The VScom I-Series PCI controller offers a compact, low power, set of additional interfaces. All serial ports are built by 16550A-compatible UARTS with 16 byte FIFO. Two speed modes are available, "Enhanced" and "Compatibility". Each port may be used in different configurations of RS232, RS422 or RS485. The VScom 200I-SI PCI has optical isolation for each port. The VScom I-Series cards use a unique method called ART to control the data driver in RS485 modes. This enables the driver, when the port starts sending data. And when the transmission is finished, the driver is disabled immediately. The term "immediately" means within a quarter of a bit time.

1. With the I-series, there is one jumper for speed setting. It is located near the crystal. Pin 1 is marked, usually pins 2 and 3 are connected by a jumper cap.

   3

   o   o   o

   1

   Configure the speed setting according to your requirements. Without a jumper cap the card can not operate.

   Connect pins	Max. speed [bps]	Remarks
   2 and 3	921600	Enhanced speed option, recommended
   1 and 2	115200	Compatibility speed for direct port access

2. Each port may be used in different modes. These are defined by setting the configuration via the switches. Depending on your application, select the desired operation mode.

   VScom 200I(-SI) PCI	Switch S1 (COM-A) and S2 (COM-B), operation modes
   Mode	Typical use	1	2	3	4	Off bottom top On
   RS-232	Point to Point	Off	Off	On	On
   RS-422	Point to Multipoint	On	On	On	On
   RS-485 Full Duplex by ART	Transmit on Tx+/-, Receive on Rx+/-	On	On	On	Off
   RS-485 Half Duplex with Echo by ART	Transmit and Receive on Tx+/-, then named Data+/-	On	On	Off	On
   RS-485 Half Duplex no Echo by ART	Transmit or Receive on Tx+/-, then named Data+/-	On	On	Off	Off

   Please note: When using VScom 200I-SI PCI (optical isolated version) the signals DTR, DSR, DCD and RI are not available.
   
   On VScom 400I UPCI and VScom 800I UPCI the data driver control can use the RTS signal instead of operating with ART.

   VScom 400I & 800I UPCI	Switch S1 to S4 (S8) COM-A to COM-D (COM-H), operation modes
   Mode	Typical use	1	2	3	Off bottom top On
   RS-232	Point to Point	Off	On	On
   RS-422	Point to Multipoint	On	On	On
   RS-485 Full Duplex by ART	Transmit on Tx+/-, Receive on Rx+/-	On	On	Off
   RS-485 Half Duplex with Echo by ART	Transmit and Receive on Tx+/-, then named Data+/-	On	Off	On
   RS-485 Half Duplex no Echo by ART	Transmit or Receive on Tx+/-, then named Data+/-	On	Off	Off
   RS-485 Full Duplex by RTS	Transmit on Tx+/-, Receive on Rx+/-	Off	On	Off
   RS-485 Half Duplex with Echo by RTS	Transmit and Receive on Tx+/-, then named Data+/-	Off	Off	On
   RS-485 Half Duplex no Echo by RTS	Transmit or Receive on Tx+/-, then named Data+/-	Off	Off	Off

   Warning: mismatched operation modes between the communicating devices can cause serious damage. Especially, if only one of the partners is configured for RS232, and the other uses RS422 or RS485. This is caused by differing electrical specifications.

3. Sometimes when operating in RS422 or RS485, it is necessary to configure termination and biasing of the data transmission lines. Generally this must be done in the cabling, since this depends on the installation of the connections. For convenience the VScom I-Series boards provide options to do this. Since this are pure electrical items, it is done via jumpers. The jumpers are color-coded for better visibility. Close to activate the option. Here is the list of the available options.

