Brainboxes CC-246, 1 Port Rs232 Card User Manual

Brain Boxes

1 Port Rs232 Card

By Paul D. Sinclair

1 Port RS232 Card Contents • i

Contents

Information 1

Guarantee.........................................................................................................1

COPYRIGHT. ..................................................................................................1

BRAIN BOXES LIMITED...............................................................................1

Chapter 1 Serial Solutions Software 3

Introduction......................................................................................................3

Introducing Serial Solution Software.................................................................3

Serial Solutions For DOS..................................................................................3

Serial Solutions For Windows 3.x......................................................................4

Serial Solutions For Windows 9x.......................................................................5

Serial Solutions For Windows NT.....................................................................5

Serial Solutions for Windows 2000....................................................................5

Complete Documentation and Technical Backup...............................................6

Chapter 2 Hardware Configuration 7

Hardware Co nfigura tion....................................................................................7

Chapter 3 Installing the Card 9

Installing The 1 Port RS232 Card In The Computer........................................... 9

STEP 1:Remove Cover Mounting Screws..........................................................9

STEP 2:Remove The PC Cover.........................................................................9

STEP 3: Remove the Blanking Cover..............................................................10

STEP 4: I ns ert The Ca r d .................................................................................10

STEP 5: Secure the Card into Your PC............................................................ 10

STEP 6: Replace Cover ...................................................................................11

STEP 7: Reattach All Cables...........................................................................11

Problems!.......................................................................................................11

Chapter 4 DOS Installation 13

Dos Installation ...............................................................................................13

Determining PCI Dual RS232 Resources.........................................................13

NEWCOM.SYS Parameters............................................................................ 13

Configuring And Installing NEWCOM.SYS....................................................14

Modifying Command Line Parameters. ...........................................................15

Chapter 5 Windows 3.x Installation 17

Introduction....................................................................................................17

Determining PCI 1 Port RS232 Resources.......................................................17

Driver Installation.........................................................................................................18

Serial Port Installation...................................................................................................19

Serial Port Configuration..............................................................................................20

Deleting Ports in Windows 3.x......................................................................................22

Restarting Windows........................................................................................22

1 Port RS232 Card Contents • ii

Chapter 6 Windows 95 Installation 25

Introduction....................................................................................................25

Instal ling the Drive r......................................................................................................25

Checking Card Installation............................................................................................27

Card Configuration.......................................................................................................27

Port Configuration........................................................................................................ 30

Open the Device Manager...............................................................................30

Chapter 7 Windows 98/Millenium Installation 33

Windows 98/Millenium Installation.................................................................33

Driver Installation.........................................................................................................33

Checking your Installation...............................................................................34

Card Configuration.......................................................................................................35

Open the Device Manager...............................................................................35

Port Configuration........................................................................................................ 37

Open the Device Manager...............................................................................37

Chapter 8 Windows NT4 Installation 41

Introduction....................................................................................................41

Driver Installation.........................................................................................................41

Checking Your Installation..............................................................................42

Port Configuration........................................................................................................ 43

Advanced Port Settings...................................................................................45

Uninstalling Serial Solutions PCI. ...................................................................45

Chapter 9 Windows 2000 Installation 47

Introduction....................................................................................................47

Driver Installation.........................................................................................................47

Card Configuration.......................................................................................................51

Port Configuration........................................................................................................ 53

Chapter 10 RS232 Pinouts and Cabling 57

Introduction....................................................................................................57

Serial Port Pin Outs.........................................................................................57

9 Pin D Serial Port RS232 Cables....................................................................58

9 Pin D Serial Port Connection To Another PC................................................58

9 Pin D Serial Port To Other PC Cable............................................................59

9 Pin D Serial Port To A Modem.....................................................................59

9 Pin D Serial Port Loop Back Connector........................................................60

9 To 25 Way Adapter......................................................................................61

Index 63

1 Port RS232 Card Contents • 1

Information

Guarantee.

FULL 36 MONTHS GUARANTEE.

BRAIN BOXES guarantee your Serial Port Card for a full 36 months from

purchase, p arts and l abour, p rovided i t has been used in the specified manner. In

the unlikely event of failure return your interface to BRAIN BOXES or to your

Dealer, with proof of purchase, who will determine whether to repair or replace

this product with an equivalent unit.

COPYRIGHT.

COPYRIGHT © 1985-2000 BRAIN BOXES LIMITED.

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 BRAIN BOXES.

Due to Brain Boxes commitment to quality, software is subject to

continuous improvements: upgrades can be obtained from :

www.brainboxes.com/software

BRAIN BOXES LIMITED.

Unit 3C, Wavertree Boulevard South,

Wavert ree Technology Park,

Liverpool,

L7 9PF,

England.

Telephone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

sal e s @brainboxes.com

Web: www.brainboxes.com

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 1 • 3

Chapter 1
Serial Solutions Software

Introduction

This chapter is a brief description of the Serial Solutions software package; this

can also be purchased SEPARATELY and is available from YOUR DEALER.

Introducing Serial Solution Software.

The perfect partner for any Serial Port is Serial Solutions Software! Serial

Solutions is a fully featured suite of programs designed to squeeze the most from

PC serial communications.

