Brainboxes CC-265 User manual

Hardware Manual
2
3
2
232
232
2.0 EDITION JUNE 1999
QUAD RS232

Guarantee.
FULL 36 MONTHS GUARANTEE.
We guarantee your Serial Port Card for a full 36 months from
purchase, parts and labour, provided it has been used in the
specified manner. In the unlikely event of failure return your
interface to your Dealer, with proof of purchase, who will
determine whether to repair or replace this product with an
equivalent unit.
COPYRIGHT.
COPYRIGHT © 1985-1999.
All rights reserved. No part of this hardware, circuitry or manual
may be duplicated, copied, transmitted or reproduced in any way
without the prior written consent of the Manufacturer.
Due to the Manufacturers commitment to quality, software is
subject to continuous improvements: information regarding
upgrades can be obtained from your supplier.
Serial Solutions is supplied to you by
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
IBM, COMPAQ, Hewlett Packard, H.P. and EPSON are
trademarks of the relevant companies. Windows is a trademark of
Microsoft.

PCI Quad RS232 Layout
INTRO 5
THE LAYOUT OF THIS MANUAL
Chapter 1 - PCI Quad RS232 Hardware
Configuration, after a brief discussion on the RS232
standard shows how to configure the settings of the
cards. Details of COM, IRQ and Shared Interrupt
mechanisms are given.
Chapter 2 – Installing the card into the PC, shows you
how to install the card into a IBM PC or compatible.
Chapter 3 – PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 4 – PCI Quad RS232 DOS Installation
Chapter 5 –RS232 Port Cabling

PCI Quad RS232 INDEX
INTRO 6
Index
THE LAYOUT OF THIS MANUAL..................................... 5
CHAPTER 1 PCI QUAD RS232 HARDWARE
CONFIGURATION. ....................................................8
Introduction...........................................................................8
PCI QUAD RS232 Card Features. ......................................... 8
CHAPTER 2 INSTALLING THE PC CARD IN
THE COMPUTER. ....................................................11
Serial Car rd Installation. ....................................................... 11
Problems! ............................................................................ 13
CHAPTER 3 PCI QUAD SOFTWARE
INSTALLATION .......................................................14
Introduction......................................................................... 14
Configuring Ports In Windows 3.x....................................... 14
Determining PCI Quad RS232 Resources. ........................... 14
Windows 3.x Software Installation....................................... 15
Serial Port Installation.......................................................... 17
Configuring The COM Ports................................................ 20
Deleting Ports in Windows. ................................................. 21
Restarting Windows............................................................. 21
Warning............................................................................... 21
Installing Ports In Microsoft Windows 95 & 98................... 22
Quad RS232 Card Settings................................................... 26
Quad RS232 Port Settings.................................................... 28
Configuring Ports In Microsoft Windows NT 4.0................. 31
Software Installation............................................................ 31
Examining Card Configuration. ........................................... 33
Configuring Ports. ............................................................... 34
Uninstalling Serial Solutions PCI......................................... 35
CHAPTER 4 PCI QUAD DOS INSTALLATION
PROCEDURE.............................................................36
Determining PCI Quad Resources........................................ 36
Informing The PC Of The Port Address............................... 37

PCI Quad RS232 INDEX
INTRO 7
Settings for DOS Software................................................... 39
I/O Address. ........................................................................ 41
Number Buffers................................................................... 42
Hardware Handshake........................................................... 42
Hardware Interrupt............................................................... 43
4 Port RS232 cards.............................................................. 44
Buffer Size. ......................................................................... 45
Software Handshaking......................................................... 46
Driver Defaults.................................................................... 46
CHAPTER 5 RS232 PINOUTS AND PORT
CABLING...................................................................48
Introduction......................................................................... 48
The RS232 Standard............................................................ 48
Serial Port Pin Outs. ............................................................ 49
9 Pin D Serial Port RS232 Cables. ....................................... 49
9 Pin D Serial Port Connection To Another PC.................... 50
9 Pin D Serial Port To A Modem......................................... 52
9 Pin D Serial Port Loop Back Connector............................ 52

