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AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual Scandinavian Digital Systems AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Table of contents 1 Overview ............................................... 3 1.1 Features of ADF ................................... 3 2 Shareware .............................................. 3 2.1 Use as shareware .................................. 4 2.2 How to register ................................... 4 3 Support and new versions ............................... 5 3.1 ADF doesn't work .................................. 5 4 Included files ......................................... 6 5 Installation ........................................... 6 5.1 Installing on Windows 3.1, 3.11, and WfWG 3.1 ..... 6 5.2 Installing on Windows for Workgroups 3.11 ......... 6 5.3 Installing on Windows 95 .......................... 7 6 Command line arguments ................................. 7 6.1 port .............................................. 8 6.2 addr .............................................. 8 6.2 irq ............................................... 8 6.4 baud .............................................. 9 6.5 recbuf,hold,cont .................................. 9 6.6 trabuf ............................................ 9 6.7 fifo .............................................. 10 6.8 line .............................................. 10 6.9 modem ............................................. 10 7 Execution examples ..................................... 11 8 Baud rate calculation .................................. 12 9 16550 and 16650 FIFO UARTs ............................. 13 9.1 Receiver 16550-FIFO trigger level ................. 13 9.2 Receiver 16650-FIFO trigger level ................. 14 9.3 Transmitter 16650-FIFO trigger level .............. 14 10 Error messages ......................................... 14 11 Benchmarks ............................................. 16 11.1 Memory consumption ................................ 16 11.2 Execution speed ................................... 17 12 The ADFComCh program ................................... 18 13 The ADFDebug program ................................... 18 13.1 Using ADFDebug .................................... 19 14 The ADFTerm program .................................... 20 15 The ADFTest program .................................... 20 16 Version history ........................................ 20 17 Future versions ........................................ 21 Copyright (c) 1994-1996 Scandinavian Digital Systems AB This product, including the manual and the software, is provided as is. Scandinavian Digital Systems AB and Anders Danielsson disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether expressed or implied, and are not liable to you or anyone else for any damages or costs due to the use or inability to use this product. Acknowledgments: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 2 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── AnDan Software is a trademark of Scandinavian Digital Systems AB. FidoNet is a trademark of Tom Jennings. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. X00 is a program made by Raymond L. Gwinn. BNU is a program made by David Nugent, Unique Computing Pty Limited. 16550 is a device made by National Semiconductor Corporation. 16650 is a device made by Startech Semiconductor Incorporated. 1 Overview ADF is a FOSSIL revision level 5 driver, including the additional functions defined by Raymond L. Gwinn in X00 v1.50. ADF is specially designed for users of high speed modems with or without the 16550 or the 16650 UART, using DOS or a multitasking environment. ADF was initially written some years ago because other FOSSIL drivers did not always work properly in protected mode multitasking environments, where the UART is emulated. ADF is designed to work well with both emulated UARTs and real UARTs, without any drawbacks. 1.1 Features of ADF * Always a locked baud-rate. * Locked baud-rate of any speed (2 bps - 115200 bps). * Defaults to 8 databits, no parity, and 1 stop bit (8N1). * Always CTS/RTS handshake. Never DSR/DTR or XON/XOFF handshake. * One port per ADF (load ADF in different tasks for many ports). * COM-port address configurable (0H-FFFFH). * COM-port IRQ configurable (0-15). * Full support of the 16550 UART and the 16650 UART. * Fills transmit 16550-FIFO buffer with all 16 bytes. * Fills transmit 16650-FIFO buffer with all 32 bytes. * Receiver 16550-FIFO configurable (1, 4, 8 or 14 bytes). * Receiver and transmitter 16650-FIFO configurable. * Only 8088/8086 compatible code used. 2 Shareware The files in this package may be copied and distributed if no fee is charged, if no changes are done and as no part of other products, in purpose to test and evaluate this product for a period of 30 days. