OS/2 Professional

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ OS/2 Professional / OS2PRO194.ISO / os2 / driver / com / sio / siouser.txt < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-03-15 | 59.5 KB | 1,386 lines

USERS MANUAL SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS, Serial Communications Device Driver for OS/2 V2 (and up) and its Virtual DOS Machines (VDM). Copyright (c) 1993 by Raymond L. Gwinn 12469 Cavalier Drive Woodbridge, Virginia 22192 All Rights Reserved January 6, 1994 Email CompuServe 71154,575 Internet p00321@psilink.com FAX 1-703-494-0595 BBS 1-703-494-0098 INTRODUCTION SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS are companion device drivers for Version 2 (and up) of the OS/2 operating system. Both drivers (SIO/VSIO) have been coded with performance in mind, possibly sacrificing some compatibility. For this reason, SIO and VSIO are not exact replacements for the OS/2 drivers COM and VCOM. However, all serial communications programs tested by the author work correctly using SIO/VSIO. This manual is intended for the SIO user. A separate SIO Technical Reference Manual is included in the distribution zip. The Technical Reference Manual also documents some advanced options and features that are not documented here. This manual and the software distributed with it is provided with no guarantees. Use it at your own risk. Support Extensive testing has been done to insure that this product works on the widest possible range of OS/2 V2 (and up) systems. In most cases, problems can be resolved by reading this manual carefully. Support is provided in section 4 of the OS/2 Vendor Forum on CompuServe (GO OS2BVEN). Section 4 of the OS2BVEN section is dedicated to the support of SIO. In addition, support is provided by BBS, Email and FAX. Voice support would overwhelm the author. If, after reading the manual carefully, you are unable to resolve a problem, you may fill out PROBLEM.TXT (adding information as necessary) and Email/FAX it to one of the following: Email CompuServe 71154,575 Internet p00321@psilink.com FAX 1-703-494-0595 PROBLEM.TXT is included in the distribution ZIP. You may also call the BBS at 1-703-494-0097 and leave message requesting SIO support. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i SIO Technical Reference Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i OS/2 Vendor Forum on CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . i WHAT IS SIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 WHAT IS VSIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Installing SIO/VSIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 COM1 thru COMn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 I/O port address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 IRQ number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Forced 16550A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 PCMCIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 AUTOMATIC IRQ ASSIGNMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 DOS SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SIO_Allow_Access_COMn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SIO_Virtualize_COM_Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SIO_Virtualize_16550A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SIO_Share_Access_With_OS/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SIO_Screen_Sync_Kludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SIO_Mode_DTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SIO_Mode_IDSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SIO_Mode_OCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SIO_Mode_ODSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SIO_Mode_RTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SIO_Mode_XON/XOFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 SIO_Mode_FIFO_Load_Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Configuration Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Seiko Smart Label Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Differences between SIO/VSIO and COM/VCOM . . . . . . . . . 15 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 IRQ for a port appears to be wrong . . . . . . . . . . 17 The modem will not initialize . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 WinFax locks up during install . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Telemate does not recognize VX00 as a FOSSIL . . . . . 17 Comm output is very slow from DOS . . . . . . . . . . 17 iii FaxWorks' driver FMD.SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Procomm stops receiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 WinFax does not work well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Class 1 FAX modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Class 2 FAX modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Fax/PM does not work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 IRQ SHARING ON ISA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Appendix A, Hardware Port and IRQ Assignments . . . . . . . 22 Addresses and IRQs for COM1 and COM2 . . . . . . . . . 22 Defacto standard for COM3 and COM4 . . . . . . . . . . 22 Addresses and IRQ for COM3 through COM8 on the PS/2 . 