Serial Solutions is made up of the following components: -

Serial Solutions for DOS

Serial Solutions for Windows 3.x

Serial Solutions for Windows 9x

Serial Solutions for Windows NT

Serial Solutions for Windows 2000

All the Serial Solutions drivers have the following features: -

• Drivers for PC FIFO UARTs e.g. 16550 as well as the new

improved 32 byte 16650 and 64 byte 16750 UARTs.

• Support for any mix of RS232, RS422, and RS485 handshake

schemes.

• Support for wider range of Baud rates and for more than 4 serial

ports.

Serial Solutions For DOS.

Serial Solutions for DOS consists of the following programs: -

NewCOM.sys

A device driver, it supports COM1 to COM16, allowing 16 serial ports to be

used under DOS. It also includes an interrupt han dl er for enhanced performance

with user definable buffer sizes. Accessible from all DOS languages, it is the

heart of the Serial Solution.

It has extensive handshaking support, implementing both hardware handshaking

using any combination of the DTR, DSR, CTS, RTS, and DCD lines, and a

software han d shake using the XON/XOFF p rotocol.

NewCOM24.sys

A device driver providing support for 24 ports.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 1 • 4

NewCOM32.sys

A device driver providing support for 32 ports.

NewMode.exe

A replacement for the DOS ’mode com...’ command. NewMode is used to set the

serial parameters, includ ing the p ort address, IRQ line us ed, the baud rate, parity

and data and stop bit options. Baud rates supported are from 110 baud to

115,200 baud! Included is a very handy query mode that r eports the settings of

the various serial ports. Flexible and fast!

EASY programs

The EASY disk contains short, simple to understand and use EASYBAS,

EASYC and ASYPAS programs, providing straight forward, file type I/O to

serial ports with debug information. Use these FIRST, base your sample

applications on them. Source code, make files and compiled ready to run

programs supplied.

TERM programs

A suite of larger terminal emulation programs written in C (Cterm), Assembly

language (Aterm), Pascal (Pasterm), BASIC (BASterm) and FORTRAN

(FORterm) show h ow to access the NEWBIOS routines as well as the simple file

I/O to p orts. They contain many lines of code and are th us ha rder to gra sp . Th ey

demonstrate in depth serial port programming in a variety of languages but they

are also useful tools for using serial devices.

Comtest.exe

Comtest is a short but invaluable program that is used to check that the serial

port at a particular I/O address is fun ctioning cor rectly an d is connected to th e

particular IRQ line. The program correctly identifies the UART type by

employing th e built in loop back capability of the PC serial por t chip, a full test

of the baud rate gen erator, transmitting and receivin g buffer , pa ri ty ena ble an d

star t st op bit i s perfor med. T her e is no n eed for a second ser ial port or a cabl e

when using this utility.

Serial Solutions For Windows 3.x

Serial Solutions for Windows 3.x works with Windows 3.0, 3.1 and 3. 11 as well

as Windows For Workgroups 3.11.

Serial Solutions for Windows 3.x consists of th e following programs: -

Setup.exe

The install routine for th e package.

Port.DLL

Enhanced Control Panel applet. Allows configuration of extra serial por ts from

the Windows Control Panel. Supports single as well as multiport cards using

shared interrupts.

BbLynx.drv

Replacem ent for COMM.DRV.

LynxAPI.dll

Enhan cement to the Win dows Com ms API’s allowing support for more than 9

ports.

Term.exe

Terminal program.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 1 • 5

EasyCWIN

C source code, project files and ready to run.exe program for an easy to

understand Windows terminal program. Learn how to wr ite Windows comms

apps correct ly the easy way.

Serial Solutions For Windows 9x.

Windows 95 has an improved communication API and directly supports up to

255 ports. Our Windows 95 driver supports the shared interrupt mechanism used

on our multiport cards. Serial Solutions for Windows 95 consists of the

following programs: -

PCI.inf

The information files to aid the

ISA.inf

Installation process "Have Disk....”

ssmodem.inf

Setup file for Serial Solutions modems.

sscardui.dll ssportui.dll

The device manager configuration DLLs and…

ssenum.vxd ssv485.vxd

…the virtual device drivers providing the shar ed

ssvel.vxd ssmult.vxd ssm485.vxd

interrupt handlers and dispatch routines etc for the various Serial Solutions

serial cards.

Serial Solutions For Windows NT.

Windows NT has an improved communication API and directly supports up to

255 ports. No extra driver is nece s s ary for Windows NT to drive multiport cards.

Serial Solutions for Windows NT consists of the following programs: -

Setup.exe

Expands into the Control Panel applet and associated files which allows the

configuration of all ports on Serial Solutions serial cards.

Ssmodem.inf

Setup file for Serial Solutions modems.

Serial Solutions for Windows 2000

BBISA.inf, BBMulti.inf, BBPCMCIA.inf

The ISA...PC I...and PCM CIA c ard info rmation f iles , w hich make the installation

with the hardware installation wizard possible.

BBPort.inf

Information file, which contains information for the installation of individual

ports.

ssInstal.sys

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 1 • 6

The driver, wh ich h an dles the installation and setup of each card, be it PCI, ISA

or PCMCIA.

SsPort.sys

The driver, which gets COM ports going.

SsPar.sys

The driver for Parallel ports

SsCard.dll

A Dyn amic Link Library, which provides a user interface to configure cards and

their ports under Device Manager / Multi-port serial adapter s

SsCard.hlp

The help file for the SsCard.dll user in terface.

Complete Documentation and Technical Backup.

We believe in supplying complete documentation with every package we sell.

