Corporation.

The receiver agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Axxon Computer Corporation and its officers, agents,

and employees from and against any and all claims, liability, loss, damage or expense, including reasonable

attorney's fees, arising from or by reason of receivers' use, possession or resale with respect to any of the

software products furnished by Axxon Computer Corporation pursuant to this agreement, and such obligation shall

survive acceptance of said products therefore by receiver. Windows, Windows 95 / 98 / XP/ ME / NT / 2000, 2003,

Vista are trademarks of Microsoft.

3 CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................................2

2 LICENCE AGREEMENT..................................................................................................................................................2

3 CONTENTS.........................................................................................................................................................................2

4 OVERVIEW AND INSTALLATION ...............................................................................................................................3

4.1 4 PORT RS422 PCI EXPRESS I/O CARD .......................................................................................................................3

4.1.1 Windows drivers for MAP/950 PCI I/O Cards......................................................................................................3

4.1.3 Windows NT4 driver for MAP/950......................................................................................................................14

5 USING THE SERIAL DRIVER ......................................................................................................................................15

5.1.1 Windows configuration........................................................................................................................................14

5.1.2 Linux configuration .............................................................................................................................................16

5.1.3 Apple configuration.............................................................................................................................................16

6 TECHNICAL DETAILS OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DESIGN ..................................................................17

6.1 Volatile Mode Configuration...............................................................................................................................17

6.2 Non-Volatile Mode Configuration.......................................................................................................................18

7 CONTACT INFORMATION ..........................................................................................................................................19

8 DISCLAIMER...................................................................................................................................................................19

Installation Guide for Axxon LF755KB PCI Express

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4 OVERVIEW and INSTALLATION

4.1 PCI Express (PCIe) 4 Port RS422 SMPTE Interface I/O Card

Overview

Axxon manufactures a variety of serial port products based on the enhanced Oxford Semiconductor 16C950

UART. The installation of Axxon Model # LF755KB 4 Channel RS422 SMPTE PCI Express (PCIe) design is

covered in this document.

Model # LF755KB PCI Express RS422 SMPTE I/O Card offers the following features:

• 4 Independent channels based on the RS422 Electrical Interface using 16C950 UARTs

• Each port is software configurable to support MASTER (DTE) or SLAVE (DCE) mode

• Colour coded onboard LED to identify the MASTER (GREEN) and SLAVE (RED) modes

• Conforms to the SMPTE 9 pin female pinout for a simple installation

• Plug & Play support for Windows, Linux and Apple platforms

• Windows, Linux and Apple platforms do not require add-on drivers (PnP installation)

• Low and standard height mounting compatible using 2 different mounting brackets

• Based on the Oxford Semiconductor OX16C950 UART (http://www.oxsemi.com)

• 128 byte deep Transmit and Receive FIFOs

• Flexible clock prescalar from 1 to 31.875

• RS422 compliant transceivers with 25kv ESD and short-circuit protection

• Compatible with x1, x4, x8, x16 lane PCI Express slots. Single 3.3 volt power supply operation

• HD44M to 4 of DB9 Female (SMPTE) complex cable included (Double shielded - Braid & Foil)

• RoHS and Pb-free compliant design and assembly under ISO9001:2000 certified procedures

• High grade 4 layer FR4 circuit board

• Designed & Assembled in Canada

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4.1.1 Hardware

This product will permit the addition of 4 serial ports to your PC based on the RS422 SMPTE electrical interface

using a free PCI Express expansion slot. You may install as many of these circuit boards as you have room and

PCI Express slots inside of your computer system. By design, this adapter card is an x1 lane adapter card.

DO NOT confuse PCI Express (PCIe) with PCI. This adapter is NOT compatible with PCI slots.

DO NOT confuse PCI Express (PCIe) with PCI-X. This adapter is NOT compatible with PCI-X slots.

This design is compatible with x1, x2, x4, x8 and x16 lane PCI Express expansion slots.

Damage to the motherboard and/or this adapter can occur if the circuit board is forced to fit into a PCI or PCI-X

expansion slot. Such damage is not covered under warranty through Axxon. With the provided mounting brackets,

it is not possible to seat this circuit board into such a wrong expansion slot. Do not attempt to remove this

mounting bracket to force a fit into an expansion slot. If there is any doubt on the expansion slot to be deployed for

your installation, please contact us for assistance. A suggestion is to forward to our support staff details of your

computer system with make + model and if possible, a digital photo to clarify the chassis and slots.