22 Appendix B, SIO Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 8250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 8250A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 16450 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16C451 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550 (Non A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550AFN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550s Made by Western Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16C551 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16C552 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16C554 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 82510 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Appendix C, Multi-Port Serial I/0 Cards . . . . . . . . . . 26 STB 4COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 1 WHAT IS SIO SIO is a Serial Input/Output (SIO) communications driver. It provides an interface between application programs and the serial communications hardware. SIO had been designed as a high performance replacement for the OS/2 device driver COM.SYS. See the programmers reference manual for information about the known differences between COM.SYS and SIO.SYS. SIO only works with 8250 (type) serial I/O devices. Such devices include, but is not limited to the 8250A, 16450, 16550, 16550A and the 82510. If you have a PC that is an IBM or near compatible which has a serial communication port, it is likely that it contains one of these devices. SIO will identify the type of serial devices that it finds at load time. Like other Device Drivers, SIO will do very little standing alone. There must be an application(s) program that makes use of SIO's functions before one will benefit from SIO. 2 WHAT IS VSIO VSIO is a Virtual Device Driver (VDD). Virtual device drivers provide services for DOS programs executing under OS/2. Most Virtual Device Drivers emulate a specific hardware device and/or BIOS service. The primary job of a Virtual Device Driver is to convert misbehaved DOS input/output into well behaved input/output. Using the protection mechanism of the 386 (and up) processor, a Virtual Device Driver can instruct OS/2 to trap all input/output for given hardware ports. Once trapped, the Virtual Device Driver (VDD) appropriately routes information to/from the Physical Device Driver (PDD) and to/from the DOS program. VSIO creates a virtual (imaginary) 16550A or 16450 (UART) in software. VSIO does not emulate any BIOS services. All of the hardware registers of the virtual UART are simulated by VSIO. VSIO does not attempt to simulate the timing of the real UARTs. DOS programs that depend on the timing of real hardware UARTs may have problems executing under VSIO. All DOS programs that execute under VSIO should have RTS/CTS handshaking enabled regardless of the baud rate. Note that this enabling of RTS/CTS handshaking is independent of the RTS/CTS handshaking used by SIO. The virtualization (simulation) provided by VSIO is not (and can not be) exact. However, most well written DOS programs should not have problems. VSIO will only work with SIO installed and the versions of SIO/VSIO must match. If VSIO refuses to install, you most likely have a version mismatch. VSIO will not work with any other device driver like COM.SYS. 3 GETTING STARTED Installing SIO/VSIO SIO is distributed as a ZIP file. To extract the individual files from the distribution file you need the program PKUNZIP or an equivalent. PKUNZIP is a product of PKWARE and can be downloaded from almost any bulletin board system (BBS). You probably already have PKUNZIP and know how to use it, otherwise I doubt that you would be reading this. When PKUNZIP is used to extract the various files, -AV should appear after each file name as it is extracted. In addition, the message: Authentic files Verified! should appear after the extraction process. If this message does not appear, or appears with a name other than Raymond L. Gwinn, the file is not an original SIO distribution file. The only file that the basic user actually needs is SIO.SYS. Virtual DOS machine (VDM) users will also want VSIO.SYS. Copy one or both of these files to a convenient directory or subdirectory on your system. Quick Start Copy SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS to the root directory of your boot drive or diskette. If you are going to use standard communications ports, either COM1 or COM2 on an ISA buss (AT or clone), or COM1 through COM4 on a PS/2, then add the following line to your CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE=SIO.SYS DEVICE=VSIO.SYS Be sure to REMark out the COM.SYS and VCOM.SYS device drivers if they exist in your CONFIG.SYS. With the above statements you will be able to use standard COM1 and/or COM2 (if they exist) on any PC system know to the author. If your setup is more complex, you must read on. 4 COMMAND LINE OPTIONS The command line options are included in the command line that loads SIO in the CONFIG.SYS file. VSIO has no command line options. Command line options are usually grouped by port within parenthesis. If you use only COM1 and/or COM2, at the standard IRQ and port addresses, you will not need any command line options. However, up to four serial communications ports, COM1 thru COM4, can be specified at any base port address and any IRQ. On PS/2 systems and some ISA cards, SIO/VSIO supports multiple communications devices sharing the same IRQ. The basic command line syntax is as follows: DEVICE=SIO.SYS (Cn, An, In, Ig, Fc) [(Cn, An, In, Ig, Fc)] Where "Cn" is the comm port number (1 thru 4) or the string COM1 thru COMn. The port number may proceeded by an asterisk "*" to indicate that the port may be used as a PCMCIA comm