Brainboxes CC-618 Installation instructions

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1.0 EDITION December 1998
Photon
4 Port RS232
,EVH[EVI1ERYEP

Guarantee.
FULL 36 MONTHS GUARANTEE.
We guarantee your interface 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 © 1985-1998.
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 Manufacturerscommitment to quality, software is
subject to continuous improvements: information regarding
upgrades can be obtained from your supplier.
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 Photon 4 Port RS232 Layout
INTRO 3
PHOTON 4 PORT RS232 MANUAL
THE LAYOUT OF THIS MANUAL
Chapter 1 - PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Hardware
Configuration, Summarises the features of the PCI
Photon 4 Port RS232 Card, describes the two
configurable options and lists all the possible DIP Switch
options settable on the card.
Chapter 2 – Installing the card into the PC,
Explains how to open the PC and insert a new serial card
Chapter 3 – PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software
Installation
This chapter details how to install and configure the
Photon 4 Port RS232 Card in Windows 3.x, Windows
95/98 and Windows NT.
Chapter 4 – RS232 Port Cabling

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Index
INTRO 4
Index
PHOTON 4 PORT RS232 MANUAL .........................3
CHAPTER 1 HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS......6
Introduction........................................................................... 6
WARNING For Windows 98 Users Only.............................. 6
PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card Features............................... 6
PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card Specifications...................... 7
Configuring PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Cards......................... 7
CHAPTER 2 INSTALLING THE CARD .................8
Serial Car rd Installation. ......................................................... 8
Problems!............................................................................ 10
CHAPTER 3 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION.........11
Introduction......................................................................... 11
Configuring Ports In Windows 3.x....................................... 11
Determining PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Resources............... 11
Serial Solutions Installation for Windows 3.x...................... 13
Serial Port Installation. ........................................................ 14
Adding an PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Serial Card................. 15
Settings for Photon 4 Port RS232 Card COM1 Present........ 17
Settings for Photon Card COM1 & 2 Present....................... 18
Settings for Photon Card COM1 to 4 Present....................... 19
Configuring The COM Ports................................................ 20
Changing Serial Port Settings.............................................. 20
Deleting Ports in Windows. ................................................. 21
Restarting Windows............................................................. 21
Configuring Ports in Windows 95 and 98. ........................... 22
Windows 95/98 Installation Procedures............................... 22
PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card Settings In Win95/98.......... 24
Force Configuration............................................................. 25
PCI Photon Card Port Settings In Win 95/98....................... 26
Maximum Baud Rate Settings.............................................. 27
Configuring PCI Photon Ports In Windows NT. .................. 30
Software Installation............................................................ 30
Examining Card Configuration............................................ 31

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Index
INTRO 5
Changing Serial Port Settings.............................................. 32
Advanced Port Settings........................................................ 33
Uninstalling Serial Solutions for Windows NT.................... 35
CHAPTER 4 RS232 PINOUTS AND PORT
CABLING...................................................................36
Introduction......................................................................... 36
The RS232 Standard............................................................ 36
Serial Port Pin Outs............................................................. 37
9 Pin D Serial Port Connection To Another PC. .................. 38
9 Pin D Serial Port To A Modem......................................... 40
9 Pin D Serial Port Loop Back Connector............................ 40
The Photon 4 Port RS232 Cable Pinouts.............................. 43

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Specifications
Chapter 2 Page 6
CHAPTER 1
HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS
Introduction.
This chapter details the specifications of the PCI Photon 4
Port RS232 serial card. These half-sized cards will work happily
in any PCI 2.0 (or greater) compliant PC compatible.
WARNING For Windows 98 Users Only.
Each PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card should be fully installed
before adding additional PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 cards.
PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card Features.
* Four independent RS232 Serial ports.
* Reliable communications up to 50 feet, 15m, and beyond!
* 100% 16C550 PC Compatible serial port, up to 230,400 baud.
16550 Compatible FIFO provides 128 byte input and 128 byte
output buffer on each port.
* Full modem control TXD, RXD, DSR, DCD, DTR, RTS, CTS
and RI signals.
* Fully double buffered for reliable asynchronous operation.
High speed integrated circuitry ensures operation with fast PC’s
e.g. 500 MHz Pentium II .
* Fully PCI 2.1 compliant.
* Fully Plug and Play
* Interrupt sharing system allows all ports to use a single interrupt
line while preventing any one port from hogging the processor.