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 3 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2.1 Use as shareware To use ADF.EXE as shareware, you must first execute the supplied REGISTER.EXE and register ADF.EXE as shareware. Run REGISTER.EXE, specify ADF.EXE as file to register and do not enter any user name. ADF.EXE may then be used as shareware. When ADF.EXE is executed it will display the number of used days since it was registered as shareware. 2.2 How to register To register ADF and use it for more than 30 days, you should pay an even amount equal to the sum of USD 10 in a currency of your own choice. Examples of common currencies: American Dollars USD 10 Austrian Schillings ATS 100 Belgian Francs BEF 300 British Pounds GBP 6 Canadian Dollars CAD 15 Dutch Guilders NLG 15 French Francs FRF 50 German Marks DEM 15 Italian Lira ITL 15000 Swedish Krona SEK 60 Please send cash (bills, paper money) in a letter to: Scandinavian Digital Systems AB Billerudsgatan 20 S-661 30 Saffle SWEDEN Please include a note, a postcard or the printed REGISTER.TXT, with your FidoNet or Internet e-mail address, and you will receive an e-mail receipt of your payment. No other methods of payments are accepted. Do not send checks, cheques or money orders. After you have sent the money, send an electronic mail through FidoNet to Reg at 2:203/620 or through Internet to reg@andan.edv.se. The mail should contain the following lines: Prod=ADF User=<Your name and your e-mail address, BBS or location> You will then receive an automatic reply with your private registration code, to the address you mailed your registration. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 4 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── When you specify your user registration name after the "User=", you should use your name together with some kind of address or location information. Examples: User=Anders Danielsson, AnDan BBS, 2:203/620 User=Charles Smith, cs@someplace.com User=Hans Schultz, Dernauer Str., Hamburg, Germany Use at least 16 characters, but not more than 63 characters. You may also phone AnDan BBS at +46-533-13700 and register on-line. The on-line registration is similar to the mail registration. Note, Reg is a program, and it will reply to your origin (from or reply) address. Please make sure that your e-mail has a valid origin address. Please note, routed FidoNet e-mail may not work on long distances. All FidoNet e-mail replies from Reg (and from the support) are routed, but a copy of the mail is also put on hold at 2:203/620. If you suspect that routed mail will not work, use crash mail to send to Reg, and some hours later do a poll for any hold replies. 3 Support and new versions If you have questions, comments or find bugs in the program, please send electronic mail to the author, Anders Danielsson at FidoNet 2:203/620 or ad@andan.edv.se. Well documented reports of new bugs and suggestions are honored with a free registration. The latest version can be file requested as ADF from FidoNet 2:203/620. You may also phone AnDan BBS at +46-533-13700, where the newest versions and other shareware programs from AnDan Software always are downloadable for all users. 3.1 ADF doesn't work ADF is tested to work with many programs, also in different environments, that use FOSSIL drivers. The author is convinced that ADF will work together with all well behaved programs, and if not, it is our intention to make it work with those programs as quickly as possible. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 5 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── However, it is not our policy to make memory or time consuming changes in ADF to make it work with badly behaved programs that do not use a FOSSIL correctly. 4 Included files You should have received the following files: File name: Description: ADF.TXT This file ADF.EXE The FOSSIL driver ADFCOMCH.EXE Checks COM-ports ADFDEBUG.EXE FOSSIL debugger ADFTERM.EXE Very small and simple communication program ADFTEST.EXE FOSSIL tester ADFCOM1.BAT Example of use of ADF with COM1 ADFCOM2.BAT Example of use of ADF with COM2 FILE_ID.DIZ File description REGISTER.TXT Registration form REGISTER.EXE Registration program 5 Installation Just copy ADF.EXE to a directory included in your PATH. If you are only running DOS, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT and insert a line that loads ADF. You may insert (or call) one of the files ADFCOM1.BAT or ADFCOM2.BAT for quick and easy editing. If you are using a protected mode multitasking environment, such as Windows, load one copy of ADF in each wanted DOS session using different ports. Do not load ADF in AUTOEXEC.BAT. In fact, this applies for all FOSSIL drivers, and this is the reason why ADF only uses one port per load. 5.1 Installing on Windows 3.1, 3.11, and WfWG 3.1 To let ADF (and other DOS application) take advantage of the FIFO's of the 16550 UART, you need to install a third-party communications drivers (such as Turbocom by Pacific Commware and KingComm by OTC Corporation), or upgrade to Windows for Workgroups 3.11. 