port (eg *1 or *COM1). "An" is a hexadecimal number that defines the base hardware I/O port address for the communications port. If this field is left blank, the default I/O port address is used for the comm port. Note that default I/O addresses exist only for COM1 through COM4 on AT type systems and for COM1 through COM8 on PS/2 systems. "In" is an IRQ number (0 thru 15) or the string IRQ0 thru IRQ15. It is best if one leaves this field blank and allows SIO to determine the IRQ, see AUTOMATIC IRQ ASSIGNMENT below. "Ig" is an ignored parameter. If exists for compatibility with COM.SYS. "Fc" is the Forced 16550A chip parameter. If an F is placed in this position, a 16550A UART chip type is forced regardless of the automatically detected chip type. 5 For a PC with COM1 and COM2 of standard configuration, the following command line will load SIO correctly: DEVICE=SIO.SYS (1, 3F8, 4) (2, 2f8, 3) A more readable, but identical, command line is: DEVICE=SIO.SYS (COM1,3F8,IRQ4) (COM2,2F8,IRQ3) Forcing a 16550A on COM1 would be as follows: DEVICE=SIO.SYS (COM1,3F8,IRQ4,,F) (COM2,2F8,IRQ3) In a similar manner, up to sixteen serial communications ports (four in the downloadable version) can be defined and supported by SIO and VSIO. 6 PCMCIA OS/2 Version 2.1 introduced limited PCMCIA support which includes PCMCIA modems. I am told that the PCMCIA support will be changed in the future, so the following information may change. SIO supports PCMCIA comm ports or modems. However, several other device drivers or programs are needed to use a PCMCIA modem under OS/2. One of the needed drivers is provided with OS/2 version 2.1 and is called PCMCIA.SYS which provided "Card Services". Another needed driver, "Socket Services", is usually supplied by the computer manufacturer (or supplier). A third driver is usually supplied by the modem manufacture (or supplier). This driver is referred to as the "Client Driver". What all of the above boils down to is that these drivers, or their equivalents are needed to enable the PCMCIA modem. Once enabled, SIO can then use the modem. The Client Driver (or equivalent) usually allows the modems I/O address and IRQ to be assigned. If so, the address and IRQ assigned at the Client Driver must match an address/IRQ combination for a comm port known to SIO. This is not a problem if one is using standard addresses and IRQs for the comm ports. If the OS/2 drivers are not available, you can also try to enable your PCMCIA modem using a DOS VDM and drivers/programs supplied for DOS. This has worked for many users. 7 AUTOMATIC IRQ ASSIGNMENT SIO will automatically locate the IRQ that a comm port is attached to. The IRQ used by SIO for a given comm port is assigned in the following manner: 1 - If an IRQ is specified in the SIO command line then that IRQ is used. However, SIO will display a warning message if the IRQ seems to be other than specified. 2 - If no IRQ is specified in the command line, and if SIO detected the IRQ then the detected IRQ is used. 3 - If no IRQ is specified in the command, and if SIO could NOT detect an IRQ then the default IRQ for the comm port is used. SIO will also display a warning message in this case. The following STYLE command line is recommended for all but the most unusual systems. That is, specify only the port number for those above COM2 (to tell SIO to support those ports) and let SIO do the rest. DEVICE=SIO.SYS (COM3) (COM4) If you do not have a COM3 or COM4, or if the mouse is using the only comm port above COM2 then the following command line should be used. DEVICE=SIO.SYS 8 DOS SETTINGS VSIO gets its operational characteristics from DOS Settings. Several basic DOS Settings are provided. They specify the type of access (if any) that a DOS program is to have to a communication port that SIO controls. All of the DOS Settings default to what most users should use most of the time (which is ON). Also, all of the DOS Settings are prefixed with SIO_. If any of the DOS settings are changed, then the DOS session must be restarted from the Work Place Shell for the changed setting to take affect. The provided DOS Settings and their meaning follow: "SIO_Allow_Access_COMn" (where n is 1 thru 4). This DOS setting defaults to ON. If this setting is turned OFF for any or all of the ports, the DOS program will not be allowed any access to that port(s). "SIO_Virtualize_COM_Ports" This Dos setting defaults to ON and it applies to all communications ports used by the DOS session. When ON, this DOS setting means VSIO is to act as an interface between the SIO and the DOS program. When OFF, the DOS program is given direct access to the hardware ports of the UART(s). "SIO_Virtualize_16550A" This DOS setting defaults to ON and it applies to all communications ports used by the DOS session. When ON, VSIO will simulate a 16550A. When OFF, VSIO will simulate a 16450. Some DOS programs may not work when a 16550A is simulated. Turning this setting off may allow the program to work (but slower). "SIO_Share_Access_With_OS/2" This DOS setting defaults to ON and it applies to all communications ports used by the DOS session. When ON, SIO will allow an OS/2 session to access a communications port which the DOS session first opened (and has not closed). If set to OFF, then the DOS session will have exclusive use of the communications port(s) that it uses. This setting does not apply to a second DOS session attempting to access a communications port, two different DOS sessions are never allowed to access the same port at the same time. Additionally, this setting has no affect upon the access to a communications port which is first opened by an OS/2 session. 