We guarantee your Serial Solution Software package for a full 12 months from

purchase. A complete technical backup service is availa ble to ensure that you get

the maximum performance out of your in vestment.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 2 • 7

Chapter 2
Hardware Configuration

Hardware Configuration

This cha pter details the specifications of the PCI 1 Port RS232 card. Thi s half-

sized card will work happily in an y PCI 2.0 or greater compliant PC compatible.

General Card Features.

A 9 pin D RS232 Serial port.

Reliable communications up to 50 feet, 15m, and beyond!

Word length of 5, 6, 7 or 8 bits.

Even, Odd, None, Mark or Space parity options.

1 start bit always sent.

1, (1.5 for 5-bit data wor d length) or 2 stop bits.

Full modem cont rol TXD, RXD, DSR, DCD, DTR, RTS, CT S a nd RI signals.

Fully double buffered for reliable asynchronous operation.

High-speed integrated circuitry ensures operation with fast PC’s e.g.700MHz

PentiumIII WITHOUT extra wait states.

16C550 FIFO provides 16-byte input an d 16-byte output buffer on each port.

Maximum baud rate of 115,200 Baud.

Clock input of 1.8432 Mhz

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 2 • 8

Configuring PCI Cards.

PCI cards, by definition , require no hardware configuration and can be in stalled

"directly from the box".

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 3 • 9

Chapter 3
Installing the Card

Installing The 1 Port RS232 Card In The

Computer.

NOTE: Always turn the computer OFF

before installing or removing any interface

board!

STEP 1:Remove Cover Mounting Screws.

Then using a screwdriver, remove the cover mounting screws on th e back panel

of the PC system unit.

STEP 2:Remove The PC Cover.

Next, remove th e PC’s cover by sliding it forward and up. It usually h elps to

disconnect the keyboard from the PC since it tends to get in the way when the

case is removed.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 3 • 10

STEP 3: Remove the Blanking Cover.

Choose an empty expansion slot. This Card will fit in to on e of the white PCI

slot s on your motherboad. Remove the blanking cover protecting t he sl ot on the

PC back panel. KEEP the blanking cover screw safely for later.

STEP 4: Insert The Card.

Now insert the card in the 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 t he top of the car d .

STEP 5: Secure the Card into Your PC

The 9 pin D connector should fit neatly th rough the slot’s aperture to the outside

world.

Use the screw kept back from the blanking cover to screw the retaining bracket

into the PC back panel housing.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 3 • 11

STEP 6: Replace Cover

Now replace the system unit’s cover by car efully sliding it down and over th e

system unit. Replace the cover screws.

STEP 7: Reattach All Cables

After attaching all the monitor and keyboard cables, power up the PC. Do not

forget the mains p ower cable!

The PC should power on in the normal way.

Problems!

If the system fails to power up normally ch eck the following:

1. Ensure that the PC Serial card is installed correctly.

2. Ensur e tha t other cards in the PC have not been upset.

3. Ensure that the power is connec t ed and the PC is s witched ON!

If all these have been checked and the PC still does not power up then inspect

the area surrounding the card to ensure that any p otentially harmful bits of metal

etc. a re n ot pr esen t, if th e pr oblem p ersi sts a sk your d eal er t o check t he car d or

contact [e-mail]

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 4 • 13

Chapter 4
DOS Installation

Dos Installation

The DOS installation pr ocedure consists of t wo steps after the PCI Dual RS232

card is inserted:

1. Determining t he resources that the PCI Dual RS232 has claimed.

2. Informing the Serial Solutions DOS device driver of those
resources.

Insert the PCI 1 Rs232 Card into your PC, as described in Chapter 3
Installing the Card, and restart.

Determining PCI Dual RS232 Resources.

Run BBCARDS.EXE, fr om the supplied Serial Solutions CDROM by typing the
following:

<Drive>:\diskimg\ssutil\pci\BBcards
Where <Drive> is the letter of 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 d u e to resource availability ) :

card 1 is on bus 0, device 16, function 0
Card ID=5, revision 2: 1 Port RS232
interrupt line 11 has been assigned
2 sets of 16550-compatible registers are at I/O

address 0140

Note down IRQ and I/O which in this case:
The IRQ = 11
The I/O address = 0140

NEWCOM.SYS Parameters.

The NewCOM.SYS device driver included with the PCI Dual RS232 driver
software is used to set up the card in DOS an d h as the following syntax:

NEWCOM.SYS /A port address, /I IRQ,range /B
number buffer /S buffer /H hardware handshake

/A port address

specifies COM port number followed by a hexadecimal address in the form
/Ax,y wher e x is COM port range and y is I/O address.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 4 • 14

/I IRQ, range

specifies car d interrupt and COM port range. Th e C O M p ort r ange

specifies the

COM port(s). Range may be a single port OR a range of ports.

/B number buffer

is used to set the number of pairs of buffers to be allocated to ports and is a
decimal number in th e range 1-maxport.

/S buffer

Set size of all buffers in bytes, buffer is rounded to the nearest power of 2 and
must be a decimal number in th e ra nge 32 to 32768. For any serial port opened
two buffers of size buffer are allocated, one for input and the other for output.