5.2 Installing on Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Windows for Workgroups 3.11 is the first version of Windows with 16550 FIFO support for DOS applications. You do not need any ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 6 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── third-party communications drivers. Make sure you got a SERIAL.386 dated Feb 17, 1994, or later. (Available at http://www.microsoft.com). Examples of settings in SYSTEM.INI: [386Enh] COM1BASE=03F8 COM1IRQ=4 COM1Fifo=1 COM1TxFifo=1 COM1RxTrigger=4 COM2BASE=02F8 COM2IRQ=3 COM2Fifo=1 COM2TxFifo=1 COM2RxTrigger=4 Set the COM?RxTrigger to the same value as the receiver trigger level of ADF (see below). 5.3 Installing on Windows 95 If you have an 16550 (or 16650) UART, you need to enable and configure it in Windows 95. In the port settings of the modem configuration, enable the FIFOs, set the FIFO receiver buffer (1, 4, 8 or 14) to the same value as the receiver trigger level of ADF (see below), and set the FIFO transmit buffer to the maximum. A FIFO receiver trigger level of 4 (the second position in Windows 95) is a good choice for most users using 38400 bps or higher. 6 Command line arguments When you run ADF without any arguments, it will display the following help text (use ADF|MORE for more prompt): adf port addr irq baud recbuf[,hold[,cont]] trabuf [fifo] [line] [modem] port FOSSIL port number, 0-126, or COM-port, COM1-COM127. Example: 0 or COM1 addr Address in hex of COM-port, 0-FFFF. Example: 3F8 irq IRQ number of COM-port, 0-15. Example: 4 baud Locked baud-rate, 1-115200. Example: 38400 recbuf Size of receive buffer, 256-16384. Example: 4096 hold Flow control hold or stop, default 7/8 of recbuf. Example: 3584 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 7 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── cont Flow control continue or restart, default 6/8 of recbuf. Example: 3072 trabuf Size of transmit buffer, 256-16384. Example: 4096 fifo Receiver 16550-FIFO trigger level, 1, 4, 8 or 14. Default: 8 Or 16650,rec,tra for setting receiver trigger level 8, 16, 24 or 28, and transmitter trigger level 8, 16, 24 or 30 on 16650. Example: 16650,16,8 line Line control register. Default: 3 modem Modem control register. Default: 11 ADF will stay resident when using the above command line. adf UNLOAD ADF will remove itself from memory when using the above command line. adf watch ON|OFF|time ADF will turn carrier watchdog on or off when using the above command line. If a numeric value is used, the time out in seconds (10-3600) will be set, this will not turn the watchdog on or off (default is 60 seconds). 6.1 port You may specify the FOSSIL port number starting with 0 by using a number only, or you may specify the port number starting with 1 by putting COM before the number, that is 0 = COM1, 1 = COM2 and so on. In practice, ADF sets no limits, but your environment may limit the number of COM ports. The FOSSIL port number is only used to check for correct calls by application programs. ADF doesn't use this number to access the port or anything like that. You always need to specify the address and IRQ of the port. 6.2 addr Address in hexadecimal notation of the COM port, see irq. 6.3 irq IRQ of the COM port. The most common addresses and IRQs are: COM1 3F8 4 COM2 2F8 3 COM3 3E8 4 COM4 2E8 3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 8 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Note that you cannot use two COM ports having the same IRQ. If you configure your hardware using the same IRQ to two COM ports, you must be very sure that they are not used at the same time and that programs using them turns them of when finished. Otherwise you will get a true electrical short-circuit. 