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- VScom serial cards and Linux
- Windows 2000
- VScom serial cards and OS/2
- VScom interfaces and Novell Netware 4.10
- Operating VScom PCI cards in DOS
- VScom PCI cards in other operating systems
- ISA-cards are installed correct, but do not operate
- How to replace an RS-232 Connection by RS-422?
- ISA-Bus and IRQ-Sharing?
- How to operate COM10 to COMxx?
- Printer (ZIP, Scanner,...) installation in NT fails with PCI parallel ports?
- Windows NT "Cannot read EEPROM"?
- TURBO-series, how to install in Windows NT?
- PRO-series, operating in Windows 2000
- Wich question is missing in this FAQ?
Linux:
There is a new driver for our PCI-series available for download. This driver requires the Kernel version 2.2, it is optimized for the SUSE-Distribution.
In the older Kernel version 2.0 the PCI cards are configured with our tool VSCARDCFG. Just run it, it will establish all necessary settings.
To manually install PCI- or ISA-cards, there is a prepared documentation, describing the installation of serial ports. This is the option always possible, regardless of kernel version or distribution.
Windows 2000:
The drivers are available in the download area. Known problems:
-
The PCI boards have two possible speed settings. Installation always assumes
high speed. I.e. the maximum baudrate is 921.600bps. Sometimes this is not the
real configuration of the board. But for ease of installation the driver does
not check the speed while installing.
Please use the "Check" button in the "Advanced" panel of the serial card. - ZIP-Drives can operate at the parallel ports. If the port shall be uninstalled, it is necessary to uninstall the drive first. Otherwise Windows 2000 does not boot any more. This is a problem in the ZIP-Driver.
OS/2:
In OS/2 serial ports are generally installed using the SIO-driver. The reason is, the standard driver COM.SYS is not flexible enough, to handle various situations. These Instructions show the necessary steps.
Netware:
Specific informations in this (.pdf) instruction.
DOS:
Our boards, including the PCI-series, operate in DOS. However there are important items, to be checked on the target system. When everything is specified, you can find instructions for DOS here.
Other operating systems:
Of course it is impossible to give a detailed instruction for all cases. But there are general hints, which should meet most situations.
ISA, problems with IRQ:
Probably the selected IRQ is not occupied by a device, but it is unavailable on the ISA-Bus. These settings have to be changed to correct the problem. They are necessary for all ISA-boards.
RS232 => RS422:
It's very easy to change between RS232 and RS422, if You carefully pay attention to these items.
IRQ-Sharing on the ISA-Bus:
Normally it's impossible to share an IRQ between two ISA-cards. This also applys to different components of ISA-cards. But VScom cards with four and more ports have the possibility to do this, because of a special logic on the cards.
And how to program it? In most cases the operating system is responsible for all these things. If You want to program the hardware dirctly (i.e. under DOS), You must bear in mind the following items: An ISA-IRQ is not triggered by an activ level, but by the change into the activ state. If an IRQ happens the ISR has to treat all possible sources until a complete sequence without any demand is passed. Just after this it is sure, that the next IRQ can be detected and triggered by the interruptcontroller.
COM1 to COM9 is OK, but COM10... (Win32):
Very frequently Windows programs refuse to operate with COM10 or higher. What is the reason?
A) The program is an old 16-bit application. In this case COM9 is the highest available interface.
B) The program offers a list of ports, only containing COM1 through COM9. Please contact the programmer.
C) The program does not open the port in the correct way, please contact the programmer. Probably a name like "COM11:" is used to select the port. This is not allowed. The correct name is "\\.\COM11", i.e. with <Backslash><Backslash><Dot><Backslash> as prefix; additional there must not be a colon at the end. This Method also operates with COM1 through COM9.
Printer under NT, PCI-LPT:
Description:
The PCI-parallel port installs without problems and error messages. Later a modern printer is installed at this port. Now there are a lot of error messages while printing to this device, e.g. claiming the cable is broken.
This problem is very good known, it also affects ZIP-drives, Scanner, Dongles and other devices.
Technical background:
The printer driver attempts to get enhanced information from the printer, by reading data from the parallel port. Unfortunately the port driver of NT does not support reading data. Please note the difference between the driver for the port and for the printer. So the printer driver uses its own routines to access the parallel port,
bypassing the port driver.
To do this, the driver must have exact information about the hardware. LPT2 is only a name, neither an address nor an IRQ.
The setup programs of common printers fail to collect this information. Especially with PCI these settings are dynamic, and partly (IRQ) unknown to NT. This is definitely an error in the printer software. VS is very confident the manufactures will change this in the near future, since Intel removed the ISA bus from the PC.
Solution:
Please disable the bidirectional communication in the settings of the port and the printer. Then there will be no attempt to read data from the parallel port. No more error messages.
Options:
If you definitely need this extended information, there are two ways to proceed.
- Get an ISA card for parallel port, set this to
Address 0278h, IRQ 5.
These are the compatible settings the printer driver expects. We also offer these products. - Send this information to the manufactfurer of the printer. They should come up with a better installation program. At least the setup program should ask the administrator about the hardware configuration.
Windows NT "Cannot read EEPROM":
Frequently (in modern computers) the installation program DRVCONF displays the error message "Cannot read EEPROM" when installing PCI cards. The reason is, the installation program can not read the serial number of the card(s). Later the driver also will have this problem.
The basic source for this is a wrong configuration of the PCI bus. The chipset collects subsequent write accesses, delays them, and later executes them as a burst. While this approach is effective when accessing memory, it massively hinders the access/control of hardware via I/O-accesses. With these accesses the PCI chipset must not use this method, since it destroys a programmed timing. Unfortunately this configuration is out of the control of the user, maybe the chipset itself can not make a difference between memory and I/O.
Now there is an alternative driver. This does not identify the board by serial number, but by the mechanical position. So the settings get lost if the board is placed in another slot. This driver is also available for download.
PRO-Series, working under Win2000:
VScom does not develop drivers for Windows 2000, to install the PRO-series cards there. One option is to use the driver for NT4.
As an alternative the Windows 2000 driver from Microsoft should be used. This is the supported option. The installation is similar to the procedure for the TURBO-series. The only step to do first is to configure the card using the DOS-utility CARDCONF, before starting the Windows 2000 system. Afterwards the card can be used as any other ISA card. This is also true for any operating system.