/H hardware handshake

selects which hardware handshake type to use on the specified ports. This is used
in the following manner: /H range, hs wher e range specifies the CO M port or
ports and hs selects ha ndshake type. Ha ndsh ake types ava ilable are:

Type 0 RS232 DTR/CTS - The PC only transmits when CTS is input true.
When the PC is a ble to receive it s sets DTR outpu t true. The DSR an d DCD
inputs are ignored. The RTS output line is set true just in case the external serial
device needs a true sig nal.

Type 4, 3 W i re Handshak e - Really no handshake at all since the PC tr an smits
irr espect ive of th e ha n dsh ake l in es. T he 3 wires a r e TxD, RxD an d Groun d, no
other lines are r equired. Thus th e CTS, DSR and DCD inputs are ign ored. The
RTS and DTR output lines are set true just in case the external serial device
needs a true signa l.

Note: If hardware handshaking is not specified in the NEWCOM.SYS
parameters, type 4, 3 Wire Handshake is selected automatically.

Configuring And Installing NEWCOM.SYS

To load the Serial Solutions for DOS device driver an entry needs to be added to
the CONFIG.SYS file. Any simple text editor, EDIT for example, can edit the
CONFIG.SYS file for example. The installation procedure given below is for a
PCI Dual RS232 as COM 5 - COM6.

The pa r a met er r equ i r ed by th e NE WCOM. SY S dr i ver are th ose r et ur n ed by the
BBCARDS.EXE application earlier. A brief explanation for the parameters
required by NEWCOM.SYS follows:

Port Address.

/A5,0140
COM port 5 defined, with an i/o address range that begins at 0140h.

IRQ, Range.

/I 11,5
11 is the IRQ a nd si nce th e C O M p ort r ange is COM5 ran g e is ent ered as 5.

Number Buff er.

/B5
Five buffers are defined, though only two ports are in use - this is because

buffers in DOS are assigned in a sequential order from COM1. Since the PCI 1
Port RS232 has been assigned a COM port value of 5 , all preceding COM ports,
must have buffers assigned to them also.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 4 • 15

Buffer Size.

/S512
Buffer size set to 512 bytes.

Hardware Handshaking.

/H,4
Type 4, 3 Wire Handshake selected for all ports. Type 4, 3 Wire Handshake

selected for all ports.

Modifying Command Line Parameters.

When "assembled" the NEWCOM.SYS command line looks like…

DEVICE=NEWCOM. SYS /A5,0140 /I 11,5 /B5 /S 512
/H,4

…and should be entered into the CONFI G .SYS file. Once you are sure that these
parameters have been entered correctly, restart your PC and your PCI Dual
RS232 should be ready to use immediately. Sample terminal applications are
provided on "Serial Solution s CD" enabling communications to be established to
your peripher a ls quickly and easily.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 17

Chapter 5
Windows 3.x Installation

Introduction

The Windows 3.x installation procedure consists of two steps after the PCI Dual
RS232 CARD is inserted:

1. Determining the resources that the PCI Dual RS232 Card has
claimed.

2. Informing Windows 3.x of those resources.

Insert the PCI 1 Rs232 Card into your PC, as described in Chapter 3
Installing the Card, and restart.

Determining PCI 1 Port RS232 Resources.

Run BBCARDS.EXE, fr om the supplied Serial Solutions CDROM:
Place the supplied Ser ial Solutions CDROM disk in a suitable dr ive. From File

Manager choose ‘Run’ and enter

<Drive>:\diskimg\ssutil\pci\bbcards

(where <drive>: is the letter of your CDROM drive).

BBCARDS.EXE will return a string that looks similar to the following (values
contained in the string may differ in individual PC 's d ue to reso urc e availability ) :

card 1 is on bus 0, device 16, function 0
Card ID=5, revision 2: 1 Port RS232
interrupt line 11 has been assigned
1 sets of 16550-compatible registers is at I/O address
0140

Note down IRQ and I/O address, which in this case are:
The IRQ = 11
The I/O address = 0140

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 18

Driver Installation.

Place the supplied Serial Solutions CDROM in a suitable drive. From File
Manager choose ‘Run’ and enter

<Drive>:\diskimg\sswin3x\setup.exe

Where <Drive> is the letter of your CDROM drive
Click OK

By default, all component options will be installed, selecting the "Del All"
butto n will se lect all installed c omponents for deletion and "Add All" chooses all
uninstalled components for in stallation ; option s may not be changed when the
compon ents 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 op tion in the "Install" column. This library is only ne cessary to allow
the use of logical ports greater th a n COM9 e.g. COM10, COM11 etc.

When you have ma de your choi ce of Componen t Opt ions cl ick Continue and
when the set u p program has finished select the Done button.

Note: If the Serial Port driver options has been selected, after the setup progr am
has finished, Windows will display a r estart message - answer Yes and Serial
Solution s will be ready to run upon Windows restarting.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 19

Serial Port Installation.

From Main, double click Control Panel:

Double-click on Serial Ports:

Click on the add button

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 20

In Standard Settings:
In the COM Base field, enter the value 0140.
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 tha t is 8 higher th an
the p r evious . i.e. i f COM2 has an addr ess of 0140h, then COM3 ha s an addr ess
of 0148h.

In t he IRQ fiel d , ent er the value 11.
Note: The values used in the above section were those returned by the

BBCARDS prog ram, a s described in the above section.
When you h ave fini s hed, click on OK. A restart message will be displayed.
You will now need to r eboot your machine

Serial Port Configuration.