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Specifications
Chapter 2 Page 7
PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card Specifications.
Dimensions: 4.8 x 3.8 in, 120 x 95 mm
I/O Connection: 37 way female D connector
Fully moulded 4 port cable with EITHER 9
or 25 pin D connectors.
Also, refer to Chapter 4 "RS232 Pinouts and Port Cabling" for
more detailed information on RS232 cabling, ports and pinouts.
Configuring PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Cards.
The PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 cards are fully “plug and
play”, and require no hardware configuration. They can be
installed "directly from the box".

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Installing the Card
Chapter 2 Page 8
CHAPTER 2
INSTALLING THE CARD
Serial Car rd Installation.
Once the card has been correctly configured then it can be
installed in the PC. For the PCI card it is best to make a note of the
Bank I/O address and IRQ jumper settings for later use.
After installing the card and configuring the software the
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 Photon 4 Port RS232 Installing the Card
Chapter 2 Page 9
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 2-14).
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 2-15).
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.
Attach all the cables.
The PC should power on in the normal way.

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Installing the Card
Chapter 2 Page 10
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 conflict of I/O address between
the PC Serial card and another board in the PC. Ask your dealer to
check this

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 11
CHAPTER 3
SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
Introduction.
This section describes the software installation procedure allowing
the PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 to be configured within the
Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98 and Windows NT operating
systems.
Configuring Ports In Windows 3.x
The Windows 3.x installation procedure consists of 3 steps:
1. Insert the PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Card into a free PCI slot
and power up the PC.
2. Determine the resources that the PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 has
claimed.
3. Inform Windows 3.x of those resources.
Determining PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Resources.
•Insert the card into a PC, as described in Chapter 2, power up
the PC
•From DOS Run BBCARDS.EXE, Found on the HandyWEB
CDROM, by typing the following:
HVMZI"@HVMZIVW@WTIIH@[MR@FFGEVHW
Where <drive>is the drive containing the supplied disk.
BBCARDS.EXE will display a message that looks similar
to the following ( the values displayed may differ due to resource
availability):

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 12
PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Users:
GEVHMWSRFYWHIZMGIJYRGXMSR
'EVH-(!VIZMWMSR4LSXSR4SVX67
 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 the IRQ, I/O address and SISR Address values
In our example:
The IRQ = 11
The IRQ is the interrupt line shared amongst the Photon 4 Port
RS232 card’s serial ports
The Bank address = FF40
The Bank address determines the COM Port Base addresses in the
following manner:
COM Base of port 1 = the Bank Address
COM Base of port 2 = the Bank Address + 8hex
COM Base of port 3 = the Bank Address + 10hex
COM Base of port 4 = the Bank Address + 18hex
The SISR Address = FFA0
The SISR Address is the Shared Interrupt Status Register, this is a
read-only register indicating which of the four serial ports requires
service by the driver software.

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 13
Serial Solutions Installation for Windows 3.x
To install the software from the supplied disk, insert the
disk, from Windows Program Manager’s File menu choose
"Run" and in the Command Line entry window type
<drive:>\diskimg\sswin3x\setup.exe (CDROM) or
<drive:>\setup.exe (FLOPPY)
(where <drive:> is the path to installation disk).
Selecting the "OK" button shows the setup program main
Selecting the "OK" button shows the setup program main screen,
Figure 4-1, which will automatically select components for
installation that have not already been installed. Selecting the "Del
All" button will select all installed components for deletion and
selecting "Add All" chooses all uninstalled components for
installation. Several of the components have user selectable
parameters, e.g. target install directory, which can be changed by
clicking on the button. These options may not be changed once
the components have been installed. A README.TXT file on the
disk contains details of the latest updates to this software,
Note: If it is necessary to re-install an OLDER version of a
component then the NEWER version component must be FIRST
removed by selecting the component’s button in the "Uninstall"
column then selecting the "Continue" button.
If only logical ports COM1 to COM9 are to be used then
de-select the Comms API library option button in the "Install"
column. This library is only necessary to allow the use of logical
ports greater than COM9 e.g. COM10, COM11 etc.

