CommTech FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI Reference Manual

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F™ A

ASTCOM

FASTCOM™: 232/4-PCI

Advanced Four Channel RS-232 Interface

Hardware Reference Manual

for PCI Bus

Manufactured by:

9011 E 37th St N

Wichita KS 67226-2006

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9011 E. 37TH STREET N.

WICHITA, KANSAS 67226-2006

(316) 636-1131

FAX (316) 636-1163

http://www.commtech-fastcom.com/

any form without permission in writing from Commtech, Inc.

FASTCOM and SMART14 are trademarks of Commtech, Inc.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WINDOWS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

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REVISION NOTES

REVISION PAGE NUMBER CHANGES MADE

2.1 8 Swapped DSR and DCD on loop back plug

2.2 12 Changed warranty to 2 years

2.3 6 Added link to installation manual

2.4 10 Updated contact information

2.5 3,4

2.6 10 Changed warranty period to lifetime

6-8

description

Changed 1.5 Mbaud to 725 Kbaud Updated Testing Installation and Fastcom Serial Settings

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“CE” CERTIFICATE .............................................................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION Description / Block Diagram Specifications / Features Board Layout

INSTALLATION Installing the Hardware Testing the Installation

FASTCOM SERIAL SETTINGS

ADAPTER CABLE

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

APPENDIX A 16C854 UART Technical Data

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/ Software................................................................................... 6

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EUROPEAN UNION DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY

Information Technology Equipment

The Company COMMTECH, INC. declares under its own and full responsibility that the product

" Fastcom: 232/4-PCI - Revision 1.0 "

on which is attached this Certificate is compliant to the "89/336/EEC" Directive, amended by 92/31/EEC and 93/88/EEC.

[ ] The product identified above complies with the requirements of the above EU Directive by meeting the following standards:

• EN 50081-1 (1992) EMC Generic Emission Standard - Part 1, Residential, Commercial and Light Industry

- EN 55022 (1995), CISPR 22 (1993) Limits and Methods of Measurement of Radio Disturbance Characteristics of Information Technology Equipment, 30 MHz - 1 GHz, Class B Limits

• EN 50082-1 (1992) EMC Generic Immunity Standard - Part 1, Residential, Commercial and Light Industry

- IEC 801-2 (1984), Method of Evaluating Susceptibility to Electrostatic Discharge, Level 4

- IEC 801-3 (1984), Radiated Electromagnetic field Requirements, Level 3

- IEC 801-4 (1988), Electrical Fast Transient/Burst Requirements, Level 2

Products listed on this declaration are exempt from the requirements of the 73/23/EEC directive due to the input voltage specification as stated in Article 1 of the directive.

The technical documentation required to demonstrate that this product meets the requirements of the EMC Directive has been compiled by the signatory below and is available for inspection by the relevant enforcement authorities.

In WICHITA, KS on December 31st of 1995

9011 E. 37th Street North Wichita, KS 67226-2006 (316) 636-1131 Fax (316) 636-1163

Mr. Glen R. Alvis Chief Engineer

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INTRODUCTION

The Fastcom: 232/4-PCI adapter is one of the fastest, most advanced four-channel RS-232 adapter in the industry. Primarily designed for commercial, industrial, and OEM applications, the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI features four discrete RS-232 channels, complete with all standard hand-shaking signals for each channel.

The advanced universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART) chips used on the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI are fully register compatible with standard 16C550 UARTs, but provide extraordinary 128 byte FIFOs for receive and transmit buffering. This buffering is extremely valuable when working with RS-232 communications within high-overhead operating systems such as Windows NT and Windows 98. The fourchannel advanced UARTs on the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI can utilize all standard baud rates plus a high-speed mode capable of up to an amazing 725 Kbps. (RS-232 data rates are realistically limited by cable length and driver/receiver characteristics to data rates less than 725 Kbaud.) If your application requires faster data rates or better noise immunity, we suggest you try our Mega-Baud family of RS232 adapters or our RS-422 family of PCI adapters, such as the Fastcom: 422/4-PCI.

Software drivers for Windows 98/NT/2000/XP, and Linux are supplied. Multiple Fastcom: 232/4-PCI adapters can be installed in all operating systems.