From Main, double-click Control Panel:

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 21

Double-click on Serial Ports:

From t he COM Port s window choose th e port th at you wish to con figure an d
click on Settings - th e following dialogue will be displayed:

Note: A port that has been added has the default values of:
Baud Rate: 9600
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
top Bits: 1.0
Flow: None
Change the communications Settings in the COM Ports to match th e baud rate,

parity settings etc. of the remote serial device.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 22

Deleting Ports in Windows 3.x.

From Main, double-click Control Panel:

Double-click on Serial Ports:

The Delete button can be used to discard the entries of ports that have been
removed from the syst e m.

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 (COM1­COM4 only).

Restarting Windows.

Whenever certain values have been entered or changed in the hardware settings
window, a message p ro mp ting to restart Windo ws will appear. Only after having

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 5 • 23

made ALL the necessary changes restar t Windows so th at th e new settings come
into effect.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 25

Chapter 6
Windows 95 Installation

Introduction

To obtain a t rouble free mix-and-matc h of the CO M ports:
Insert the PCI 1 Rs232 Card into your PC, as described in Chapter 3

Installing the Card, and restart.

Installing the Driver

During the booting process, Windows 95 will detect the PCI 1 Port RS232 Card,
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 “inser t any disk which came with the PCI card”.

Insert the Serial Solutions CD ROM into an appropriate drive and click Next.
The Wizard should then display th e following:

Click Other Locations

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 26

In the location space type <drive>:\diskimg\sswin9x where drive is the
appropriate letter for your CDROM drive

Click OK

The screen shot above shows that the Update Device Driver Wizard has
found a suitable driver and the location of that driver.

Click Finish

Click OK

In the location space type <drive>:\diskimg\sswin9x where drive is the
appropriate letter for your CDROM drive

Click OK
After copying th e file, Windows 95 will then detect each of th e serial ports in

turn and install them as communications por ts.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 27

Checking Card Installation

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop.

Click on Properties.

Select t he Device Manager tab

When th e " Device Manager" is viewed the PCI 1 port RS232 card will appear
under the "Multi-function adapters" branch. Also, a Communications Port
will appear under the "Ports (COM & LPT) branch".

For most users who have 4 or les s COM ports the new p ort will appear as COM5
as pictured above, for users with more than 5 COM ports the new port will
appear as the fir st available COM ports.

Card Configuration

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop.

Click on Properties.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 28

Click on the Device Manager tab

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 29

By double-clicking on the Multi-function adapters label you will reveal any
cards that you have installed. Click on the PCI 1 Port RS232 Card label to
highlight it, then click on the Properties button

Click on the Serial Solutions tab Solution s tab produces.

The I/O address and in terrupt are assign ed to the card by th e "Plug and play"
system of the PC. These valu es CANNOT usuall y be chan ged with th e curren t
version of the driver.

The Force Configuration radio button enables you to force the I/O address and
interrupt and is usually used only for legacy devices which require specific
settings. This is an advanc ed feature which sho u ld only be tackled by experieced
users.

In this window, the COM port assignment may be changed, simply by selecting
a new COM port value from the pull down menu relevant to the port. However,
COM port usage other than those for the PCI 1 Port RS232 card itself are not
checked, so it is advisable to first ch eck which COM ports a re in use - port
availability can be checked by viewing the Device Manager:

All COM ports present will be listed under the entry "Ports (COM & LPT)."
Th e above scre enshot indi cates t hat COM2 - 4 and C OM6 an d above ar e not
installed, and therefore may be used.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 30

Port Configuration

Open the Device Manager

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop.

Click on Properties.

Double-clicking on the Ports (COM & LPT) label you will reveal a list of ports
installed on your machine. Click on the port you wish to configure to configure
to highlight it, then click on th e Properties button.

Selecting the Port Settings tab produces:

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 31

Settings available in these windows are:

Bits per Second - determines the baud rate at which the selected port

operates. the maximum value of operation is 115,200, even though the maximum
value selectable is 921,600 - this is due to standard Windows COM port drivers
being used.

Data Bits.*
Parity.*
Stop Bits.*
Flow Control.*
*Change to suit the remote device being used

Restore Defa ults - when clicked, resets the selected COM por t to the following

values:
Baud Rate: 9600
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Xon / Xoff

Advanced

Advanced clickin g on this will display the following window:

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 32

Settings available in this window ar e:
Use FIFO Buffers - turn s the selected ports FIFO buffer on or off. It is stron gly

recommen ded that the FIFO for both ports is left enabled.
Receive Buffer - These settings allow the selection of a receiver FIFO tri gger

setting. Selecting a low value will allow the interrupt to be serviced quicker,
which is good for slow machines. If you have a fast machine, setting a high
value will give you more time for multi-tasking operations.

Transmit Buffer - These settings allow the selection of a transmitter FIFO
trigger setting. Selecting a low value will send fewer data-bytes per interrupt,
and this is recommended if you are communicating to a slower machine.
Selecting a high value will send more data-bytes per interrupt, and will give
more time for multi-tasking operation s.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 33

Chapter 7
Windows 98/Millenium
Installation

Windows 98/Millenium Installation.

To obtain a t rouble free mix-and-matc h of the CO M ports:
Insert the PCI 1 Rs232 Card into your PC, as described in Chapter 3

Installing the Card, and restart.

Driver Installation

During th e booting process, Windows 98 will detect the PCI 1 port RS232, but
will display it simply as a "PCI Serial Controller", and you will briefly see a
message box to this effect.