   Configuration Header J2 (COM-A) and J3 (COM-B), RS485 termination and biasing
   Termination TxD	120 Ω Tx+ to Tx-	1-2	o o
   Bias Tx+	750 Ω Tx+ to VCC	3-4	o o
   Bias Tx-	750 Ω Tx- to GND	5-6	o o
   Termination RxD	120 Ω Rx+ to Rx-	7-8	o o
   Bias Rx+	750 Ω Rx+ to VCC	9-10	o o
   Bias Rx-	750 Ω Rx- to GND	11-12	o o
   Termination CTS	120 Ω CTS+ to CTS-	13-14	o o

   Before applying the option, check your cable specification for proper impedance matching.

4. Switch off the computer.

5. Insert the VScom I-Series PCI controller into a free PCI-Bus slot.
   

1. Switch on the computer and start Windows 95/98/ME.
2. Windows will automatically detect the PCI Serial Controller.
3. The Add New Hardware Wizard dialog box appears and searches for new drivers for PCI Serial Controller.
4. Click on "Next".
5. From the listed box, choose "Search for the best driver for your device".
6. Click on "Next".
7. If not done already, insert the driver CD into the CD-ROM drive.
8. From the generated choices, choose "Other location".
9. Select the directory "\Win95\PCI_Driver" ("\Win98\PCI_Driver", "\WinME\PCI_Driver") as the target. Click on "OK", and on "Next".
10. Windows searches for the driver, and detects the .inf-file on the CD. It is ready to install the driver for VScom I-Series Controller. Click on "Next".
11. If asked again for the driver disk, point to the same directory again.
12. Click on Finish.
13. Windows now detects the COM ports on the I-Series board.
14. If Windows requests the driver disk again, point to the "\Win95\PCI_Driver" ("\Win98\PCI_Driver", "\WinME\PCI_Driver") directory.
15. Windows will copy and install the driver for the new PCI ports.
16. Press "Yes" If asked if you want to restart your computer.
17. Computer restarts to finish the installation.

Checking installation
You can now verify the installation by looking at the "VScom Multi IO cards" section of the Device Manager (Go there by Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Device Manager). There you will find the new device "VScom 200I PCI Controller" listed. Select this, and open the properties. In the "advanced" tab, click the button to verify the speed setting from the hardware installation.
You may also rename the serial ports here.

To Uninstall Driver
To remove installed files and Windows registry information

1. Go to the "\Win95\PCI_Driver" ("\Win98\PCI_Driver", "\WinME\PCI_Driver") directory as described above.
2. Double click "VSCLEAN.EXE", and reboot your computer when asked to.

You need to have administrator privileges to install any new drivers under Windows 2000. To install the driver or update the configuration please log on to Windows as "Administrator" or ask your system administrator to install the VScom I-series PCI card and driver. Please proceed with the following steps to install the driver:

1. Switch on the computer and start Windows 2000/XP.
2. Log on as "Administrator"
3. Windows will automatically detect the PCI Serial Controller.
4. The Add New Hardware Wizard dialog box appears and searches for new drivers for PCI Serial Controller.
5. Click on "Next".
6. From the listed box, choose "Search for the best driver for your device".
7. Click on "Next".
8. If not done already, insert the driver CD into the CD-ROM drive.
9. From the generated choices, choose "CD-ROM drive".
10. Windows searches for the driver, and detects the .inf-file on the CD. It is ready to install the driver for VScom I-Series Controller. Click on "Next".
11. Click on Finish.
12. Windows now detects the COM ports on the I-Series board.
13. If Windows requests the driver disk again, point to the "\Win2000\PCI_Driver" ("\WinXP\PCI_Driver") directory.
14. Windows will copy and install the driver for the new PCI ports.
15. Press "Yes" If asked if you want to restart your computer.
16. Computer restarts to finish the installation.

Checking installation
You can now verify the installation by looking at the "VScom Multi IO cards" section of the Device Manager (Go there by Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager). There you will find the new device "VScom 200I PCI Controller" listed. Select this, and open the properties. In the "advanced" tab, click the button to verify the speed setting from the hardware installation.
You may also rename the serial ports here.

To Uninstall Driver
To remove installed files and Windows registry information

1. Go to the "\Win2000\PCI_Driver" directory as described above.
2. Double click "VSCLEAN.EXE", and reboot your computer when asked to.

