Quatech QSP-200, QSP-300 User Manual

QSP-200/300

Four Channel Asynchronous

RS-422/485 PCMCIA Adapter

INTERFACE CARDS FOR PERSONAL COMPUTER

User's Manual

Quatech, Inc. TEL: (330) 655-9000 5675 Hudson Industrial Parkway FAX: (330) 655-9010 Hudson, Ohio 44236 WWW:quatech.com

QSP-200/300 User's Manual

Warranty Information

Quatech Inc. warrants the QSP-200/300 to be free of defects for five (5) years from the date of purchase. Quatech Inc. will repair or replace any adapter 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.

The authors have taken due care in the preparation of this document and any associated software program(s). 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 herein and in the program(s) accompanying this document. No representation is made regarding the suitability of this product for any particular purpose.

Quatech Inc. reserves the right to edit or append to this document or the product(s) to which it refers at any time and 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:

Product Description:

Serial Number:

QSP-200/300

Four Channel RS-422/485 PCMCIA Adapter

The information contained in this document cannot be reproduced in any form without the written consent of Quatech, Inc. Likewise, any software programs that might accompany this document 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.

Quatech Inc.

5675 Hudson Industrial Parkway

Hudson, Ohio 44236

Trademarks:

Quatech is a trademark of Quatech Inc. Other product and company names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.

Compliances - Electromagnetic Emissions

EC - Council Directive 89/336/EEC

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits of the following standards for a digital device:

 EN50081-1

(EN55022, EN60555-2, EN60555-3)

 EN50082-1

(IEC 801-2, IEC 801-3, IEC 801-4)

Type of Equipment: Information Technology Equipment

Equipment Class: Commercial, Residential, & Light Industrial

FCC - Class B

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation, If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.  Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.  Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.  Consult the dealer or an or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

This equipment has been certified to comply with the limits for a Class B computing device, pursuant to FCC Rules. In order to maintain compliance with FCC regulations, shielded cables must be used with this equipment. Operation with non-approved equipment or unshielded cables is likely to result in interference to radio and TV reception. The user is cautioned that changes and modifications made to the equipment without the approval of the manufacturer could void the user's authority to operate this equipment.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction .............................................................

2 Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT Installation ......................................

2.1 Installing a Quatech QSP-200/300 Under Windows 95/98/ME/2000 ............

2.2 Changing Configuration of the QSP-200/300. .............................

3 Windows CE ............................................................

4 DOS / Windows 3.x Installation .............................................

4.1 QSP-200/300 Client Driver for DOS .....................................

4.2 QSP-200/300 Enabler for DOS .........................................

5 OS/2 Installation .........................................................

5.1 Command Line Options ..............................................

5.2 Monitoring The Status Of PCMCIA Cards ...............................

5.3 Common Problems ...................................................

6 Hardware Information ....................................................

6.1 Port Addressing .....................................................

6.2 Scratchpad / Interrupt Status Register ..................................

6.3 Auxiliary Channel Configuration .......................................

6.4 Termination Resistors ................................................

6.5 2-Wire Operation ....................................................