6.4 baud The baud rate to use (lock). Common values are 9600, 19200, 38400, 56700 and 115200. See chapter 8 for details. These are the PC standard baud rates. Some communication adapters uses a baud rate multiplication, meaning that when ADF sets a PC standard baud rate, the true baud rate will be (for example) four times higher. ADF fully supports such adapters, you simply specify the (false) PC standard baud rate on the ADF command line. With some application programs, many modems need to be initialized and programmed (e.g. AT&W) using the wanted baud rate. The supplied ADFTERM.EXE is useful for one-time initialization and programming of modems. The baud rate should be at least as high as 10 times your cps rate. It should not need to be much larger than this. Be aware of that the RS-232 standard specifies a maximum baud rate of 20000 bps. Most of todays computers and modems allows higher baud rates, but some don't, please see your hardware manuals. 6.5 recbuf,hold,cont The receive buffer size in bytes. Use at least 1024, but it should not need to be much larger than your maximum cps rate. 4096 is a good value for high speed modems. Optionally, you may use commas and specify the receive flow control trigger levels. When the number of bytes in the receive buffer is more than the "hold" value, RTS will be lowered. Then when the number of bytes has gone below the "cont" value, RTS will be raised again. Note that some modems ignores the RTS signal, in practice it will work anyway, at least with large enough receive buffer. 6.6 trabuf The transmit buffer size in bytes. Use at least 1024, but it should not need to be much larger than your maximum cps rate. 4096 is a good value for high speed modems. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 9 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6.7 fifo The 16550 FIFO receiver trigger level. A value of 1, 4, 8 or 14 bytes. Please see chapter 9 for details. If you don't specify this on the command line, a trigger level of 8 bytes will be used by default. If you don't have a 16550 or compatible, ADF will still set the trigger level, but it will have no effect. When running ADF under Windows, set the receiver trigger level of the Windows communication driver to the same value as ADF. Instead of the 16550 FIFO receiver trigger level, you may specify the number 16650, meaning you got a 16650 UART with 2x32 bytes FIFO and other enhancements. When you use 16650 you must also specify the 16650 FIFO receiver and transmitter trigger levels separated with commas. 6.8 line The value to put in the UART's Line Control Register. This is an advanced option. If you want 8N1 (like most users) you don't need to worry about this option. The Line Control Register is a bit register, you need to add the values wanted. Value: Meaning: 0 5 data bits 1 6 data bits 2 7 data bits 3 8 data bits 4 2 stop bits 8 Parity Enable 16 Even Parity 32 Stick Parity Common combinations: 8N1 3 7O1 10 (2+8) 7E1 26 (2+8+16) 6.9 modem The value to put in the UART's Modem Control Register. This is an advanced option. If you have a 100% PC compatible you should not use this option. The Modem Control Register is a bit register, you need to add the values wanted. This value is loaded into the register when application programs calls for a FOSSIL initialization. Some bits (like DTR, RTS and Out2) are modified by ADF during execution. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 10 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Value: Meaning: 1 Data Terminal Ready, DTR 2 Request to Send, RTS 4 Out1 8 Out2, On PC compatibles, the Out2 signal is used to mask the IRQ signal. IRQ must not be masked for ADF to work. 16 Loopback 32 16650 only: Open source (emitter) interrupt output, for shared interrupts. (ADF has no special shared interrupt capabilities). 64 16650 only: Infrared RXD/TXD 128 16650 only using 7.372 MHz clock: Divided by four baud clock 7 Execution examples Example of loading ADF using COM1 (see ADFCOM1.BAT): adf COM1 3F8 4 38400 4096 4096 8 Example of loading ADF using COM2 (see ADFCOM2.BAT): adf COM2 2F8 3 38400 4096 4096 8 Example of loading ADF with 16650: adf COM1 3F8 4 38400 4096 4096 16650,16,8 Example of loading ADF with 7E1: adf COM1 3F8 4 38400 4096 4096 8 26 Example of unloading ADF: adf unload Example of setting the watchdog time out to 2 minutes: adf watch 120 Example of REMOTE.BAT, to execute on DOS-Shell in a BBS: @echo off rem %1 = Baud rate (used to detect local call) if not %1@==0@ ctty COM%2 if not %1@==0@ adf watch on ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 11 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── command adf watch off ctty CON The carrier watchdog will try to reboot the computer after about 60 seconds (if not changed) from the carrier drops. This may be dangerous, especially in a multitasking environment (such as Windows). 