This x1 lane circuit board is compatible with higher lane count slots including x2, x4, x8, and x16 widths. No

additional benefit is gained by selecting a higher lane count slot. Upon power up, your motherboard bios will

communicate with our PCIe circuit to auto-negotiate that our host adapter is an x1 lane width. Likewise each board

will offer 8 serial ports to your operating system. The device driver installation for popular operating systems is

discussed in detail in the next section. Please take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the hardware

features onboard this MAP/950 product.

Design Details

Axxon is the first and leading manufacturer of PCI Express I/O adapter cards. This design is based on a very

mature product foundation of volume shipments to key OEMs worldwide and over 3 years of PCIe design

experience. For customers interested in the low level details of this host adapter and operation, we provide the

following recommended reading reference materials.

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PLX PCIe Bridge controller PEX8111-BB http://www.plxtech.com

Oxford OXCB950 Enhanced PCI Uart http://www.oxsemi.com

HD44 Female Connector Details

Tyco part # 5748482-5 (RoHS & Pb-free) has been applied as the HD44 Female connector in this product

design.

One (1) HD44 Male to 4 x DB9 Female complex cable (RoHS & Pb-free) is required to provide the 4 port

terminations for RS422 SMPTE interfacing.

The HD44 Female to 4 x DB9 Female cable wiring will now be documented.

The details of this 4 port HD44F complex cable with DB9F termination are copied on the next sheet and are also

posted at the following URLs in PDF format:

http://www.softio.com/doc/4port_smpte_cable.pdf

• case sensitive URL

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RS422 SMPTE DB9 Female Pinout

Master Mode (DTE / Master / Controller) (GREEN Led is lit)

Pin_2 = RX-

Pin_3 = TX+

Pin_7 = RX+

Pin_8 = TX-

Pin_1 = Chassis Ground

Pin_9 = Chassis Ground

Slave Mode (DCE / Slave / Emulator) (RED Led is lit)

Pin_2 = TX-

Pin_3 = RX+

Pin_7 = TX+

Pin_8 = RX-

Pin_1 = Chassis Ground

Pin_9 = Chassis Ground

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Mode Configuration

This adapter card is software configurable to either MASTER (DTE) or SLAVE (DCE) modes of operation.

The current configuration software is provided in a DOS coded program and available through a no-charge ISO

download. Additional versions of this configuration software for other operating systems may be available. Please

contact our technical support staff for the latest details.

To configure the LF755KB circuit board, download and the burn using your favourite CD burning program the

following ISO image.

http://www.softio.com/axxon_pcie/axxon_pcie.iso

• case sensitive URL

• Please use the Burn an ISO Image option for your CD burning s/w

Please allow your system to boot from this CD. The CD is an auto-boot CD with a freeware DOS OS.

Press "4" from the menu when presented with the 1st screen.

Then press ESC key till at the DOS prompt.

Switch to the Axxon folder for our program as follows:

cd\axxon <ENTER> ; will move the focus to the axxon folder on the CD rom

cd lf755kb <ENTER> ; will move the focus to the lf755kb sub-folder within the axxon folder

With our circuit board seated, run the program:

lf755kb.exe <ENTER> ; will quickly configure all Ports to MASTER (DTE) mode

lf755cnf.exe <ENTER> ; will allow for individual port configuration to either MASTER or SLAVE mode

Configure the adapter card to suit your application. Each port can be configured to either DTE or DCE

modes. The pinout details for each of the 4 ports is silk screened on the backside of the circuit board.

RS422 SMPTE DB9 Female Pinout

Master Mode (DTE / Master / Controller) (GREEN Led is lit)

Pin_2 = RX-

Pin_3 = TX+

Pin_7 = RX+

Pin_8 = TX-

Pin_1 = Chassis Ground

Pin_9 = Chassis Ground

Slave Mode (DCE / Slave / Emulator) (RED Led is lit)

Pin_2 = TX-

Pin_3 = RX+

Pin_7 = TX+

Pin_8 = RX-

Pin_1 = Chassis Ground

Pin_9 = Chassis Ground

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The options available through the configuration program are copied below.