9 "SIO_Screen_Sync_Kludge" DOS setting. This DOS setting defaults to off and it applies to all communications ports used by the DOS session. Some DOS BBS programs (such as Wildcat) and many DOS Door programs attempt to synchronize the screen output with transmitted data. This plays havoc with a multi tasking system like OS/2 and results in very slow transmitted data. When this setting is on, an attempt is made to fake out these misbehaved programs and allow them to run at normal transmit speed. This setting should not be turned on unless you experience VERY slow transmission from a DOS program. All of the DOS Settings that begin with "SIO_Mode" allows one to construct a MODE command for a DOS session. These settings apply to SIO proper, and not necessarily to the DOS program itself. For example, if you set XON/XOFF handshake with the appropriate SIO_Mode setting, you are specifying that SIO is to implement the handshaking. The DOS application itself will be unaware of this handshaking. This can be very confusing, so think it through before you start changing the defaults. The "SIO_Mode" settings WILL NOT BE APPLIED IF THE COMM PORT IS ALREADY OPEN WHEN THE DOS SESSION FIRST ACCESSES THE COMM PORT. This means that the "SIO_Mode" settings will NOT be asserted for spawned DOS comm programs. That is, for spawned DOS comm programs, the mode of operation that is already in effect will continue in effect and the "SIO_Mode" settings are ignored. "SIO_Mode_DTR" This setting has three options that specify how SIO and VSIO are to treat the DTR signal. The there available option are: Turn ON at OPEN, OFF at CLOSE. No Change at OPEN or CLOSE. HandShake Signal, as in DTR/DSR. If either of the first two settings is selected, then basically the DOS application has direct control over the DTR signal. If the first option (the default) is selected, then DTR will be turned on by SIO when the DOS program first touches the comm port. If the third option is selected, then SIO will use DTR as a handshaking signal. That is, DTR will be turned off if SIO can not accept any further receive data. In addition, if the DOS application program turns off the Virtual DTR, VSIO will stop supplying the DOS application with receive data. 10 "SIO_Mode_IDSR" This setting specifies how SIO is to react to received data and the DSR signal. The two available options are: Ignore DSR During Receive. Required for Valid Receive Data. If the first option (the default) is selected, then SIO will ignore DTR and accept all received data. If the second option is selected, then SIO will ignore received data when the DSR signal is off. VSIO ignores this DOS setting. 11 "SIO_Mode_OCTS" This setting specifies how SIO will react to the CTS signal when transmitting data. The two available options are: HandShake Signal, as in RTS/CTS. Ignore CTS During Transmit. If the first option (the default) is selected, then SIO will not transmit data when the CTS signal is off. If the second option is selected, then SIO will ignore CTS during transmit. Note that this setting should be set to "Ignore" for 3 wire connections like the Seiko Smart Label Printer, and Laplink. VSIO ignores this setting "SIO_Mode_ODSR" This setting specifies how SIO is to react to the DSR signal during transmit. The two available options are: Ignore DSR During Transmit. HandShake Signal, as in DTR/DSR. If the first option (the default) is selected, then SIO will ignore DSR during transmit. If the second option is selected, then SIO will not transmit data when the DSR signal is off. VSIO ignores this setting. "SIO_Mode_RTS" This setting has three options that specify how SIO and VSIO are to treat the RTS signal. The there available option are: HandShake Signal, as in RTS/CTS. No Change at OPEN or CLOSE. Turn ON at OPEN, OFF at CLOSE. If either of the last two settings is selected, then basically the DOS application has direct control over the RTS signal. If the last option is selected, then RTS will be turned on by SIO when the DOS program first touches the comm port. If the first option (the default) is selected, then SIO will use RTS as a handshaking signal. That is, RTS will be turned off if SIO can not accept any further receive data. In addition, if the DOS application program turns off the virtual RTS signal, VSIO will stop supplying the DOS application with receive data. 12 "SIO_Mode_XON/XOFF" This setting specifies if (and how) SIO is to use XON/XOFF flow control. The four options are: No XON/XOFF flow control by SIO. Received XON is flow control. Sent XON is flow control. Rcvd and Sent XON is flow control. The first option (the default) specifies that SIO is not to use XON/XOFF flow control at all. The second option specifies that SIO is to treat received XON/XOFF as flow control, but that SIO must not send XON/XOFF as flow control characters. The third option specifies that SIO may send XON/XOFF as flow control characters, but that received XON/XOFF characters are to be treated as normal data. The fourth option turns on XON/XOFF flow control in both directions, meaning that all sent and received XON/XOFF characters are flow control. 