The Fastcom RS-232-PCI family also includes the eight-channel Fastcom: 232/8-PCI and the isolated ground two-channel Fastcom: IG232/2-PCI. ISA bus versions are also available.

The following is the basic structure of the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI:

CHANNEL 1 (OF 4)

RS-232

DB37

PCI

INTERFACE

CONTROLLER

CLOCK

CONTROL

A0-A2

DATA

INTERRUPT

CLOCK

TXD

RXD

RTS

DRIVERS /

RECEIVERS

CTS

DTR

DSR

DCD

PCI BUS

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SPECIFICATIONS:

UART 16C854

BUFFERING Transmit - 128 bytes Receive - 128 bytes

INTERFACE RS-232C TXD, RXD, DTR, DSR, DCD, RTS, CTS, RI

BUS PCI

POWER REQUIREMENTS: +5 600mA (Typical) +12 100mA

- 12 100mA

ADDRESS REQUIREMENTS: PCI Controller 128 bytes UARTs 32 bytes Control Registers 4 bytes

INTERRUPT REQUIREMENTS: 1 (per board)

FEATURES:

High performance 16C854 UARTS

Standard All baud rates up to 725 Kbaud* 128 byte FIFOs for improved throughput

User programmable baud rate

“Switchless” design

Durable Cables with RFI shielding

Comprehensive Hardware and Software Documentation

Made in Wichita, Kansas, USA

on the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI, no extra charge

* RS-232 data rates are realistically limited by cable length and driver/receiver characteristics to less than 725

Kbps. A clock change is required to achieve baud rates higher than 115.2 Kbps.

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FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI

BOARD LAYOUT

TRANSMIT / RECEIVE LEDs

16C854

UART

DB37 CONNECTOR

PCI

CONTROLLER

PACKING LIST

FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI CARD CABLE ASSEMBLY FASTCOM CD

If an omission has been made, please call technical support for a replacement.

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HARDWARE INSTALLATION

Important: Observe Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) precautions when handling the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI board.

1. Unpack the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI. Keep the box and static bag for warranty repair returns

2. Select an open PCI slot in your PC.

3. After removing the blank bracket from your PC, install the Fastcom: 232/4-PCI in the PC by pressing it firmly

into the slot. Install the bracket screw to hold it firmly in place.

4. Re-install the cover on your PC.

SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

Select the link above to open the Installation Manual. Under Fastcom – Async-PCI series cards, select your operating system and follow the instructions. When you are finished, select Fastcom: 232/4-PCI from the list at the end of the Fastcom – Async-PCI series cards section to return to this manual.

TESTING THE INSTALLATION

To fully test the installation of your Fastcom: 232/4-PCI, you will need to build a "loop back plug". Materials needed are a DB25 female receptacle, solder cup style, and a few short pieces of 20 or 24 AWG stranded wire. This loop back plug can be used to test any RS-232 port. Jumper the pins together on the DB25 as illustrated below:

2 TRANSMIT 3 RECEIVE 4 RTS 5 CTS 6 DSR 8 DCD 20 DTR

TESTING YOUR FASTCOM ASYNC PCI PORT IN WINDOWS

These instructions assume that you have already installed the card and have followed the installation instructions. The SERIALGT.EXE program (98, NT), or the Device Manager (2K, XP), should show the boards/ports that are installed, and the COM numbers assigned to those ports.

1. Attach the “octopus” cable supplied to the DB37 connector. Install the loopback plug on the port to test.

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2. Find and run the TTY example program (simple terminal). From the Start menu, choose Run, browse to and select D:\Fastcom_disks\AsyncPCI\tty\tty2.exe. Click the Open button. Click the OK button to run the program.

3. With the TTY program running, select Settings from the menu. Select the COM port number that has the loopback plug on it. Uncheck all of the flow control checkboxes (DTR/DSR, RTS/CTS, XON/XOFF). Click OK. From the TTY Main menu select Action, then Connect.

4. At this point you should get a blinking cursor in the upper left corner (under the menu bar).

5. You should be able to type on the keyboard and see the letters that you type on the screen. If you see what

you are typing, then your port is installed and operating properly.