PCI Quad RS232 Hardware Configuration
Chapter 1 Page 8
CHAPTER 1
PCI QUAD RS232 HARDWARE
CONFIGURATION.
Introduction.
This chapter explains how to configure the PCI QUAD RS232 in a
PC compatible.
This three quarter size RS232 card will work happily in any PC
compatible up to and exceeding Pentium III 550 MHz class
machines.
PCI QUAD RS232 Card Features.
•Four independent modified RS232 Serial ports.
•Reliable communications up to 50 feet, 15m, and beyond!
•100% PC Compatible serial port TI 16C554, up to 115,200
baud.
•Fully Plug and Play
•Operationally PCI 2.1 compliant
•Modem control TXD, RXD, DSR, DTR, RTS, and CTS
signals.
•Fully double buffered for reliable asynchronous operation.
•High-speed integrated circuitry ensures operation with fast
PC’s e.g. 550 MHz Pentium III WITHOUT extra wait states.
•16554 FIFO provides 16-byte input and 16-byte output buffer
on each port.

PCI Quad RS232 Hardware Configuration
Chapter 1 Page 9
The PCI QUAD RS232 has the following features:
Baud Rate: 50 Baud to 115200 Baud.
Word Length: 5, 6, 7 or 8 bits.
Parity: Even, Odd, None, Mark or Space.
Start Bit: 1 start bit always sent.
Stop Bits: 1, (1.5 for 5 bit data word length) or 2.
Clock Input: 1.8432 MHz.

PCI Quad RS232 Hardware Configuration
Chapter 1 Page 10
Figure 1-1. PCI QUAD RS232 Layout
PCI QUAD RS232 Specifications:
Dimensions: 105 x 170 mm, 4.13 x 6.8 in
I/O Connection: 4 nine pin serial ports
Serial Port 1: 9 pin Male D type.
Serial Port 2: 9 pin Male D type.
Serial Port 3: 9 pin Male D type.
Serial Port 4: 9 pin Male D type.
The PCI Quad is fully Plug and Play, it’s address and interrupt
settings will be fully configured by YOUR system.

PCI Quad RS232 Installing the Card
Chapter 2 Page 11
CHAPTER 2
INSTALLING THE PC CARD
IN THE COMPUTER.
Serial Car rd Installation.
Once the card has been correctly configured it can then be
installed in the PC. For the PCI card it is best to make a note of the
serial port I/O address selection and if appropriate IRQ jumper
settings for later use.
Finally cables should be attached and communication with
the serial peripheral devices should be established.
Provided that the RS232 installation is attacked in this
orderly manner, everything should work first time. If it does not
then check the software selectable communications parameters,
Baud rate, Parity, stop bits first, and that the communications
program is attempting to access the serial port installed. If this fails
to solve the problem check the cable connections. Finally check
that the card is indeed configured as you believed.!
NOTE: Always turn the computer OFF before installing or
removing any interface board..!!!
After having made sure that the I/O address and if appropriate
jumpers are correctly set, now is the time to insert the PC Serial
card into the I/O connector slots in the computer.
STEP 1: Before the PC card can be installed the power to the PC
MUST be switched OFF!
STEP 2: Remove the case.

PCI Quad RS232 Installing the Card
Chapter 2 Page 12
Figure 2-1. Removing Blanking Cover
STEP 3: Choose an empty appropriate
expansion slot. Remove the blanking cover
protecting the slot on the PC back panel.
KEEP the blanking cover screw safely for later
(Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-2. Inserting The PC Serial Card.
STEP 4: Now insert the PC Serial card in
the available slot. Be careful to ensure that
the gold plated PCB fingers fits neatly into
the I/O expansion connector. Press down
firmly but evenly on the top of the PC Serial
card (Figure 2-2).
STEP 5: The D connectors should fit neatly through the slot’s aperture to
the outside world. NB. Use the screw kept back from the blanking cover
to screw the PC Serial retaining bracket into the PC back panel housing.
STEP 6: Now replace the system units cover by carefully sliding
it down and back over the system unit. Replace the cover
mounting screws.
STEP 7: After attaching all the monitor and keyboard cables,
power up the PC. Do not forget the mains power cable!
The PC should power on in the normal way.