13 "SIO_Mode_FIFO_Load_Count" This setting specifies how many characters that SIO will load into a 16550A UART at one time. The choices are 1 and 16 (16 is the default). The only case known to the author where one would select a setting of 1, is when very fast reaction to flow control is needed. One such case is the Seiko Smart Label Printer which uses XON/XOFF flow control and a 3 wire connection. If one is using a 16550 with a load count of 16, then 16 additional characters may be sent after an XOFF is receive. This condition will overrun the Seiko Printer. If the "Load Count" is set to 1, then SIO will transmit (at most) two additional characters following a received XOFF which allows the Seiko Printer to work. A setting of 1 will cause additional system overhead due to additional transmit interrupts. 14 Configuration Profiles I will attempt to provide the DOS Settings that one should try for DOS communications programs in this section. The settings may not work on all systems. I will add to this section as I receive information from users. All DOS Settings that are not given should be at their defaults. Seiko Smart Label Printer. SIO_Mode_OCTS Ignore CTS During Transmit. SIO_Mode_FIFO_Load_Count 1. SIO_Mode_XON/XOFF" Received XON is flow control. 15 Differences between SIO/VSIO and COM/VCOM What follows is some of the differences between SIO/VSIO and COM/VCOM that are know to the author. 1 - COM.SYS will automatically seek out and support four comm ports, COM1 through COM4. SIO.SYS will automatically seek out and support only COM1 and COM2. If SIO.SYS is to support more than two comm ports, they must be defined in the command line that loads SIO.SYS. For example, DEVICE=SIO.SYS (COM3) (COM4) will cause SIO.SYS to support four comm ports. 2 - In the absence of overrides in the command line, COM.SYS will seek out four comm ports in the sequence of I/O ports 3F8h, 2F8h, 3E8h and 2E8h. The first port found in this sequence is given the logical name COM1, the second is COM2 etc. This means that the comm port at 2F8h could become COM1. In the opinion of the author, this confuses some users to frustration. With no command line overrides, SIO.SYS uses a fixed I/O port concept. That is, COM1 is always at I/O port 3F8h, COM2 is always at 2F8h, etc. Another way of looking at this is; if no comm port exists at port 3F8h, then you do not have a COM1. SIO.SYS will not move another (found) comm port into the logical COM1 slot. 3 - VSIO opens a comm port for a DOS session with sharing allowed. VCOM uses an "exclusive use" open for DOS sessions. 4 - SIO.SYS always controls the FIFOs of the 16550 UART. SIO.SYS will not allow an application program (OS2 or DOS) to disable the FIFOs of a real 16550. The application may specify the transmit fifo load count. 5 - SIO.SYS will accept any number between 50 and 115200 as a valid baud rate. For example, if an application program attempts to set a baud rate of 9990 bps, COM.SYS will reject it and SIO.SYS will accept it. 6 - The last decimal digit of a baud rate given to SIO must be zero. SIO.SYS will not support baud rates like 75 or 134.5. If given, they will be rounded to 80 and 130 respectively. 7 - SIO/VSIO execute faster than COM/VCOM. This means that some applications, that are timing dependant, may not work under SIO/VSIO that do work under COM/VCOM. 16 8 - VSIO optionally (and by default) simulates a 16550A for DOS sessions. VCOM simulates a 8250/16450. 9 - SIO/VSIO provides more reliable active flow control for DOS sessions. For example, if RTS/CTS handshaking is in use, VSIO processes the RTS settings by the DOS program while SIO completely controls the real RTS signal. COM/VCOM simply passes the RTS signal directly to the hardware. 17 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS 1 - Port already in use is displayed. This message is displayed when the comm port or the IRQ is in use. If the comm port is not actually in use, the IRQ is most likely in use. 2 - SIO displays a warning message that the IRQ for a port appears to be wrong, but the port works. SIO probably detected more than one IRQ attached to the comm port. This indicates a possible hardware problem with your system that you may want to have checked. 3 - The modem will not initialize. Configure your comm program(s) to insert a delay between modem initialization characters as they are sent to the modem. 4 - WinFax locks up during install. During the WinFax install, temporally turn OFF the DOS setting SIO_Virtualize_COM_Ports. Once installation is complete, the setting SIO_Virualize_COM_Ports can be restored. 5 - Telemate does not recognize VX00 as a FOSSIL. Set the baud rate in Telemate to less than 57600. 6 - Comm output is very slow from DOS. This is a problem common to many DOS BBS and Door programs. They attempt to synchronize the local screen with the transmitted data. That is, they send a character, wait until it is sent and then display the character on the local screen. This does not cause a problem for the signal tasking DOS environment. However, this procedure causes at least two (probably more) context switches in the multi- tasking environment of OS2, which in turn brings the processor to its knees. One possible solution is for the programmer to synchronize line by line instead of character by character. 7 - FaxWorks' driver FMD.SYS cannot access a comm port when SIO is used, but works okay with COM.SYS. The problem may be that the comm port is in use (often by a DOS program). In all cases known to the author, this has 18 been the case. That is, FMD.SYS can not access the port because it is in use, and FMD.SYS does not report the problem in a manner that is understandable to many users. COM.SYS seems to have a bug that will allow an OS2 device driver (like FMD.SYS) to use a comm port when it is in use by a another device driver, and it (COM.SYS) does not cause an error when it should. The exact conditions of this is not fully understood by the author and the above supposition may not be totally correct. 