8 Baud rate calculation A PC compatible serial port uses the following formula to calculate the baud rate: Baud = 115200 / Divisor The Divisor is an integer number (whole number), 1 to 65535, used to program the serial port (the UART chip). This means that only certain baud rates are allowed. Divisor: Baud rate: True baud rate on a 4x adapter: 1 115200 bps 460800 bps 2 57600 bps 230400 bps 3 38400 bps 153600 bps 4 28800 bps 115200 bps 5 23040 bps 92160 bps 6 19200 bps 76800 bps 7 16457 bps 65829 bps 8 14400 bps 57600 bps 9 12800 bps 51200 bps 10 11520 bps 46080 bps 11 10473 bps 41891 bps 12 9600 bps 38400 bps . . . . . . X 115200/X 460800/X . . . . . . When you specify a baud rate on the command line to ADF, ADF calculates the Divisor and checks that the baud-rate is valid (realizable). If you for example use 76800 bps as a baud rate to ADF, the Divisor will be 115200/76800 = 1.5, but this is not an integer (whole number) and cannot be set. ADF will in this case display an error message. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 12 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 16550 and 16650 FIFO UARTs ADF has full support of the 16550 and the 16650 UART. These UARTs are enhanced replacements of the standard 8250 and 16450 UARTs, using hardware buffers to get higher performance. These buffers are called FIFO (First In First Out) buffers. The 16550 has one 16 byte large receiver FIFO buffer, and one 16 bytes large transmitter FIFO buffer. The 16650 has one 32 byte large receiver FIFO buffer, and one 32 bytes large transmitter FIFO buffer. On the 16550, you may set the trigger level of the receiver FIFO buffer, and on the 16650, you may set the trigger level of both the receiver and transmitter FIFOs. 9.1 Receiver 16550-FIFO trigger level The receiver 16550-FIFO trigger level can be set to 1, 4, 8 or 14 bytes of it's total 16 bytes buffer size. The value is the number of bytes in the receiver FIFO buffer that will generate an interrupt from the UART to the CPU. The receiver FIFO buffer and it's trigger level, is the main reason why many people replaces their old 8250 and 16450 UARTs with 16550. If you for example use a baud rate of 38400 bps (8N1), there will be a new byte received each 260 us (microseconds). With an ordinary UART, the CPU must answer to an interrupt from the UART each 260 us, and read the byte and store it in memory. If the CPU is unable to answer an interrupt at this rate, or if some program has disable interrupts longer than 260 us, received bytes will be lost. If you are downloading a file, you will get a lot of resends. The 16550 UART has a 16 byte receiver FIFO buffer (and also a 16 byte transmitter FIFO) so it can store up to 16 bytes until the CPU must read and empty the buffer. The receiver FIFO trigger level specifies when an interrupt should be generated by the UART to the CPU. If the trigger level is set to 4, the UART will generate an interrupt after 4 bytes have been received, but will still fill the buffer up to 16 bytes if the CPU doesn't answer the interrupt. The rate of interrupts at 38400 bps will be 4*260 = 1040 us, and the tolerance to no answer from the CPU will be (16-4)*260 = 3120 us. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 13 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The most common problem with high baud rates, is that programs turns of interrupts during too long time. A trigger level of 14 would in most cases not be a good solution, normally a trigger level of 8 is good enough, in some cases you may lower it to 4. You should not choose a lower trigger level then necessary, because it would load the CPU without giving any benefits. 9.2 Receiver 16650-FIFO trigger level The receiver 16650-FIFO trigger level can be set to 8, 16, 24 or 28 bytes of it's total 32 bytes buffer size. It's similar to the 16550-FIFO, see section 9.1 above, but it will have higher tolerance against CPU response time and it will load the CPU even less. 9.3 Transmitter 16650-FIFO trigger level The transmitter 16650-FIFO trigger level can be set to 8, 16, 24 or 30 bytes of it's total 32 bytes buffer size. This setting cannot be done on the 16550. The 16550 always has it's transmitter FIFO trigger level set to 1 by hardware. When the number of not yet transmitted bytes in the FIFO goes below the trigger level, the UART will generate an interrupt to the CPU, so the interrupt service program can fill up the FIFO with more characters to transmit. The setting of the transmitter FIFO trigger level will affect how much the transmission will load the CPU, and how fast the transmission may be. A lower trigger level means less CPU load, but maybe lower transfer rates if long interrupt response times. A higher trigger level means higher transfer rates on systems with long interrupt response times, but it will load the CPU more. 10 Error messages When ADF displays an error message, it will wait a moment before continuing, so you are able to read the message when ADF is executed