You need to have administrator privileges to install any new drivers under Windows NT 4.0. To install the driver or update the configuration please log on to Windows NT 4.0 as "Administrator" or ask your system administrator to install the VScom I-series PCI card and driver. Please proceed with the following steps to install the driver:

1. Switch on the computer and start Windows NT 4.0.
2. Insert the supplied CD-ROM into the drive.
3. If your system is configured for Auto-start of CD-ROM, go to the products page, find your product and select driver. You'll find a link to the NT4 drivers directory.
4. Otherwise double click on "My Computer", and choose CD-ROM drive (D:)
5. Double Click "WinNT4".
6. Double Click "PCI_Driver".
7. Double click "install.exe".
8. Install.exe starts and requests confirmation of installation. You may change the target directory for the software. If there is a space in the name, please use the short name (e.g. PROGRA~1) instead.
9. Click Yes, and Reboot when requested.
10. Log on to NT as "Administrator" again. The "A new VScom Card was found." dialogue appears. Click "Configure".
11. The next panel shows the detected hardware. Click on "OK".
12. The installation is finished.
13. To install more boards, plug them into the computer, and log on as Administrator again. Proceed as above.

Checking installation
You can now verify the installation by looking at the "Administrative Tools" section of the "Windows NT Diagnostics (also called WinMSD" (Go there by Start - Setting - Windows NT Diagnostics - Administrative Tools - Resources). There you will find new device "vscnt" listed.
Double click on it, you will see the IRQ and I/O information.
Click on the right tab, you can see all the detailed information of IRQ, Input/Output & Memory Range used by PCI Ports.
Open "VScom PCI" in the control panel (Go there by Start - Setting - Control panel). Open "VS Cards" and double click on the detected controller to open the properties. In the "advanced" tab, click the button to verify the speed setting from the hardware installation.
You may also rename the serial ports here.

To Uninstall Driver
To remove installed files and Windows registry information

1. Go to the Control Panel.
2. Open the "Add/Remove programs" applet.
3. Select "Vscom drivers for ...".
4. Click "Remove".
5. "VScom install" requests to confirm the uninstall, Click "Yes".
6. Reboot the computer when requested.

1. The board is not found during or after installation
   

   -	The card is not seated properly in the PCI slot. Re-install the card in the PCI slot.

2. Made wrong selection of "Cancel" during installation. When re-install the driver Windows 95/98/2000 doesn't detect the card.
   

   -	The driver installation is not complete. Install the card in another PCI slot to initialize the installation again. Alternatively you may try to run VSCLEAN to remove the falsely installed driver.

3. During installation, NT4.0 shows blue screen (white-text-on-blue-background)
   

   -	In most cases, there is an IRQ conflict. The IRQ assigned to the board is in conflict with other devices. The VScom PCI driver supports IRQ sharing. However, some devices like network card or SCSI controller don't share IRQ with other devices.
   -	Be sure that your system has a free IRQ for the card. Enter "BIOS setup - PCI configuration", and set all IRQs to "PCI/ISA PnP" except for those non-PnP ISA components. This will bring up the maximum number of free IRQs in the system.
   -	Try to install the card to another PCI slot. To install the VScom PCI card to a different PCI slot will get a different IRQ assignment. Or, you can exchange the PCI slot with another card.

4. In the Event Viewer, error message shows "Another driver on the system, which did not report its resources, has already claimed the interrupt used by LPTx"
   

   -	please refer to symptom (3) about the IRQ conflict problem, and the solution.

5. Using RS485, the data transmission has errors
   

   -	Please check your BIAS and Termination resistors. Termination reduces signal reflection. BIAS helps in detecting the start of a new transmission.
   -	Further check if the signal GND of transmitter and receiver are connected. RS485 is often referred to as "2-wire", however connecting the GND is required. RS485 defines a so called "Common Voltage Range" of -7V to +12V. The only way to ensure this parameter is by connecting pin 5 (GND) with the logic GND of the transmitter.