8 - Procomm stops receiving Procomm seems to have a bug in its implementation of RTS/CTS handshaking. The problem shows up most often when Procomm is windowed. Under certain conditions, Procomm will turn the virtual RTS OFF and does not turn it ON again. This prevents VSIO from sending further data to Procomm if SIO_Mode_RTS is set for RTS/CTS handshake. A solution to the problem that seems to work is to set SIO_Mode_RTS to other than RTS/CTS handshake. Note that SIO_Mode_RTS should be set for RTS/CTS handshake under almost all other conditions. 19 9 - WinFax does not work well. a- Connect problems with recipient's fax station b- Cannot send more than one page of a multiple page fax c- Transmission fails between pages d- Transmitted pages are corrupted, missing parts, or cut off. Class 1 FAX modem. The modem init strings set by WinFax 3.0 will work in the single-layered comm world of DOS and Windows. However, these modem init strings will not work in the multi-layered comm environment used by OS/2. Specifically, WinFax 3.0 sets the modem to use only Xon/Xoff flow control. Ideally, both Xon/Xoff and Hardware handshaking needs to be set. If only one handshake can be set, set the modem to Hardware handshake. For USR FAX modems, use &H3, for many other modems, the setting is &K3. Additionally, for WinFax 3.04 and up, place the following in your WINFAX.INI file: HdwFlowControl=1 Class 2 FAX modem. It seems to the author that hardware handshake screws up some (possibly all) class 2 FAX modems. Therefore, when using a class 2 modem, WinFax should be configured to use XON/XOFF handshaking. For WinFax 3.04 and up, place the following in your WINFAX.INI file: HdwFlowControl=0 The author feels that the inability to use hardware handshake with class 2 FAX modems is a serious design deficiency. 20 10 - Fax/PM does not work. I have seen many reports that Fax/PM does not work with SIO. I have not found this to be the case. The publishers of Fax/PM were kind enough to supply me with Fax/PM and a later update. I have tested all versions of Fax/PM on several systems and it always works for me. Fax/PM's modem initialization and usage is a bit confusing to me. I believe they have an &F in an internal modem init string that is not visible to the user. This overrides any settings that the user has programmed into the modem and Fax/PM does not seem to provide an appropriate modem init string automatically. If my supposition is correct, this means that the Fax/PM user should always supply a complete modem init string, and should not depend on preset settings they have programmed into the modem. 21 IRQ SHARING ON ISA Sharing the same IRQ for multiple communications ports on ISA systems is not for the weak of heart (or mind). If you have problems with shared IRQs, DO NOT contact the author. Contact the board or computer manufacturer for help. Some general rules are as follows: 1 - Two different boards (plugged into different slots) can not share the same IRQ. This is a hardware limitation of ISA systems and can not be corrected by software. This means that you can not plug in two internal modems, set them for the same IRQ and expect them to work. This does not apply to PS/2 systems. The problem of multiple boards sharing the same IRQ was corrected in the PS/2's buss design. 2 - SIO can not (will not) share an IRQ with other device drivers at the same time. SIO releases IRQs that it is currently not using. This is different form how COM.SYS works. This difference may show up as an unexpected "port already in use" error that does not occur with COM.SYS. I have received reports that the SDLC drivers try to concurrently share IRQs with the ASYNC driver. SIO.SYS will not allow this while COM.SYS will. 22 Appendix A, Hardware Port and IRQ Assignments I have obtained the following information from various sources. Accuracy is not guaranteed. In fact, nothing in this document is guaranteed. Addresses and IRQs for COM1 and COM2 COM1 uses 03F8h and IRQ4 COM2 uses 02F8h and IRQ3 Defacto standard for COM3 and COM4 for PC, XT and AT COM3 uses 03E8h and IRQ4 COM4 uses 02E8h and IRQ3 Addresses and IRQ for COM3 through COM8 on the PS/2 COM3 uses 3220h and IRQ3 COM4 uses 3228h and IRQ3 COM5 uses 4220h and IRQ3 COM6 uses 4228h and IRQ3 COM7 uses 5220h and IRQ3 COM8 uses 5228h and IRQ3 All PCs (know to the author) prior to the PS/2 and EISA only use 10 bits to address hardware I/0 ports. Systems prior to the PS/2 and EISA can not address the standard PS/2 addresses for COM3 through COM8. If an AT or below attempts to address COM3 through COM8 using the PS/2 addresses, only the low 10 bits of the address are used. That is, the high digit of the hexadecimal address will be ignored. This means that any reference to COM3 through COM8 will actually address ports 220h through 22Fh on older PCs. One should avoid expansion boards that use ports 220h through 22Fh unless the expansion board is a serial I/O board. SIO will (attempt to) determine the hardware architecture (ISA/EISA and PS/2) that it is being executed on and use the appropriate hardware port addresses for COM1 thru COM4 as defaults. 