Quatech MPAC-100 User Manual

MPAC-100

RS-232 PCI

SYNCHRONOUS ADAPTER

for PCI Card Standard compatible machines

User's Manual

QUATECH, INC. TEL: [phone]
662 Wolf Ledges Parkway FAX: [phone]
Akron, Ohio 44311 www.quatech.com

WARRANTY INFORMATION

Quatech Inc. warrants the MPAC-100 to be free of defects for one (1) year from
the date of purchase. Quatech Inc. will repair or replace any board that fails to perform
under normal operating conditions and in accordance with the procedures outlined in
this document during the warranty period. Any damage that results from improper
installation, operation, or general misuse voids all warranty rights.

Although every attempt has been made to guarantee the accuracy of this manual,
Quatech Inc. assumes no liability for damages resulting from errors in this document.
Quatech Inc. reserves the right to edit or append to this document at any time without
notice.

Please complete the following information and retain for your records. Have
this information available when requesting warranty service.

DATE OF PURCHASE:

MODEL NUMBER: MPAC-100

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Single Channel PCI RS-232-D

Synchronous Communications Adapter

SERIAL NUMBER:

Copyright 2000 Quatech, Inc.

NOTICE

The information contained in this document is protected by copyright, and
cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of Quatech, Inc.
Likewise, any software programs that might accompany this document are protected
by copyright and can be used only in accordance with any license agreement(s)
between the purchaser and Quatech, Inc. Quatech, Inc. reserves the right to change this
documentation or the product to which it refers at any time and without notice.

The authors have taken due care in the preparation of this document and every
attempt has been made to ensure its accuracy and completeness. In no event will
Quatech, Inc. be liable for damages of any kind, incidental or consequential, in regard
to or arising out of the performance or form of the materials presented in this document
or any software programs that might accompany this document.

Quatech, Inc. encourages feedback about this document. Please send any
written comments to the Technical Support department at the address listed on the
cover page of this document.

14 FIFO Control Register

13 FIFO Status Register

12 Interrupt Status Register

11 Configuration Register

10 Communications Register

9.7 Receive FIFO timeout

9.6 Receive pattern detection

9.5 Accessing the SCC while FIFOs are enabled

9.4.4 Controlling the FIFOs

9.4.3 Reading current FIFO status

9.4.2 Resetting the FIFOs

9.4.1 Interrupt status

9.4 FIFO status and control

9.3.2 Using channel B for receive

9.3.1 Using channel A for both transmit and

9.3 SCC configuration for FIFO operation

9.2.2 Receive FIFO

9.2.1 Transmit FIFO

9.2 Accessing the FIFOs

9.1 Enabling and disabling the FIFOs

9 FIFO Operation

8.5.2 Software Interrupt Acknowledge

8.5.1 Register Pointer Bits

8.5 SCC Incompatibility Warnings

8.4.4 Other signals are not used

8.4.3 Extra handshaking for channel A

8.4.2 Extra clock support for channel A

8.4.1 Receive data and clock signals

8.4 Support for SCC Channel B

8.3 SCC Data Encoding Methods

8.2 Baud Rate Generator Programming

8.1 Accessing the registers

8 SCC General Information

7 Interrupts

6 Addressing

5 Using the MPAC-100 with Syncdrive

4 Other Operating Systems

3 Windows 95/98 Installation

2 Hardware Installation

1.1 System Requirements

1 Introduction

Table of Contents

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21 Specifications

20 PCI Resource Map

19 DTE Interface Signals

18.4 Null-modem cables

18.3 RING (pin 22)

18.2 SYNCA (pin 10)

18.1 5V fuse (pin 9)

18 External Connections

17 Receive FIFO Timeout Register

16 Receive Pattern Count Register

15 Receive Pattern Character Register

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1 Introduction

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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The Quatech MPAC-100 is a PCI Type card and is PCI PC Card Standard
Specification compliant. It provides a single-channel RS-232 synchronous
communication port. The base address and IRQ are configured through the PCI
hardware and software using utility programs provided by Quatech. There are no
switches or jumpers to set.