among other programs in batch files (such as AUTOEXEC.BAT). All error messages with explanations: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 14 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── "Argument error (command line error)." ADF was unable to understand the command line arguments, please see section 6 above. This error message will also be displayed if numerical values on the command line are out of range. "DOS v3.1 or newer required." Your DOS is too old, you need to upgrade to a newer DOS version. "Unable to handle TSRs in this environment." ADF does a check that it can search and find it self in the DOS memory (lower or upper). If this fails it will display this message. Try using plain DOS without special memory managers or program loaders. "Error when releasing memory." DOS reports error when freeing memory. This can occur during both load and unload of ADF. Probably is the DOS memory allocation blocks damaged (by some program). "Invalid (not realizable) baud-rate." The specified baud-rate cannot be used. Please see section 8 above. "Not enough memory for buffers." The memory given to ADF by DOS at load time is not enough to satisfy the wanted size of the receive and transmit buffers. Decrease the sizes or load ADF in low memory or in a larger high memory block. "Error when restoring interrupts." This may occur when unloading ADF. Most common cause is that some other programs also are using the same interrupts. Try to unload all TSRs in the reverse order of how they where loaded. "ADF already loaded." This message will be displayed if you try to load ADF a second time. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 15 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── "ADF not loaded." This message will be displayd if you use some of the ADF command lines that requires ADF to be loaded as a TSR first (e.g. unload and watch). "Please run "REGISTER" first to use this program." You must run REGISTER.EXE to use ADF.EXE, see section 2 above. If you get a new version of ADF.EXE you need to run REGISTER.EXE once again. "You have used this program for more than 30 days. If you want to use it more, you must register it. Please wait a moment." Please read section 2 above. ADF will wait a moment (from 5 seconds up to 60 seconds) when displaying this message, you cannot terminate this waiting. 11 Benchmarks Users have asked how much memory ADF will consume and how fast it is compared with other well known FOSSIL drivers. Below are tables of memory consumption and execution speed. X00 v1.50 and BNU v1.70 have been used as references. The drivers where loaded using the following command lines: adf 0 3F8 4 38400 2048 1024 8 x00 E 0=3F8,IRQ4 B,0,38400 R=2048 T=1024 bnu /T1024 /R2048 /P1 /L0:38400,8N1 Please note that ADF has not been written with any special efforts to make it small and fast. These benchmarks are only included here to show that ADF is as good as any other FOSSIL driver written in the assembly language. 11.1 Memory consumption How much memory ADF (and other FOSSILs) will use depends on how large receive and transmit buffers are being used. The memory consumption was determined using the DOS command MEM /d. Program: Bytes used: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 16 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ADF.EXE 6480 bytes X00.SYS 9808 bytes X00.EXE 10288 bytes + environment size BNU.SYS 8272 bytes BNU.EXE 8304 bytes + environment size Probably due to ADF uses only locked baud and always one port, it is somewhat smaller than the others. 11.2 Execution speed The execution speed has been measured using ADFDebug and ADFTest (see below). ADFTest was executed 8 times per FOSSIL, and the most common value was used. The computer used was a 486DX-50 with no significant TSRs. The internal cache (8 KB) and the external cache were both disabled. Each time value has the unit 0.838095 us (microseconds). FOSSIL function: ADF: X00: BNU: 00 Set communications parameters 82 134 121 01 Transmit character and wait 78 191 94 02 Get received character with wait 56 80 56 03 Return serial port status 63 81 53 04 Activate port 106 587 35885 05 Deactivate port 65 275 238 06 Raise/lower DTR 43 61 67 07 Return timer tick information 33 38 39 08 Flush output buffer 41 77 46 09 Purge output buffer 41 65 48 0A Purge input buffer 43 77 53 0B Transmit no wait 58 104 75 0C Non-destructive read-ahead 50 63 52 0F Flow control for serial I/O 43 65 47 18 Block Read 73 1200 92 19 Block Write 87 1322 110 These values should be compared with care. All three FOSSIL drivers have about the same execution speed on most functions. Only large differences (25% or more) are to be considered. Due to difference in implementation, some