23 Appendix B, SIO Chips The following is a collection of comments developed from hearsay, random documents, experience, and technical specifications. So, take it with a grain of salt. Order information from the various manufactures if you want accurate information. Very good reference books are available from National Semiconductor Corporation. They cover most of the SIO devices (also called UARTs) that you will find in many PCs and clones. I am not sure that books can be ordered directly from National semiconductor. They may require that you get it from a distributor. In any case, the address on the back of the one manual is: National Semiconductor Corporation 2900 Semiconductor Drive P.O. Box 58090 Santa Clara, CA 95052-8090 Tel:(408)721-5000 TWX:(910)339-9240 8250 As best that I know, the 8250 was the first SIO chip (integrated circuit) that was used by the IBM PC and many clones. In my opinion, it was a poor choice on the part of IBM. I feel many superior devices, at comparable prices, were readily available. At that time, I feel the 8251A or the 8530 would have been better choices. But, they used the 8250 and therefore we must use it. From a hardware standpoint the 8250 is a relatively slow device. It is advisable that programmers not perform successive inputs or outputs to this device. It seems that software programs can load the various registers of the 8250 faster than it can process the information. The 8250 had a total of 7 registers. The specifications state that 56kb is the maximum baud rate. 8250A I believe the 8250A is the 8250 with some bug fixes. I have no idea what the bugs may have been. A quick glance at the specifications shows the speed of the 8250 and 8250A to be much the same. The 8250A added an 8th register. This additional register enables software to detect if an 8250 is installed. The specifications state that 56kb is the maximum baud rate. 24 16450 The 16450 seems to be a speeded up version of the 8250A. There is no direct way (that I know of) for software to detect the difference between an 8250A and a 16450. I believe the 16450 was developed to eliminate the need for software to insert delays between successive accesses to the device. The specifications indicate the 16450 is a much faster device than its predecessors. The additional speed is only the speed at which the processor can access the device. The maximum baud rate for the 16450 is still stated at 56kb. However, I have been told by some people that they have run the 16450 successfully at much higher speeds. I do not believe there was ever a 16450A. 16C451 The 16C451 is a CMOS version of the 16450. CMOS is a term for the material and manufacturing process used to make the part. CMOS typically uses less power than other technologies. If you are not designing hardware, you should view the 16C451 as a 16450. 16550 (Non A) It is hard to find a 16550 (Non A). I was told by National Semiconductor that they did everything they could to get all 16550s back. SIO will detect a 16550 and tell you if you have one. I am told that the 16550 was installed in early PS/2 systems. The 16550 was the first shot at a FIFOed version of the 8250 family from National semiconductor. However, I was told by National Semiconductor that the FIFOs of the 16550 are not reliable and they should not be enabled. SIO will treat a 16550 like a 16450. In this mode, they are reliable. National Semiconductor would not provide me with a specification for the 16550. However, I suspect its maximum baud rate is the same as the 16550A which is 256kb. 16550A, 16550AF and 16550AFN In the manuals that I have, National Semiconductor does not explain the differences between the 16550A and the 16550AF. I suspect the AF part may have a few bug fixes. I believe the N in AFN describes packaging, ceramic versus plastic, DIP versus surface mount etc. In the opinion of the author, there is no substitute for the 16550A (and its successors) in the 8250 type series. The 16550A is compatible with most software written for the entire family of 8250 type devices. Programs that are 16550A aware can provide much improved performance over previous devices. 25 The maximum baud rate for the 16550A is specified at 256kb. However, due to the hardware design of the PC et al, 115kb is the maximum baud rate that can be programmed by software. The 16550A can be plugged into the same socket that contains an 8250, 8250A or 16450. If your SIO expansion board has the SIO chips in sockets, you can upgrade to the 16550A by simply removing the old chips and replacing them with 16550As. The key to the performance increase of the 16550A is its FIFOs. It has 16 byte FIFOs for both transmit and receive data. 16550s Made by Western Digital I have been told, but I have not verified for myself, that 16550s made by Western Digital have a problem with their FIFOs when working at 2400 baud or below. 