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 14
Figure 3-1. Setup Program Main Display.
Selecting the Continue button will start the installation process.
When the setup program has finished select the Done button. A
Windows restart message will be shown only if the Windows
communications driver option has been selected, and you should
choose Yes to allow the new driver to run.
Serial Port Installation.
•From Main, select Control Panel:

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 15
•Click on Serial Ports:
The following dialogue will be displayed:
Adding an PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Serial Card.
For each port on the Photon 4 Port RS232 card we need to
ADD a port and fill in the following 7 settings in the order given.
Default values for the communications settings are given
whenever the ADD button is used, 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data
bits and 1 stop bit.

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 16
Figure 3-2. PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 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 Photon 4 Port RS232 card.
Standard Settings:-
m The COM Base is determined from the Bank Address as
described above, P63.
n The IRQ must be set as indicated by the BBCARDS program.
o The UART on the photon port is an enhanced 16550 called the
16950.
p Having selected the 16950 you can then set the FIFO level at
128 bytes.
j
k
l
m
n
p
o

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 17
Settings for Photon 4 Port RS232 Card COM1 Present
COM
Port SISR Card Port COM Base IRQ UART FIFO Trip
BBCARDS
Values * FFA0 FF40 11
COM2 FFA0 1 FF40 11 16950 Default
COM3 FFA0 2 FF48 11 16950 Default
COM4 FFA0 3 FF50 11 16950 Default
COM5 FFA0 4 FF58 11 16950 Default
*The BBCARDS Values may be different from your machine.
NOTE: The only settings that change from port to port are the COM
Base and the Card Port Settings
Card Port 1
Card Port 2
Card Port 3
Card Port 4

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 18
Settings for Photon Card COM1 & 2 Present
COM
Port SISR Card Port COM Base IRQ UART FIFO Trip
BBCARDS
Values* FF80 FFC0 10
COM3 FF80 1 FFC0 10 16950 Default
COM4 FF80 2 FFC8 10 16950 Default
COM5 FF80 3 FFD0 10 16950 Default
COM6 FF80 4 FFD8 10 16950 Default
*The BBCARDS Values may be different from your machine.
NOTE: The only settings that change from port to port are the COM
Base and the Card Port Settings
Card Port 1
Card Port 2
Card Port 3
Card Port 4

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 19
Settings for Photon Card COM1 to 4 Present
COM
Port SISR Card Port COM Base IRQ UART FIFO Trip
BBCARDS
Values* FFE0 FFC0 5
COM5 FFE0 1 FFC0 5 16950 Default
COM6 FFE0 2 FFC8 5 16950 Default
COM7 FFE0 3 FFD0 5 16950 Default
COM8 FFE0 4 FFD8 5 16950 Default
*The BBCARDS Values may be different from your machine.
NOTE: The only settings that change from port to port are the COM
Base and the Card Port Settings
Card Port 1
Card Port 2
Card Port 3
Card Port 4

PCI Photon 4 Port RS232 Software Installation
Chapter 3 Page 20
Select the OK button to finish adding the port. This will display a
Windows restart message, but do not restart until you have
installed all four ports. Be sure to restart Windows after all serial
ports have been added so that the new configuration takes effect.
Figure 3-3. After Adding a PHOTON Card (COM1 present).
Note: Adding a port automatically sets default values for the
communications settings to 9600 baud, no parity, 8 data bits and 1
stop bit. These values can be changed as described below.
Configuring The COM Ports.
Figure 3-4 PCI Photon Card Comms Settings
Changing Serial Port Settings
Once the Photon 4 Port RS232 card has been installed it
may be necessary to change the communications settings in the
COM Ports to match the baud rate, parity settings etc. of the
remote serial device.