7 External Connections .....................................................

8 Specifications ...........................................................

2 3 4

42.1.1 Windows 95/98 ................................................

42.1.2 Window Millennium (ME) .......................................

52.1.3 Windows 2000 ................................................

52.1.1 Installing QSP-200/300 Under Windows NT .........................

92.1.4 Window 95/98/ME .............................................

92.1.5 Windows 2000 ................................................

112.2.1 Windows 95/98/ME ...........................................

112.2.2 Windows 2000 ...............................................

14 16 17

174.1.1 Client Driver Installation ........................................

184.1.2 Command Line Options ........................................

204.1.3 QSP-200/300 Client Driver Examples .............................

234.1.4 Common Problems ............................................

254.2.1 Command Line Options ........................................

274.2.2 QSP-200/300 Enabler Examples ..................................

294.2.3 Common Problems ............................................

30 31

315.1.1 Configuring With "System Assigned" Resources .....................

325.1.2 Configuring With "User Assigned" Resources .......................

335.1.3 Advanced Configuration Topics ..................................

34 35 36 36 36 37

376.3.1 Auxiliary Channel: RTS-CTS Handshaking .........................

386.3.2 Auxiliary Channel: Handshaking Disabled .........................

39 39 41 43

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QSP-200/300 User's Manual

1 Introduction

The Quatech QSP-200/300 provides four independent RS-422/485 asynchronous serial communications interfaces for systems equipped with PCMCIA Type II and/or Type III expansion sockets. The QSP-200/300 is a PCMCIA Type II (5 mm) card and is PCMCIA PC Card Standard Specification 2.1 compliant.

The QSP-200/300's serial ports are implemented using 16C550 Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitters (UARTs) which are the recommended communications interface for multitasking environments and with applications involving high data transfer rates.

The QSP-200/300's four serial ports are addressed in a single 32 byte I/O block for simplified programming and all four channels share a common interrupt (IRQ). A special interrupt status register is also available to simplify the software required to service multiple serial ports in an interrupt driven environments.

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 1

2 Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT Installation

Windows 95/98 maintains a registry of all known hardware installed within the computer. Inside this hardware registry Windows 95/98 keeps track of all the computer's resources, such as base I/O addresses, IRQ levels, and DMA channels. In the case of a PC Card (PCMCIA) type board, Windows 95/98 configures the new hardware using free resources it finds within the hardware registry, and updates the registry automatically.

Windows 95/98 handles the QSP-200/300 as a "parent/child device". The QSP-200/300 is the "parent device". Each serial port is a "child device" of this "parent device". To allow easy configuration of Quatech's QSP-200/300, two configuration files have been written. These files are called "INF" files. The "QSP-200.INF" file describes the resources of the QSP-200/300 parent device and indicates the number of child devices. There are 4 child COM ports for the QSP-200/300. The "MLTPT_SP.INF" file describes the settings for each serial port including all the necessary device drivers.

Windows 95/98 allows changes in the system resources if the default choices are unacceptable. But first, allow Windows 95/98 to configure all of the devices. Since the child COM ports are dependent on the parent devices resource allocations, the resources can only be modified at the parent device. Changing these resources is an easy task described in a later section.

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 2

2.1 Installing a Quatech QSP-200/300 Under Windows 95/98/ME/2000

2.1.1 Windows 95/98

1. Insert the QSP-200/300 into any available PC Card socket.

2. The first time a new PC Card is installed the Add New Hardware Wizard window

opens. After the first installation, Windows 95/98 will automatically detect and configure the card. If the Add New Hardware Wizard window does not open, then skip to the next section, "Viewing the QSP-200/300 Settings".

3. The Add New Hardware Wizard window provides several options to configure the

QSP-200/300 card. Click the "Driver from Disk" option button. Click "OK" to continue.

4. Insert the QSP-200/300 Quatech COM CD into the drive, select the correct drive

letter, and click "OK". Windows 95/98 will browse for the aforementioned files.

5. During the installation process, it may be required to supply the computer with the

Windows 95/98 CD. Insert the CD when prompted and click "OK" .

IMPORTANT NOTE:

If the user has previously used any of the PC's COM ports and the Windows 95/98 installation CD is not available, the user may be able to skip this step. When prompted for the Windows installation CD, click the "Skip" button to abort copying of the serial communication drivers. If these drivers are already present on the PC, the currently installed drivers will be used.

6. The QSP-200/300 PC Card should now be configured. In the future, Windows 95/98

will automatically recognize and configure the QSP-200/300.

2.1.2 Window Millennium (ME)

1. Insert Quatech COM driver CD into the CD-ROM

2. Insert the QSP-200/300 into any available PC Card socket.

3. The ‘Add New Hardware Wizard’ will open. Select ‘Automatic search for a

better driver’

Windows Millennium will automatically search a install the correct driver for this device.