The MPAC-100 uses a Zilog 85230-compatible Serial Communications Controller
(SCC). The SCC can support asynchronous formats, byte-oriented synchronous
protocols such as IBM Bisync, and bit-oriented synchronous protocols such as HDLC
and SDLC. The SCC also offers internal functions such as on-chip baud rate generators,
and digital phase-lock loop (DPLL) for recovering data clocking from received data
streams.

Because the PCI standard does not include a direct memory access (DMA)
interface, the MPAC-100 supports only interrupt-driven communications. To
compensate for the lack of DMA, the MPAC-100 is equipped with 1024-byte FIFOs for
transmit and receive data. The FIFOs provide for high data throughput with very low
interrupt overhead.

1.1 System Requirements

 16 bytes of contiguous I/O address space
 one hardware interrupt (IRQ)
 One available PCI expansion slot

2 Hardware Installation

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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Hardware installation for the MPAC-100 is a very simple process:

1. Turn off the power of the computer system in which the MPAC-100 is to be
installed.

2. Remove the system cover according to the instructions provided by the
computer manufacturer.

3. Install the MPAC-100 in any empty PCI expansion slot. The board should be
secured by installing the Option Retaining Bracket (ORB) screw.

4. Replace the system cover according to the instructions provided by the
computer manufacturer.

5. Attach and secure the cable connectors to the desired equipment.

6. Turn on the power of the computer system.

3 Windows 95/98 Installation

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

9

Windows 95/98 maintains a registry of all known hardware installed in your

computer. Inside this hardware registry Windows keeps track of all of your system
resources, such as I/O locations, IRQ levels, and DMA channels. The "Add New
Hardware Wizard" utility was designed to add new hardware and update this registry.

An "INF" configuration file is included with the MPAC-100 to allow easy

configuration in the Windows 95/98 environment. Windows uses the "INF" file to
determine the system resources required by the MPAC-100, searches for available
resources to fill the boards requirements, and then updates the hardware registry with
an entry that allocates these resources. The Syncdrive DLL and VxD can then be used
to access the card.

3.1 Using the "Add New Hardware" Wizard

The following instructions provide step-by-step instructions on installing the

MPAC-100 in Windows 98 using the "Add New Hardware" wizard. Windows 95 uses a
similar process to load the INF file from a CD with slightly different dialog boxes.

1. After inserting an MPAC-100 for the first time, the "Add New Hardware" wizard
will start. Click the "Next" button.

2. Click the "Next" button. Select the radio button for "Search for the best driver for
your device." Click the "Next" button to continue.

3. On the next dialog, select the "CD-ROM drive" checkbox. Insert the Quatech

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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COM CD (shipped with the card) into the CD-ROM drive. Click the "Next"
button.

4. Windows should locate the INF file on the CD and display a dialog that looks
like this. Click the "Next" button.

5. Windows will copy the INF file from the CD and display a final dialog

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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indicating that the process is complete. Click the "Finish" button.

3.2 Viewing Resources with Device Manager

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The following instructions provide step-by-step instructions on viewing

resources used by the MPAC-100 in Windows 95/98 using the "Device Manager"
utility.

1. Double click the "System" icon inside the Control Panel folder. This opens up
the System Properties box.

2. Click the "Device Manager" tab located along the top of the System Properties
box.

3. Double click the device group "Synchronous_Communication". The MPAC-100
model name should appear in the list of adapters.

4. Double click the MPAC-100 model name and a properties box should open for
the hardware adapter.

5. Click the "Resources" tab located along the top of the properties box to view the

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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resources Windows has allocated for the MPAC-100 match the hardware
configuration. Click "Cancel" to exit without making changes.

6. If changes to the automatic configuration are necessary for compatibility with
existing programs, uncheck the "Use Automatic Settings" box and double-click
on the Resource Type that needs to be changed. Caution should be used to
avoid creating device conflicts with other hardware in the system.

4 Other Operating Systems

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Device drivers for Windows NT and OS/2 are also available for the MPAC-100.

The board can be used under DOS and other operating systems as well in many
circumstances. The software described below can be downloaded from the Quatech
web site if it did not come with the board.

4.1 Windows NT

The Windows NT device driver is installed by running the SETUP program. Up

to 256 serial ports are supported. There is a command line-based configuration utility
which is used for adding PCI bus and ISA bus serial ports. Please refer to the
documentation included with the device driver for full installation and configuration
details.