Insert the Serial Solutions CD-ROM which came with your card
Click Next

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 34

Select Search for th e best driver for your device.
Click Next

Click Specify a location
In the location space type <drive>:\diskimg\sswin9x where drive is the

appropriate letter for your CDROM drive
Click Next

Click Finish
After copying th e file, Windows 95 will then detect each of th e serial ports in

turn and install them as communications por ts.

Checking your Installation

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop. Click on Properties.

Click on the Device Manager tab

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 35

When the Device Manager is viewed the PCI 1 port RS232 card will appear
under the Multi-function adapters branch. Also, a Commu nicatio ns Po rt w ill
appear under the Ports (COM & LPT) branch.

For most users who have 4 or less COM ports the new port will appear as
COM5 as pic tur ed a bove, for us ers with mor e th an 5 CO M por ts t he n ew por t
will appear as the first available COM ports.

Card Configuration

Open the Device Manager

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop. Click on Properties.

Click on the Device Manager tab

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 36

By double-clicking on the Multi-function adapters label you will reveal any
cards that you have installed. Click on the PCI 1 Port RS232 Card label to
highlight it, then click on the Properties button

Click on the Serial Solutions tab

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 37

The I/O address and in terrupt are assign ed to the card by th e "Plug and play"
system of the PC. These valu es CANNOT be changed wit h the curr ent version
of the driver.

The Force Configuration radio button enables you to force the I/O address and
interrupt and is usually used only for legacy devices which require specific
settings. This is an advanc ed feature which sho u ld only be tackled by experieced
users.

In this window, the COM port assignment may be changed, simply by selecting
a new COM port value from the pull down menu relevant to the port. However,
COM port usage other than those for the PCI 1 Port RS232 card itself are not
checked, so it is advisable to first ch eck which COM ports a re in use - port
availability can be checked by viewing the Device Manager window:

All COM por ts present will be listed under the entry "Ports (COM & LPT)."
Th e above scr eensh ots i ndi cates tha t COM2 - 4 an d COM 6 and a bove are not
installed, and therefore may be used.

Port Configuration

Open the Device Manager

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop.

Click on Properties.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 38

Select t he Device Manager Tab

Double-clicking on the Ports (COM & LPT) label you will reveal a list of ports
installed on your machine. Click on the port you wish to configure to configure
to highlight it, then click on th e Properties button.

Selectin g the Port Settings tab produces

Settings available in these windows are:

Bits per second - determines the baud rate at which the selected port

operates. the maximum value of operation is 115,200, even though the maximum

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 6 • 39

value selectable is 921,600 - this is due to standard Windows COM port drivers
being used.

Data Bits.*
Parity.*
Stop Bits.*
Flow Control.*
*Change to suit the remote device being used

Restore Defa ults - when clicked, resets the selected COM por t to the following

values:
Baud Rate: 9600
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Xon / Xoff

Advanced

Settings available in this window ar e:
Use FIFO Buffers - turn s the selected ports FIFO buffer on or off. It is stron gly

recommen ded that the FIFO for both ports is left enabled.
Receive Buffer - These settings allow the selection of a receiver FIFO tri gger

setting. Selecting a low value will allow the interrupt to be serviced quicker,
which is good for slow machines. If you have a fast machine, setting a high
value will give you more time for multi-tasking operations.

Transmit Buffer - These settings allow the selection of a transmitter FIFO
trigger setting. Selecting a low value will send fewer data-bytes per interrupt,
and this is recommended if you are communicating to a slower machine.
Selecting a high value will send more data-bytes per interrupt, and will give
more time for multi-tasking operation s.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 41

Chapter 8
Windows NT4 Installation

Introduction

Microsoft Windows NT Provides built in support for 255 standard serial ports.
To setup your PCI RS422/485 serial card you should follow th ese steps. Please
note that to change an y kind of hardware configuration under Windows NT you
must be logged in as a user with Administrator level privileges, if you do not
have these please con tact your system administrator.

Insert the PCI 1 Rs232 Card into your PC, as described in Chapter 3
Installing the Card, and restart.

Driver Installation.

Insert the PCI 1 Port RS 232 Card in to your PC, as described in chapter 2, and
restart. Place the supplied CDROM titled "Serial Solutions Software" in a
suitable drive.

Select Start then click Run

In the dia log box, type <drive>:\diskimg\ssnt\setup as shown below (where
<drive>: is the path to the CDROM dr ive containing the installation disk).

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 42

InstallShield will th en install the driver software as sh own below

Click Next

Checking Your Installation

Open the Control panel by clicking on Start then Settings then Control
Panel

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 43

Double click on Serial Solutions icon

This window will show the Card and the ports wh ich have been installed by the
Serial Solutions driver.

Port Configuration

Open the Control panel by clicking on Start then Settings then Control
Panel

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 44

Double click on Serial Solutions icon

Highlight the por t which you wish to configure by clicking on it’s label
Click the Properties button
Select t he Port Settings tab.

Settings available in these windows are:

Bits per second - determines the baud rate at which the selected port

operates. the maximum value of operation is 115,200, even though the maximum

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 45

value selectable is 921,600 - this is due to standard Windows COM port drivers
being used.

Data Bits.*
Parity.*
Stop Bits.*
Flow Control.*
*Change to suit the remote device being used

Restore Defa ults - when clicked, resets the selected COM por t to the following

values:
Baud Rate: 9600
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Xon / Xoff

Advanced

Advanced Port Settings.