2.1.3 Windows 2000

1. Insert Quatech COM driver CD into the CD-ROM

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 3

2. Insert the QSP-200/300 into any available PC Card socket.

Windows 2000 will automatically install the driver for this device.

2.1.1 Installing QSP-200/300 Under Windows NT

To allow easy configuration of the QSP-200/300 the Quatech Device Manager for Windows NT has been written for the hardware. This configuration utility supports the QSP-200/300 only in block addressing mode.

To begin the installation, open Windows Explorer and search for the ‘Setup.exe’ command to install the Quatech Device Manager. <See following Windows Explorer figure.> (D:\Serial Port Adapters\Drivers\Windows NT 4.0 for PCI, PCMCIA,ISA). Once the installation is complete an icon will be placed on the desktop.

Windows NT Exporer

1. Locate and double click the Quatech Device Manager icon on the desktop.

Device Manager Icon on Desktop

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 4

2. Click the ‘Add’ button at the bottom of the Quatech Device Manager Window.

3. Follow the steps for the ‘Add Quatech Hardware Wizard’.

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 5

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 6

4. Complete the final steps of the installation, insert the PCMCIA Card and re-boot the

computer.

v Additional help is availabe online

The QSP-200/300 PC Card should now be configured. In the future, Windows NT will automatically recognize and configure the QSP-200/300.

Note: Windows NT does not support ‘Plug and Play’ for PCMCIA cards. The PCMCIA Card must be inserted prior to starting Windows NT and can not be removed and reinserted while Windows NT is running.

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 7

Viewing the QSP-200/300 Resource Settings The following steps detail how to view the resource settings that Windows 95/98/ME/2000 has allocated for the QSP-200/300.

2.1.4 Window 95/98/ME

1. Double click on the My Computer icon located on the Windows 95/98 desktop. This

opens a folder showing various drives, Control Panel, etc.

2. Double click on the Control Panel icon. This opens another folder with many

different system utilities.

3. Double click on the System icon. This opens the "System Properties" window.

4. Click on the "Device Manager" tab. Double click on the item "Ports (Com &

LPT)" located within the list of hardware.

5. Double click on any of the items labeled "Quatech Multi- port(COM x)" where x

represents the logical COM port number. The items labeled "Quatech Multi-port" are the child devices of the QSP-200/300 parent device. Click the "Resources" tab at the top of the "System Properties" box.

6. The base I/O address and IRQ level displayed here is the base I/O address and IRQ

level of the entire parent device. The resources cannot be modified here. For information on how to change these settings, got to the section labeled "Changing Configuration of the QSP-200/300".

7. Use the Logical Com Port name to access any of the particular serial ports on the

QSP-200/300. This name is required by a Windows 95/98 application when accessing a particular port.

2.1.5 Windows 2000

1. Double click on the My Computer icon located on the Windows 2000 desktop. This

opens a folder showing various drives, Control Panel, etc.

2. Double click on the Control Panel icon. This opens another folder with many

different system utilities.

3. Double click on the System icon. This opens the "System Properties" window.

4. Click on the "Hardware" tab. Click on the ‘Device Manager’. Double click on the

item "Ports (Com & LPT)" located within the list of hardware.

5. Double click on any of the items labeled "Quatech PCMCIA Serial Port(COM x)"

where x represents the logical COM port number. The items labeled "Quatech PCMCIA Serial Port" are the child devices of the QSP-200/300 parent device. Right click on the chosen child device and choose "Properties".

6. The base I/O address and IRQ level displayed here is the base I/O address and IRQ

level of the entire parent device. The resources cannot be modified here. For

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 8

information on how to change these settings, got to the section labeled "Changing Configuration of the QSP-200/300".

7. Use the Logical Com Port name to access any of the particular serial ports on the

QSP-200/300. This name is required by a Windows 2000 application when accessing a particular port.

QSP-200/300 User's Manual 9

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