LF755KB SMPTE 4 Port RS422 PCI Express I/O Card EE Configurator for DOS v0.2

============================================================================

Motherboard PCI Bios Present Status : Found & supported!

------------------

Configuration Menu

------------------

1. Change Port # 1 to be a Master (DTE / Controller)

2. Change Port # 1 to be a Slave (DCE / Emulator)

3. Change Port # 2 to be a Master (DTE / Controller)

4. Change Port # 2 to be a Slave (DCE / Emulator)

5. Change Port # 3 to be a Master (DTE / Controller)

6. Change Port # 3 to be a Slave (DCE / Emulator)

7. Change Port # 4 to be a Master (DTE / Controller)

8. Change Port # 4 to be a Slave (DCE / Emulator)

9. Change all Ports 1 -> 4 to be Master (DTE / Controller)

A. Change all Ports 1 -> 4 to be Slave (DCE / Emulator)

Q. Quit

The configuration parameters are non-volatile and therefore will remain active even

during a power off of the host system.

Please note the following relationship on the onboard LED to external cable mapping.

Port 0 LED is associated with the DB9F connector 1 on the cable assembly. This is Port # 1 in the configuration s/w.

Port 1 LED is associated with the DB9F connector 2 on the cable assembly. This is Port # 2 in the configuration s/w.

Port 2 LED is associated with the DB9F connector 3 on the cable assembly. This is Port # 3 in the configuration s/w.

Port 3 LED is associated with the DB9F connector 4 on the cable assembly. This is Port # 4 in the configuration s/w.

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Windows Device Drivers for Model # LF755KB RS422 SMPTE PCI Express (PCIe) I/O Card

A variety of device driver options are available for this flexible adapter card.

Option # 1

The first and most recommended option is to apply the default Microsoft Windows provided device driver for your

installation using the following installation file:

http://www.softio.com/ic0560kb/MSPORTS.INF

Download the above INF file to a local folder -> Allow the Found New Hardware Wizard to point to the folder with

the above INF file. For each and every request for the driver, proceed to use the same folder and installation file.

Upon completion, the Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports will list 4 additional COM

ports mapped to this circuit board. Proceed to use with your end application.

Option # 2

The recommended driver suite (Windows 2000, XP, XP64, 2003, 2003-64 bit and server editions) with enhanced

Oxford UART features for our PCI Express family of designs is posted at:

http://www.softio.com/drivers/UARTDriverV65.zip

A driver developed for Vista 32 and 64 bit editions and older operating systems including XP/ XP64 is available through the following URL:

http://www.softio.com/drivers/Oxford-original-20070905.zip

Both of the above URLs are case sensitive and therefore must be typed exactly as shown.

The architecture of the Windows drivers is very similar. Each UART is hooked by a single-port driver, which

enables the following 16C95x features:

• 128-byte receiver and transmitter FIFOs

• Adjustable receiver and transmitter interrupt trigger level with Automatic flow control

• Quad speed (using Times clock register)

• Flexible baud rate generation

The following documentation will discuss the configuration and features present in the enhanced Oxford

device drivers.

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Typical Ports Environment for a 4 Port PCIe SMPTE Installation with Oxford Device Drivers (example only)

COM5 : P1, COM6 : P2, COM7 : P3, COM8 : P4

Timing Background

The serial ports found on the IBM personal computer have historical evolved around a clock source of 1.8432 MHZ

(industry standard). The Axxon MAP/950 PCI series is shipped by default with a 1.8432 MHZ clock source

(CLK/8). Such a clock source permits a logical 1:1 mapping of desired baud rate to a target serial port device.

Using the 16c95x UART internal clock multiplier(s) and pre-scalars in the provided device drivers, you may select

up to 460K-baud rate communication speed between the host PC and a serial port device (provided the target

device supports up to 460K-baud operation).

Select the DETECT CRYSTAL button in the device drivers to allow for the proper application requested baud rate

to hardware baud rate relationship. Select the QUAD BAUD RATE (option) to activate the X4 baud rates. When

active, this X4 option will map the application selected baud rate to target hardware baud rate by a ratio of X4. As

an example, when this option is SELECTED, 300 Baud in the Windows application will map to and run the serial

port at an actual value of 1200 Baud.