Settings available in this window ar e:
FIFO Off - turns the selected ports FIFO buffer on or off. It is strongly

recommen ded that the FIFO for both ports is left enabled.
Receive Trigger Level - These settings allow the selection of a receiver FI FO

trigger setting. Selecting a low value will allow the interrupt to be serviced
quicker, which is good for slow machines. If you have a fast machine, setting a
high value will give you more time for multi-tasking operations.

Software Transmit Level - These settin gs allow the selection of a transmitter
FIFO trigger setting. Selecting a low value will send fewer data-bytes per
interrupt, and this is recommended if you are communicating to a slower
machine. Selec ting a high v alue will send more data- bytes per interrupt, and w ill
give more time for multi-tasking operations.

Uninstalling Serial Solutions PCI.

To uninstall Serial Solutions PCI:

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 46

From Control Panel, open the Add/Remove Programs applet, then close the
Control Panel.

Select from the list Serial Solutions PCI.
Click the Add/Remove button.
Windows NT will then uninstall the Serial Solu tions PCI app let without the nee d

for restarting.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 47

Chapter 9
Windows 2000 Installation

Introduction

Microsoft Win dows 2000 Provides built in support for 255 standard serial ports.
To setup your PCI 1 Port RS232 serial card you should follow t hese steps. Please
note that to change any kind of hardware configuration under Windows2000 you
must be logged in as a user with Administrator level privileges, if you do not
have these please con tact your system administrator.

Insert the PCI 1 Rs232 Card into your PC, as described in Chapter 3
Installing the Card, and restart.

Driver Installation.

As your machine restarts the information box shown below will appear and
disappear:

The welcome dialog box shown below will then appear.

Place the supplied CDROM titled Serial Solutions Software in a suitable
drive

Click Next

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 48

Select Search for a suitable driver for my device
Click Next

Select Specify a location
Click Next

Type <drive>:\diskimg\sswin2k\ where <drive> is the letter of the CDROM
drive containing the Serial Solutions CD

Click OK

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 49

Click Next

Click Yes

Click Finish
The Brain Boxes serial port will now be installed and messages will flash on the

screen to indicate that this is happening

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 50

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop. Click on Properties.

Select t he Hardware Tab

Click on the Device Manager Button

The PCI 1 port RS232 card will appear under Multi-port serial adapters .
Also, a Brain Boxes Serial Port will appear under Ports (COM & LPT) .

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 51

Card Configuration

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop. Click on Properties.

Select t he Hardware Tab

Click on the Device Manager Button

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 52

By double-clicking on the Multi-port serial adapters label you will r eveal
any cards that you have installed. Double-click on the PCI 1 Port RS232
Card label.

Select t he Card Properties tab

In this window, the COM port assignment may be changed, simply by selecting
a new COM port value from the pull down menu relevant to the port. However,
COM port usage other than those for the PCI 1 Port RS232 card itself are not
checked, so it is advisable to first ch eck which COM ports a re in use - port
availability can be checked by viewing the Device Manager window:

By clicking on the Port 1 button you can access the Advanced port

settings.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 53

By clicking on the Advanced button you can access the Advanced Card

Settings.

Settings available in this window ar e:
FIFO Off - turns the selected ports FIFO buffer on or off. It is strongly

recommen ded that the FIFO for both ports is left enabled.
Receive Trigger Level - These settings allow the selection of a receiver FI FO

trigger setting. Selecting a low value will allow the interrupt to be serviced
quicker, which is good for slow machines. If you have a fast machine, setting a
high value will give you more time for multi-tasking operations.

Software Transmit Level - These settin gs allow the selection of a transmitter
FIFO trigger setting. Selecting a low value will send fewer data-bytes per
interrupt, and this is recommended if you are communicating to a slower
machine. Selec ting a high v alue will send more data- bytes per interrupt, and w ill
give more time for multi-tasking operations.

Port Configuration

Using the right-hand mouse button click on the My Computer icon on your
desktop. Click on Properties.

Select t he Hardware Tab

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 54

Click on the Device Manager Button

Double-clicking on the Ports (COM & LPT) label you will reveal a list of ports
installed on your machine. Double-click on th e port you wish to configure.

Select t he Port Settings tab

Settings available in these windows are:

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 55

Bits per second - determines the baud rate at which the selected port

operates. the maximum value of operation is 115,200, even though the maximum
value selectable is 921,600 - this is due to standard Windows COM port drivers
being used.

Data Bits.*
Parity.*
Stop Bits.*
Flow Control.*
*Change to suit the remote device being used

Restore Defa ults - when clicked, resets the selected COM por t to the following

values:
Baud Rate: 9600
Data Bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow Control: Xon / Xoff

Advanced

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 57

Chapter 10
RS232 Pinouts and Cabling

Introduction.

This cha pter gives details of the 9 and 25 pin RS232 pin outs, cabling and
connections, with information on how to connect the serial ports of two PCs
and how to make a selftest loop back connector.

The RS232 Standard.

The RS232 standard is ancient in computer industry terms. Introduced in 1962, it
is now widely established. RS232 is a slow speed, short distance, single ended
transmi ssion system (i.e. only on e wi re per signal). Typical RS232 maximum
cable length is 50 feet with a maximum data rate of 20K bits per second.