4.2 OS/2

The OS/2 device driver supports up to 32 serial ports in a system. Installation is

a manual, but simple, process. Please refer to the documentation included with the
device driver for full installation and configuration details.

4.3 DOS and other operating systems

The MPAC-100 is not a direct drop-in replacement for a legacy serial port

because its base address and IRQ cannot be fixed at values such as 3F8 hex, IRQ 4
(COM1) or 2F8 hex, IRQ 3 (COM2), etc. Rather, the system BIOS assigns the address
and the IRQ in a plug-and-play fashion at boot time. Software which is to use the
MPAC-100 must be able to accommodate any valid assignments of these resources.

For Windows 95, Windows NT and OS/2, the Quatech device drivers determine

what the resource assignments are and proceed accordingly. In other cases, however,
the user must intervene. The discussion below will center on DOS, but the concepts
can be applied to other operating systems as well.

Many DOS applications support user configuration of the base address and IRQ

of a serial port. Such applications can generally make use of the MPAC-100. Older
applications, as well as some custom software, may use hard-coded standard legacy
serial port addresses. These applications will require modifications if they are to use
the MPAC-100.

Custom applications for which the customer has source code can be modified to

make just a few PCI BIOS function calls to obtain all the necessary configuration
information. The PCI BIOS specification can be
obtained from the PCI Special Interest Group. Contact Quatech technical support for
more information.

4.4 QTPCI.EXE

Quatech's "QTPCI" utility supplies the information required when modifying

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the serial port settings of the application. This program should be run from real DOS,
not in a Windows DOS box.

Figure 13 shows the Basic Mode display for the MPAC-100 after the "Q" key has

been pressed. In this example, the MPAC-100 uses I/O base address FF80 hex and IRQ

11. The hardware revision of the MPAC-100 is also displayed. Pressing the "N" key
will show similar information for all non-Quatech PCI devices in the system, including
those devices integrated on the motherboard.

The QTPCI program is capable only of displaying the PCI configuration. It cannot

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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be used to make changes.

Quatech PCI Configuration Information Display Software
Version 1.03

INSTRUCTIONS:

-----------------------­Press keys listed in the menu at the bottom of the screen.
This program only displays information. It cannot make changes.
Numbers preceeded by "0x" are hexadecimal.
PCI BIOS detected, version 2.10

Quatech PCI adapters detected

--------------------------------------------­MPAC-100 Single Port Synch RS-232 Serial Adapter (Hardware Revision A1)
Uses IRQ 12
Base addr 1 = 0xD800 I/O
_

Q - Quatech PCI adapters
N - Other PCI devices
X - EXIT

Figure 14 --- QTPCI.EXE Basic Mode display

Figure 14 shows the Expert Mode display for the MPAC-100 after the "Q" key

has been pressed. The information from the Basic Mode display is presented along
with more details such as the Vendor and Device IDs, PCI Class Code, size of memory

M - Change to Expert Mode

and I/O regions, etc. Pressing the "N" key will show similar information for all

Quatech MPAC-100 User's Manual

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non-Quatech PCI devices in the system, including those devices integrated on the
motherboard. In this example, the "Base addr 0" resource is reserved.

For users interested in even more details, PCI BIOS information can be

displayed by pressing the "B" key. Pressing the "I" key displays the PCI interrupt
routing table.

Quatech PCI Configuration Information Display Software
Version 1.00

Quatech PCI adapters detected

---------------------------------------------

MPAC-100 Single Port Synch RS-232 Serial Adapter

Vendor ID 0x135c, Device id 0x00F0 found in slot 0x04 on bus 0x00
Device/function code = 0x48, Revision ID = 0x01 (Hardware revision A1)
PCI Class Code = 0xff0000
Subsystem Vendor ID 0x135c, Subsystem Id 0x00F0
INTA# mapped to IRQ 12 (route 0x04)
Base addr 0 = 0xe000 I/O 0X80 bytes allocated
Base addr 1 = 0xd800 I/O 0X10 bytes allocated
_

Q - Quatech PCI adapters
N - Other PCI devices
X - EXIT

Figure 15 --- QTPCI.EXE Expert Mode display

M - Change to Basic Mode
B - PCI BIOS details
I - Interrupt routing details