Crystal Detection for Input Clock

This configuration is required to allow the device driver to correctly calculate the Input Clock being fed into the

onboard UARTS. In most applications, this value will auto-detect to 1.8432 MHZ, which permits a 1:1 mapping

ratio relationship for Application Selected baud rate to Target Hardware baud rate.

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Driver Removal Procedure

Please review this document on how to remove a device driver from the Oxford serial port drivers your system:

http://www.softio.com/oxan22.pdf

• Case sensitive URL

• Note – Windows 2003 driver removal procedure is similar to the documented XP procedure

A detailed document defining the registry keys is recommended reading for clients having complex driver

installation or removal issues. The following document displays the driver removal from a Windows 2000 system,

step by step:

http://www.softio.com/doc/MAP950uninstall.pdf

• Case sensitive URL

An automated driver installer / remover is in development to ease such software installations. Please contact our

support staff to request the current status of this pending new software release.

Included in this design is a LED labelled “Link EN”. When lit, the LED indicates that the host computer system’s

bios has detected and properly PCIe enumerated this circuit board. This LED should be ON briefly after a power

up of your computer system. The Link EN label is part # D6 and located on the top left of the circuit board.

Each port is software configurable to either MASTER (GREEN Led) or SLAVE (RED Led) mode. Port # 0 LED is

shown as an example. Ports # 1 to 3 have their own respective labelled LED indicators.

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To configure the clock source when using the Oxford enhanced device drivers please review the following GUI property sheet:

1) Select the DATA RATE tab.

2) Select the Detect Crystal Frequency button.

3) The device driver will then return with “Working…” for a few seconds and return a value of 1.8432 MHz for

the crystal frequency. This is default on most products shipped from the factory. If a request was made for

a custom, non-standard clock substitution then DO NOT select the Detect Crystal Frequency button.

Instead, force the pull down menu for the Crystal Frequency selection to remain at 1.8432 MHz regardless

of which value has been applied to the circuit board.

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Quad Speed

The Quad Speed option will force any host application software’s baud rate to be multiplied by a factor of 4 (Four).

That is, when an application selects 115K, as an example, the actual hardware baud rate will result in a 460K-

communication speed with this option active.

Mappings for Windows Application Selected Baud Rate to Target Hardware Baud Rate with QUAD BAUD RATE

(x4) Option ON:

110 Baud (application software) maps to 440 Baud (target hardware)

300 Baud (application software) maps to 1200 Baud (target hardware)

600 Baud (application software) maps to 2400 Baud (target hardware)

1200 Baud (application software) maps to 4800 Baud (target hardware)

2400 Baud (application software) maps to 9600 Baud (target hardware)

4800 Baud (application software) maps to 19200 Baud (target hardware)

9600 Baud (application software) maps to 38400 Baud (target hardware)

19200 Baud (application software) maps to 76800 Baud (target hardware)

38400 Baud (application software) maps to 153600 Baud (target hardware)

57600 Baud (application software) maps to 230200 Baud (target hardware)

115200 Baud (application software) maps to 460800 Baud (target hardware)

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4.1.2 Windows NT4 driver for MAP/950

Overview

The Windows NT4 driver creates a Device Object for each port, and registers this with the operating system. The

serial port driver enables the following 16C95x features:

• 128-byte receiver and transmitter FIFOs

• Optimized receiver interrupt handling – uses readable fill levels and thresholds

• Automatic clock speed detection

A separate parallel port driver is provided, which creates the device Object and registers it with the Printer class

driver.

Installation

Install the hardware by following system instructions. Power up the system. Then follow the instructions below

depending on which functions are required. To upgrade the NT4 driver, simply install over the existing version.

Serial driver

1. Run “Install_Serial.exe” from the \NT4_Serial subdirectory on the disk.

2. When the install application starts, click Next to continue

3. Ensure ‘install’ is selected, and then click Next.

4. Click OK to accept the licence agreement.

5. The system will install the driver and start it. The ports are immediately ready for use.

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5 USING THE SERIAL DRIVER

The serial drivers for Windows make use of a number of enhanced 95x UART features, and are highly

configurable. This section describes the configuration utilities, accessible through Device Manager, which can be

used to enable and configure the various features

The driver will install the correct number of serial ports and Windows will assign COM numbers to them (e.g.