PCI Quad RS232 Installing the Card
Chapter 2 Page 13
Problems!
If the system fails to power up normally check the following.:
i.) Ensure that the PC Serial card is installed correctly.
ii.) Ensure that other cards in the PC have not been upset.
iii.) Ensure that the power is connected and the PC is switched
ON!
n If all these have been checked and the PC still does not
power up then there is probably a fault in the hardware. Please
contact technical support.

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 14
CHAPTER 3
PCI QUAD SOFTWARE
INSTALLATION
Introduction.
This section describes the software installation procedure
allowing the PCI Quad RS232 to be configured within the
Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98 and Windows NT operating
systems.
The setup procedures in this chapter assume that your PC has only
COM1 present.
Configuring Ports In Windows 3.x
The Windows 3.x installation procedure consists of 2 steps after the PCI Quad
RS232 card is inserted:
1. Determining the resources that the PCI Quad RS232 has
claimed.
2. Informing Windows 3.x of those resources.
Determining PCI Quad RS232 Resources.
•Insert card into PC, as described in Chapter 2.
•If you are installing from floppy disk run BBCARDS.EXE,
from the supplied DOS driver disk titled "Serial Solutions
Utility Disk" by typing the following:
HVMZI"@4'-@&&'%6(7
•If you are installing from the Serial Solutions CDROM the path
will be HVMZI"@HMWOMQK@WWYXMP@TGM@FFGEVHW
Where HVMZI"@ is the drive containing the supplied disk.
BBCARDS.EXE will return a string that looks similar to
the following (values contained in the string may differ in
individual PC’s due to resource availability):

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 15
GEVHMWSRFYWHIZMGIJYRGXMSR
'EVH-(!VIZMWMSR5YEH
 MRXIVVYTXPMRI-65 LEWFIIREWWMKRIH
 WIXWSJGSQTEXMFPIVIKMWXIVW EVIEX &ERO  -3EHHVIWW**
 7-76MWEX-3EHHVIWW**%
 &EYHGPSGOGSRXVSPMWEX-3EHHVIWW**'
 ;VMXI\JJSVHIJEYPX\JJSV\HJSV\HJSV
•Note down IRQ, I/O address and SISR (the SISR is the Shared
Interrupt Status Register, which is a read only register which
returns an index value that identifies which port on the card has
an interrupt awaiting servicing by the driver software.) In our
example:
The IRQ = 11
The I/O address = FF40
The SISR = FFA0
Windows 3.x Software Installation.
Place the Serial Solutions for Windows 3.x disk into a
suitable drive. From the File Menu choose ‘Run’ and enter
“a:\setup” (where a: is the path to the floppy drive with the
installation disk).
If you are installing from the Serial Solutions CDROM you will
need to insert the disk into your CDROM drive select File, Run
and type in the path <disk>:\diskimg\sswin3x\setup.exe where
<drive>:\ is the letter of your CDROM drive.

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 16
•Click OK, the Setup Program Main Screen is displayed:
By default, all component options will be installed, selecting the
"Del All" button will select all installed components for deletion
and "Add All" chooses all uninstalled components for installation;
options may not be changed when the components are installed.
For further details on the Component Options consult the
README.TXT file on the supplied disk.
If only logical ports COM1 to COM9 are to be used then
de-select the Comms API library option in the "Install" column.
This library is only necessary to allow the use of logical ports
greater than COM9 e.g. COM10, COM11 etc.
•When you have made your choice of Component Options click
Continue and when the setup program has finished select the
Done button.
Note: If the Serial Port driver option has been selected, after the
setup program has finished, Windows will display a restart
message - answer Yes and Serial Solutions will be ready to run
upon Windows restarting.

