Comtrol RocketPort OS/2 Device Driver User Manual
RocketPort® OS/2® Device Driver
Software Installation Card
Product Overview
Use this Installation Card to install and configure the
RocketPort device driver for the OS/2 operating system.
This Installation Card assumes that you have already
installed the OS/2 operating system (level 2.0 or higher)
on an ISA- or PCI-bus personal computer, and that you
have a basic understanding of OS/2 operation.
The following notes and instructions were developed
using OS/2 Warp, Version 4.
Known Limits
This driver supports the RocketPort series of ISA- and
PCI-bus serial port boards only. It does not support the
RocketPort Plus, RocketPort 485, or RocketModem.
This driver does not support NDIS (LAN Distance
Remote Access.)
The following Set Device Control Block IOCTL
parameters are not available with this device driver:
• Input handshaking using DTR
• Output handshaking using DSR
• Output handshaking using DCD
• Input sensitivity using DSR
This device driver supports up to 128 ports using any
combination of up to four RocketPort controller boards.
Installation Overview
Follow these general steps to install your RocketPort
board and device driver:
1. Install the RocketPort board, using the instructions given in the Hardware Installation Card.
2. Use the bootable diagnostics to verify that the RocketPort is installed and working correctly.
3. Reboot into OS/2.
4. Create a RocketPort driver directory on your hard disk. For example: C:\ROCKET
5. Copy the file RCKT.SYS from the distribution media to the directory you created in Step 4.
6. If you have installed only ISA-bus RocketPort boards, skip to Step 7.
If you have installed one or more PCI-bus
RocketPort boards, use the FINDRCKT.EXE
program to determine board I/O addresses.
7. Edit the CONFIG.SYS file and add one driver load
line, as described in “Editing the CONFIG .SYS F ile.”
8. Reboot your system so that your changes take effect.
All hardware installation and diagnostic instructions
are found on the Hardware Installation Card, which is
packaged with your RocketPort controller board. If this
card is missing, you can download the most recent
version from the Comtrol web or ftp site. Always use t he
most recent version of the driver and documentation.
Using FINDRCKT.EXE (PCI only)
If you have installed one or more PCI-bus RocketPort
boards, use the FINDRCKT.EXE program to determine
the I/O address and IRQ assigned to each PCI board by
the system BIOS.
If you have installed only ISA-bus RocketPort boards,
continue with the “Editing the CONFIG.SYS File”
discussion.
FINDRCKT.EXE must be run from the DOS command
line, either from a DOS boot or from a DOS window
within OS/2. The program can be run from either the
hard drive or the installation diskette.
To run the program, log to the drive containing the
program and enter FINDRCKT on the command line.
The program returns the I/O address and IRQ for each
PCI RocketPort installed in the system.
Note:
The RocketPort driver uses one interrupt. If you
have more than one PCI board installed, use the
IRQ assigned to the first board in the load line.
Editing the CONFIG.SYS File
Sample CONFIG.SYS Load Lines
After you copy the driver onto your hard disk, use a tool
such as Notepad (on the WIN-OS/2 Groups/Accessories
menu) to edit the CONFIG.SYS file and add one line to
initialize your RocketPort board(s) during boot-up.
The load line follows this format:
DEVICE=<
-C<
path
number of RocketPort boards
> -A<
I/O address
> -I<
>
IRQ
number of ports
> -P<
>
The above parameters and other optional parameters
are defined as follows:
Parameter Description
path
The path where the rckt.sys file is
located, generally c:\rocket\rckt.sys.
-A[P]ioaddr The hexadecimal I/O address of each
RocketPort board in the system.
ISA addresses are shown “as-is,”
while PCI addresses are prefixed
with a “P.” If you have multiple
boards, addresses are separated by
commas: for example, -A180,1C0
If you mix ISA and PCI boards, the
ISA addresses must be listed
before the PCI addresses.
For more information, see the
examples that follow this table.
-Iirq The interrupt (IRQ) number you
want the driver to use. This can be
set manually for ISA boards, but is
determined by the system for PCI
boards. The RocketPort driver uses
one interrupt for all boards in the
system.
-Pnn The total number of RocketPort serial
ports installed in the system. This
is the sum of all ports on all ISA
and PCI boards installed.
-Cb The total (1- 4) number of RocketPort
boards installed in the system.
-X This is a switch. If included in the
load line, the driver treats the CD
line as though it is the DSR line. If
DSR handshaking is enabled (by a
SetDcb IOCTL), output handshaking is accomplished using the CD
line. Changes in the state of CD
will be seen by the application as
changes in the state of DSR.
-Fc The number (1 - 9) of the first port on
the first RocketPort board. If you
use this parameter, you must also
use the -N parameter after it.
-Nname This is used with the -F parameter
and allows you to change the
default port name from rkt to a
name of your choice. For example,
-F5 -NCOM sets the first port on
the first board (as determined by
the I/O address) to COM5, and the
other ports follow in sequence.
Most commercial applications require
that port names begin with “COM.”
The following examples discuss possible CONFIG.SYS
load line entries.
ISA RocketPort boards Only
For example, if you installed one ISA RocketPort 8 using
the default I/O address of 180(hex) and Interrupt 15,
you would add this line to CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=C:\ROCKET\RCKT.SYS -A180 -I15 -P8 -C1
If you installed two ISA RocketPort 8 boards using the
default I/O address for the first board and the
recommended DIP switch setting for the second board,
you would add this line instead:
DEVICE=C:\ROCKET\RCKT.SYS -A180,1C0 -I15 -P16 -C2
You add a single load line for all RocketPort boards
together. Do not attempt to add a separate load line for
each board individually, as the driver will not work.
PCI RocketPort boards Only
If you installed one PCI RocketPort 16, you would use
the I/O address and IRQ returned by FINDRCKT .EXE in
the load line. For example:
DEVICE=C:\ROCKET\RCKT.SYS -AP7C80 -I11 -P16 -C1
Note: Each PCI board I/O address must be preceded by
the letter “P.”
If you installed two or more PCI boards, use the IRQ
assigned to the first PCI board. Do not attempt to enter
multiple load lines or multiple IRQ selections within a
single load line, as the driver will not work.
Remember, PCI I/O addresses are slot-specific. If you
move a PCI RocketPort board to another slot, you must
rerun FINDRCKT.EXE to determine the new address
and IRQ, and change the load line accordingly.
Mixing ISA and PCI RocketPort boards
If you installed a mix of ISA- and PCI-bus RocketPort
boards, the I/O addresses for all ISA-bus boards must
come before the I/O addresses for any PCI-boards. For
example:
DEVICE=C:\ROCKET\RCKT.SYS -A180,P7C80 -I11 -P24 -C2
Note that you must use the IRQ assigned by the system
BIOS to the first PCI board, as determined by
FINDRCKT.EXE.
Loading...