COM5). You can then attach modems etc. to the ports and make use of them in the same fashion as any other

generic port. The serial driver has extra configuration options available over and above the standard ‘settings’ tab

supplied with the generic 16550 drivers. To adjust any of the UART parameters, follow these steps:

1. Click on Start / Settings / Control Panel

2. Double click “System” to bring up the system properties dialog box

3. Select the “Device Manager” tab of this dialog (with the “View devices by type” option selected

4. Now click on the [+] next to the “Ports (COM & LPT)” icon to show the list of installed COM ports

5. Double click on an PCI port to display the settings dialog for that port

The enhanced features are configurable through three dialog pages:

Settings - Standard port settings found on normal COM port settings pages

Data Rate - Advanced data rate selection options

FIFOs - Device mode selection and FIFO trigger level settings

5.1.1 Windows configuration

Settings

This page contains the standard Baud rate / Data bits / Parity / Stop bits and Flow control options found on most

COM port settings pages. These settings modify the default settings used by Windows. Most applications that use

COM ports will override these settings with their own comms parameters.

Data Rate

This page provides a list of common crystal values used with COM ports. Select “Detect crystal frequency” to

detect the input clock frequency to the UART. (This requires that the port be not currently in use by another

application).

The baud rate can optionally be adjusted according to the data rate required. To enable the advanced baud rate

configuration options, deselect the “Use default baud rate” box. In normal operation, the driver will generate the

desired baud rate from the crystal frequency. The quad speed option will multiply all application selected baud

rates by 4 by utilising the OX16C95x Times clock register (TCR). The driver can multiply this baud rate, or divide it

using the Clock Prescaler register (CPR).

The clock pre-divisor is used to divide the input clock prior to baud rate generation. This means a high-speed

crystal (E.g. 50MHz) can be pre-divided to generate standard baud rates (In this case 50 / 27.125 = 1.8433 MHz,

which will emulate a 1.8432 MHz crystal with less than 0.01% bit rate error). Alternatively, the pre-divisor could be

switched off to allow data rates up to 12.5Mbps to be generated.

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FIFOs

This page is used to configure the FIFO trigger levels, i.e. at what fill levels the device will generate an interrupt, or

apply automatic flow control. In addition, the FIFOs can be completely disabled; although this is not recommended

for normal operation.

The four sliders allow adjustment of the various trigger levels in 550 and 950 modes. These are described below:

• Transmitter FIFO interrupt trigger level - When the level of data in the transmit FIFO falls below this

value, a transmitter interrupt is triggered. Setting this value to zero will not trigger an interrupt until the

transmitter is completely idle.

• Receiver FIFO interrupts trigger level - When the level of data in the receiver FIFO reaches this value, a

receiver data interrupt is triggered.

• Flow On flow-control limit - When the level of data in the receiver FIFO reaches this value as data is read

from the FIFO, a handshake is triggered to instruct the remote transmitter that it is free to transmit data

(E.g. Transmit an XON character to the remote machine).

• Flow Off flow-control limit - When the level of data in the receiver FIFO reaches this value as it fills up, a

handshake is triggered to instruct the remote transmitter to stop sending data as the FIFO is becoming full.

(E.g. Transmit an XOFF character to the remote machine).

The FIFO trigger levels can be fine-tuned to gain optimum performance, depending on system performance, baud

rate used, levels of serial traffic etc.

5.1.2 Linux configuration

This adapter card design uses four (4) UART controllers with the following PCI IDs for a PnP enumeration under

Linux:

Vendor ID: 1415h

Device ID: 950Bh

Therefore, by design, this adapter card will be PnP enumerated and supported as an 4 channel RS422 adapter

card without add-on drivers, without kernel recompiles, without add-on modules.

By design, this adapter is PnP compatible with 2.4 and 2.6 kernels. In some cases, you will be required to expand

the # of serial ports to be larger than the default value of 4. The Grub loader may be used to expand this value at

boot time. Please contact Axxon technical support for assistance if the adapter card is not PnP supported for your

Linux distribution.

5.1.3 Apple configuration

By design, this adapter card is PnP supported on Apple MAC OS 9 and higher without the requirement of a device

driver. Simply power down your system -> remove the AC power cable to confirm that the power supply is

removed. Wait 30-60 seconds. Remove the computer case side panels on your chassis. Install our adapter card

into a free PCI Express expansion slot.