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 17
Serial Port Installation.
•From Main, select Control Panel:
•Click on Serial Ports:
The following dialogue will be displayed:

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 18
Figure 5-2. PCI Quad Serial Card Settings.
Multiport Settings:-
j Each Port should have the Multiport button selected, this tells
Windows 3.x that the port is one of several ports using a SISR
(shared interrupt status register).
k The SISR Base address must be set as indicated by the
BBCARDS program.
l The Card Port setting tells Windows whether this is the first,
second, third or fourth port of the Quad card.
Standard Settings:-
m The COM Base is determined from the Bank Address.
n The IRQ must be set as indicated by the BBCARDS program.
o The UART on the port is 16550 UART.
p Having selected the 16550 you can then set the FIFO level at
16 bytes.
j
k
l
m
n
p
o

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 19
To add a COM port:
•Click on the add button and a Window similar to the following
will be displayed:
•In Multiport Settings:
•Select the Multiport radio button.
•In SISR base box, enter a SISR value of 0104 (this
value was returned by the BBCARDS program, as
described in the above section.)
•In the Card’s Port field enter a value of 1, as this is the
first port of the PCI Quad RS232 to be installed.
•In Standard Settings:
•In the COM Base field, enter the value 0140 (this value
was returned by the BBCARDS program, as described
in the above section.)
Note: COM ports are defined with an i/o address range,
which in this case begins at 0140, and all subsequent
ports have an i/o address that is 8 higher than the
previous. i.e. if COM2(Port1) has an address of 0140h,
then COM3(Port2) will have an address of 0148h,
COM4(port3) an address of 0150h etc.
•In the IRQ field, enter the value 11 (this value was
returned by the BBCARDS program, as described in
the above section.)

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 20
•When you have finished, click on OK. A restart message will
be displayed; to save time only restart when all four ports have
been added and correctly configured.
•Repeat the above process to add the next 3 COM ports of the
PCI Quad RS232 . For example, for the second port of the PCI
Quad RS232 (designated COM3) the SISR value of 0104 will
remain the same, the Card’s Port value will be 2 (the second
port of the Quad RS232 card), COM base will be 0148 and the
IRQ value is 11. After adding the remaining COM ports the
COM Ports Window will look similar to the following:
Configuring The COM Ports.
•From the COM Ports window choose the port that you wish to
configure and click on Settings - the following dialogue will
be displayed:
Note: A port that has been added has the default values of:

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 21
Baud Rate: 9600
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1.0
Flow: None:
Change the communications Settings in the COM Ports to
match the baud rate, parity settings etc. of the remote serial device.
Deleting Ports in Windows.
The Delete button can be used to discard the entries of
ports that have been removed from the system.
Note: Never try to leave out a serial port number when using the
delete button, because Windows may automatically shift serial port
numbers which results in a mis-match of settings in the Serial
Ports Applet (COM1-COM4 only).
Restarting Windows.
Whenever certain values have been entered or changed in the
hardware settings window, a message prompting to restart
Windows will appear. Only after having made ALL the necessary
changes restart Windows so that the new settings come into effect.
Warning
Due to the nature of ‘Plug and Play’, changes in system can lead to
changes in resources allocated to a ‘P & P’ device.
If you alter your system configuration in any way after installing
your PCI Quad RS232 card, you will need to run BBcards to verify
the resources allocated to that card.

PCI Quad RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 22
Installing Ports In Microsoft Windows 95 & 98.
Although covering the installation of the Quad RS232 into
the Windows 95 operating system, the procedure is also valid, with
only minor differences, in the Windows 98 Operating System. The
Windows 95 environment now supports up to 255 standard serial
ports, RS232, RS422, RS485 etc.
To obtain a trouble free mix-and-match of the COM ports:
•Switch off your computer, insert your Quad RS232 card into a
free PCI slot, as described in the section "Hardware
Installation" in Chapter 2, and switch your computer on again.
•During the booting process, Windows 95 will detect Quad
RS232, but will display it simply as a "PCI CARD", and you
will briefly see a message box to this effect.
•Windows will then display the "Update Device Driver Wizard",
which asks you to “insert any disk which came with the PCI
card”. Insert the Serial Solutions CDROM into an appropriate
drive and click 'Next'.