If you do not get to the blinking cursor stage, but rather encounter a “Connection Failed” message box, some possible causes are:

1. In NT, if multiple ports are opened (running more than one instance of TTY), the ports are using the same IRQ, and the PermitShare registry entry is 0, the second port to be opened will fail. Use the registry editor and expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE ->SYSTEM ->CurrentControlSet ->Services ->Serial, change the PermitShare value from 0 to 1, reboot, and run the test again.

2. The interrupt that was selected by the plug-and-play bios is trying to be shared with another device that is not configured to share the IRQ (either Device or Driver Exclusive IRQ setting). Try a different PCI slot or disable the other offending device.

3. IRQ steering is enabled on Windows 98 and Windows is not assigning an IRQ to the Fastcom card. Try disabling IRQ steering or varying the options in Control Panel ->System ->Device Manager ->System Devices ->PCI Bus.

4. Multiple COMx assignments. In Windows NT, the driver setup assumes that there are not any ports installed above COM4, and starts assigning the Fastcom ports at COM5. If there is already a COM5 (or higher) in the system, it is likely that the Fastcom ports are being assigned to the same port name(s). Run the SERIALGT.EXE program (D:\Fastcom_disks\AsyncPCI\nt\serialgt.exe for Windows NT, D:\Fastcom_disks\AsyncPCI\95\serialgt.exe for Windows95) and re-assign the com port numbers to these ports to be different than any other ports in the system.

If you get to the blinking cursor stage, but do not see what you type with the loopback installed, some possible reasons are:

1. Incorrect/faulty loopback construction or a bad connection.

2. The port is setup to have RS-485 enabled and the “RX Echo Disable” checkbox is checked. If the RX Echo Disable is checked you will be unable to run a simple loopback test, as the purpose of the echo disable is to strip the characters that are sent/received at the same time. Uncheck the RX Echo disable, reboot, and try the test again.

3. The RTS/CTS flow control is checked and there is not a RTS->CTS loopback or the CTS disabled checkbox was unchecked. If you enable flow control, you must allow CTS to be active in order for the driver to transmit data. Either disable flow control or wire the RTS->CTS (and possibly DTR->DSR) loops and try the test again.

4. The loopback plug is not on the correct port/cable.

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FASTCOM SERIAL SETTINGS

These settings can be accessed using the application serialgt.exe (Windows 98/NT) or in the Fastcom Serial Settings tab of the Fastcom AsyncPCI Communications Port Properties dialog (Windows 2K/XP), which is found in the device manager under Ports (COM & LPT).

CLOCK/4

Clock divisors of 1 and 4 are available. Clearing the checkbox selects a divisor of 1 and setting the checkbox selects a divisor of 4. It is best to leave this box unchecked.

RX Trigger

Determines the number of bytes that will be stored in the receive FIFO on the 16C854 before an interrupt is triggered. Valid values are from 1 to 128 bytes. The optimal setting is 64 bytes. For 16C550 compatibility, set to 8.

TX Trigger

Determines the number of bytes remaining in the transmit FIFO on the 16C854 before an interrupt is triggered. Valid values are from 0 to 127 bytes. The optimal setting is 64 bytes. For 16C550 compatibility, set to 0.

TX Write Size

Determines the number of bytes sent to the board at a time. Valid values are from 1 to 128. This number plus the TX Trigger value should not exceed 128. The optimal value is 64. For 16C550 compatibility, set to 16 or 1.

BaudTable (Win2K/XP)

This table represents the standard baud rates that the Fastcom card will currently support. If you wish to use a non-standard baud, you may enter it into one of the boxes on the table and hit the tab key (do not hit enter, hitting enter will exit the program). This will set the on-board clock generator to a frequency (see Input Frequency below) that will divide down to the new baud rate. The rest of the table will also be updated to reflect other bauds that can be used with the calculated clock frequency. If you wish to return to the standard rates, you can set the top box to 115200 and hit tab; the rest of the bauds will be filled in.