16C551 The 16C551 is a CMOS version of the 16550AF. See the above description of the 16C451 for a discussion of CMOS. Do not feel you need to upgrade from a 16550A or AF to a 16C551. There is no gain from an existing users point of view. 16C552 The 16C552 is two 16C551s on a single chip. 16C554 The 16C554 is four 16C551s on a single chip. 82510 I believe Intel is the only company that manufactures the 82510. The 82510 is feature rich with several modes of operation. Its default mode is to operate as a 16450. The 82510 has a 4 byte FIFO for both transmit and receive data. A 4 byte FIFO is sufficient to provide significant performance over a basic 16450. The 82510 is small in size. Therefore, it is found in many lap tops. The 82510 is somewhat of a sleeper. I believe it would be much more widely used if Intel had promoted it more. However, given a choice between the 82510 and the 16550A, I would select the 16550A. 26 Appendix C, Multi-Port Serial I/0 Cards I have received many requests for information about multi-port serial I/O card. I will describe the boards that I know about (or have heard about) here. I will add to the list as I receive precise information from manufactures, users, or I develop it myself. STB 4COM (ISA buss) I am very impressed with the STB 4COM card, they have almost got it. Yes, its the same company that makes the VGA cards. The 4COM card uses a 16554 which is the equivalent of four 16550A. Comm ports can use IRQs 2/9, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, and 15. Any or all ports can share IRQs, and they have done this right. I tested SIO with all four ports of the 4COM on IRQ12 and they worked correctly. The user can select any of the following I/O port address for a comm port: 3F8, 2F8, 3E8, 2E8, 1A8, 1E8, 1F8, 2A8. The 4COM card is priced at $110 and I ordered mine from Steve Winter of Prerapture Solutions. Steve can be reached by telephone at 1-919-286-1502 for information and foreign callers. In the US orders can be placed by calling 1-800-735-5266. Their mailing address is: Prerapture Solutions 1806 Albany St. Durham NC 27705-3135 27 INDEX 16450 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550 Non A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550AFN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16550s Made by Western Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16C451 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 16C551 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16C552 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16C554 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 8250 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 8250A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 82510 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Addresses and IRQ for COM3 through COM8 on the PS/2 . . . . . 22 Addresses and IRQs for COM1 and COM2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Allow_Access_COMn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Appendix A, Hardware Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Appendix B, SIO Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Appendix C, Multi-Port Serial I/0 Cards . . . . . . . . . . . 26 AUTOMATIC IRQ ASSIGNMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 COMn already in use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i CONFIG.SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Defacto standard for COM3 and COM4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Differences between SIO/VSIO and COM/VCOM . . . . . . . . . . 15 DOS SETTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Exclusive use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 FAX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i FAX Modems Class 1 FAX modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Class 2 FAX modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Fax/PM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 FaxWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 FIFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24, 25 FMD.SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Installing SIO/VSIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 IRQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 6, 7 IRQ SHARING ON ISA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 National Semiconductor Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 OS2BVEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i PCMCIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 PDD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Physical Device Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 PKUNZIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Authentic files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 RTS/CTS handshaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 28 Seiko Smart Label Printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11, 13, 14 SIO Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 SIO Technical Reference Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i SIO_Mode_DTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SIO_Mode_FIFO_Load_Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 SIO_Mode_IDSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SIO_Mode_OCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SIO_Mode_ODSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SIO_Mode_RTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SIO_Mode_XON/XOFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 SIO_Screen_Sync_Kludge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 SIO_Share_Access_With_OS/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 STB 4COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i UART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 VDD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Virtual Device Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Virtualize_16550A_For_COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Virtualize_COM_Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 WHAT IS SIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 WHAT IS VSIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 WinFax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 19