RS232 Point To Point Connection.

DTTL

Ground Ground

TTLR

RS232C Standard

1 Driver 1 Receiver

Line Length Max Data Ra te

50 Feet = 15m 20 Kbits/sec

Serial Port Pin Outs.

The pinouts of the 9 and 25 pin Male D connectors are given below.

9 Pin connector:

25 Pin connector:

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 58

9 Pin D Serial Port RS232 Cables.

To connect to the AT style RS232 Serial Port you will need a cable terminating
in a 9 way female D connector. It is sound practice to use cables with scr ews
fitted that will allow you to fasten the cable securely to the PC car d.

In general, you will need to make up a "cross over " cable to corr ectly interface
the PC to the RS232 port of another computer or device. Traditionally, making
up th e cr oss over cabl e ha s been con sid ered a bla ck ar t. However, pr ovided you
have the pin outs and handshake requirements of both sides of your RS232
connect ion, the cr oss over ca ble becomes a ma tter of common sen se. Th e cross
over cable is simply to ensure that the righ t signals going out of one RS232 port
go into the appropriate lines of the other RS232 port.

9 Pin D Serial Port Connection To Another PC.

AT SERIAL PORT Side Other PC SERIAL PORT Sid e.
9 PIN D CONNECTOR 9 PIN D CONNECT OR

Suppose we want to connect the AT style 9 pin D Serial Port to the serial port of
another IBM PC.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 59

Connect the earth l ines.
Line 5 of Serial Port 2 to lin es 1 & 7 of the other PC.
This gives th e two devices a common earth level.

Connect the Transmit and Receive lines together.
Line 3, TXD, Port 2 goes to line 3, RXD, of the other PC.
Line 2, RXD, Port 2 goes to line 2, TXD, of the other PC.
This all ows ea ch to r eceive the d ata t ran s mitted by the other.

Connect the Port 2 DTR line, pin 4 to th e other PC DCD, pin 8 and CTS, pin 5,
lines.
Also, connect up the other PC DTR line, pin 20 to the Port 2 DCD, pin 1 and
CTS, pin 8, li nes.
This allows the receiving device to signal when it can no longer accept data. The
receivi ng device s ets DTR fal se when i t is unable to receive any more da ta. T he
sendin g d evice rea d s DT R on i ts CTS an d DC D p i ns. It should stop sendi ng
when C TS goes fals e.

Connect the Port 2 RTS line, pin 7, to the other PC DSR line, pin 6. Also,
connect th e ot her PC RTS line, pin 4, to the Port 2 D S R l ine, pin 6 .
This RTS line is used to let the other device know that it is ready for data
exchange.

9 Pin D Serial Port To Other PC Cable.

9 PIN D CONNECTO 25 PIN D C ONNE C T OR

9 Pin D Serial Port To A Modem.

If you are connecting a MODEM to a 9 pin D Ser ial Port then you will NOT
need a cross over cable and a st raig ht t hroug h cable connect ed as th e 9 to 25 pin
adapter.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 60

9 Pin D Serial Port Loop Back Connector.

A loop back connector can be used to echo RS232 data transmitted by a serial
port back into its own RS232 receiver. In this way, the fu nction of the serial port
can be t es ted.

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 61

9 PIN D CONNECTOR 25 PIN D CONNECTOR

9 To 25 Way Adapter.

This adapter cable makes the AT style 9-pin serial port, look like the standard
PC 25 pin serial port. It is NOT a cross over cable!

9 Pin AT SE RIAL PORT 25 Pin PC SERIAL PORT
9 Pin Female D Connector 25 Pin Male D Connector

1 Port RS232 Card Chapter 8 • 62

1 Port RS232 Card Index • 63

Index

1

16450 / 16550 3, 7

A

adapter 59, 61
asynchronous 7

B

baud / baud rate 4
BBCARDS.EXE 13, 14, 17
bits 57
buffer / buffered 3, 4, 7

C

cable 4, 57, 58, 59, 61
Changing COM numbers in Windows 95 29, 37, 52
command 4

connectors 57

cross over 58, 59, 61
CTS 3, 7, 59

D

data wor d length 7
DCD 3, 7, 59
Determining PCI Dual RS232 Resources In DOS 13
Determining PCI Dual RS232 Resources in Windows

3.x 17
device driver 13, 14
DOS 13
DSR 3, 7, 59
DTR 3, 7, 59

E

emulation 4

F

FIFO 3, 7

H

handsh ake 3, 58
HARDWARE 3

I

installation 5
interr upts 4

L

loop back 4, 57, 60

M

Millenium 33
mode 4
modem 7

N

NEWCOM.SYS 13

P

parity 4
pin outs 57, 58
port / ports 3, 4, 5, 7, 41, 47, 57, 58, 60, 61

Port Address 14

pr otocol 3

R

receive 59
RI 7
RS232 3, 7, 57, 58, 60
RS232 57
RTS 3, 7, 59
RXD 7, 59

S

serial port 3, 4, 41, 47, 57, 58, 60, 61
shared int errupt 4, 5

SISR 13, 14

speed 7

T

TXD 7, 59

U

Uninstalling Serial Solutions PCI for Windows NT

45

W

Windows 3, 4, 5, 41, 47
Windows 2000 47
Windows 3.x 17
Windows 95 25
Windows 98 33
Windows NT4 41

1 Port RS232 Card Index • 64