Note: The baud rates that you set will not be available to standard Windows applications like HyperTerminal. The new rates will be available to you in your code or in applications that allow user defined baud rates such as TTY2, which can be found on the Fastcom disk (Fastcom_CD\Fastcom_disks\AsyncPCI\tty\tty2.exe).

THIS SETTING=THIS BITRATE (Baud Rate Substitution Table) (Win98/NT)

Under THIS SETTING you will see the standard PC baud rates, from 115.2K to 300. If you wish to use a baud rate not shown, type the baud rate in the box next to 115200 (e.g., type 128K as 128000), and hit the tab key. Do not hit enter. Hitting enter will exit the program. If the baud rate changes after you tab, move to the next box down and try again. Continue moving down until the baud rate stays the way you want it. Now note the standard PC baud rate to the left of the box you ended on. You will select this standard baud rate to set up your com ports, and the baud rate you require will be substituted. If you receive an error message stating that the maximum baud rate was exceeded, change the Clock Divisor to 1 and try again.

INPUT FREQUENCY

This is the calculated frequency required to generate the baud rate requested. When you click OK on the Fastcom Serial Settings page, this frequency is sent to the clock generator and the new baud rates will be available.

OTHERS

Auto 485, CTS Disable, 485 Enable, RX Echo Disable, Enable Source, and Sample Rate do not apply to this board. Do not change these options as they will have no positive affect on settings for this board and may cause instability.

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FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI ADAPTER CABLE

We provide access to the four channels on the FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI adapter through a shielded DB37 connector and an adapter cable (supplied with the board). The adapter cable consists of a DB37 male plug fanning out to four standard DB25 male plugs.

DB37 PIN DESCRIPTION

N.C. DCD3 GND CTS3 RXD3 RI4 DTR4 DSR4 RTS4 TXD4 DCD2 GND CTS2 RXD2 RI1 DTR1 DSR1 RTS1 TXD1

- 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

RI3 DTR3 DSR3 RTS3 TXD3 DCD4 GND CTS4 RXD4 RI2 DTR2 DSR2 RTS2 TXD2 DCD1 GND CTS1 RXD1

DB25 PIN DESCRIPTION

(Four Plugs)

DCD GND DSR CTS RTS RXD TXD

- 13

- 1

- 11

- 10

- 9

- 8 7

- 6

- 5

- 4

- 3

25 24 23 22 21 20 -

DTR

19 18 17 16 15 14 -

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TECHNICAL SUPPORT

All products manufactured by Commtech are warranted against defective materials and workmanship for the lifetime of the product. This warranty is available only to the original purchaser. Any product found to be defective will, at the option of Commtech, be repaired or replaced with no charge for labor or parts not excluded by the warranty. This warranty does not apply to any products that have been subjected to misuse, abuse, or accident or as a result of service or modification by anyone other than Commtech. In no case shall Commtech liability exceed the original product purchase price.

If any Commtech product is damaged such that it cannot be repaired, you can return it to Commtech for replacement under our Non-Repairable Replacement policy, regardless of the cause of damage. Commtech will replace the unit at 60% of the then-current list price.

Commtech provides extensive technical support and application suggestions. Most of the problems that occur with the FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI can be corrected by double-checking the switch positions, your cables and your program. We recommend that you build the loop back plug that is described in the Programming section of this manual. With that plug, you can quickly isolate the problem to the board, cables, or software.

If you still have unresolved questions, use the following procedure to get technical support:

1. Call our Technical Support Staff at (316) 636-1131. They are on duty from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time.

If you purchased your board from Kontron America, please call their 7-24 technical support line at 1-800-

480-0044.

2. Ask for technical support for the FASTCOM: 232/4-PCI. Be ready to describe the problem, your computer system, your application, and your software.

3. If necessary, our staff will give you an RMA number (Return Material Authorization). Use this number on the mailing label and in all references to your board. Put the board back in its static bag and in its box. Ship the board back to us as directed.

4. If you prefer, you may FAX a description of the problem to us at (316) 636-1163, or we can be reached on the Internet at “http://www.commtech-fastcom.com

Kontron America can be reached by telephone at (800) 480-0044 or on the web at

“http://www.kontron.com/support/index.cfm

”.

” or by email at "[email protected]".

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APPENDIX A