function takes much longer time, for example, BNU writes to the screen during function 01 Activate port. One thing to remember is that ADF actually does more job for all read, write (transmit) and status functions, due to safer operation with protected mode multitaskers using emulated UARTs. As you can see, this has been achieved without any significant ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 17 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── time losses. The function 18H (Block Read) transferred 45 bytes, and the function 19H (Block Write) transferred 39 bytes in the above test. Modern and well written application programs uses these functions most, and during file transfers the number of bytes will of course be much larger, giving larger difference between the FOSSIL drivers. Note that no execution speed of the interrupt services routine has been measured. However, we are convinced that ADF's interrupt services routine is as fast as any other FOSSIL. The very best benchmark is of course testing and measuring in real use with application software. 12 The ADFComCh program When you run ADFComCh without any arguments, it will display the following help text: adfcomch addr addr Address in hex of COM port, 0-FFFF. Example: 3F8 ADFComCh checks if there is an UART at the specified port address. The most common port addresses are: COM1 3F8 COM2 2F8 COM3 3E8 COM4 2E8 The current UART settings will be cleared or modified. Please reboot or load ADF after usage. Sets ERRORLEVEL to: 255 Error 4 No UART 3 16450 2 16550 1 16650 13 The ADFDebug program When you run ADFDebug without any arguments, it will display the following help text: adfdebug command 'command' is one of the following commands: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 18 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── L [opt] Load TSR, should be done after the FOSSIL load. Options: /t Use time measurement. /sNN Use ASCII NN as separator, default is 13 and 10 (CR and LF). U Unload TSR, should be done before the FOSSIL unload. N No output (default at load time). S Screen output. F file File output to the specified file. 13.1 Using ADFDebug ADFDebug is a FOSSIL debugger. It is loaded as a TSR after the FOSSIL has been loaded, and may write debug (trace) information to the screen or to a file. It is included for application programmers, and for advanced users. ADFDebug is loaded using the command L with or without the options /t or /s. If /t is used, it will do time measurements of the FOSSIL driver functions using timer ticks with the unit 0.838095 us (microseconds). The time will always include a small offset error, independent of the FOSSIL driver used. Execution time of interrupts that occurs during FOSSIL execution will be included in the time measurement. When loading with the option /t, ADFDebug may cause the internal DOS clock (BIOS Timer Tick) to be incorrectly updated. Do only use /t in plain DOS without any timer depending TSRs, including hard disk caches (e.g. smartdrv), and reboot when done with testing. During testing, do not hold down keys or move the mouse. After loading ADFDebug, the command S or F is used to start debug output, and the command N is used to stop the output. When using the command F, you must also specify a file name. The file is opened, written to and closed at each FOSSIL call, so most programs using the FOSSIL will run very slow. The file may also get very large. ADFDebug uses DOS to write to the file, which may cause a system crash when the FOSSIL is used by some programs (programs that calls the FOSSIL from interrupt routines). For testing purposes the program ADFTest (see below) is included. It calls a lot of FOSSIL functions, and the calls are done immediate after a BIOS Timer Tick count, to minimize time measurement errors. Example of usage of ADFDebug and ADFTest: @echo off del adf.lst ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 19 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── adf COM1 3F8 4 38400 2048 1024 8 adfdebug L /t /s9 adfdebug F adf.lst adftest COM1 adfdebug U adf unload 14 The ADFTerm program When you run ADFTerm without any arguments, it will display the following help text: adfterm port port FOSSIL port number, 0-126, or COM-port, COM1-COM127. Example: 0 or COM1 ADFTerm is a very small and simple communication program, that uses the ADF or any FOSSIL driver. It will set 2400 bps and 8N1 if FOSSIL is not locked. You may call BBSes and use ANSI-BBS if you have ANSI.SYS loaded. 15 The ADFTest program When you run ADFTest without any arguments, it will display the following help text: adftest port port FOSSIL port number, 0-126, or COM-port, COM1-COM127. Example: 0 or COM1 ADFTest is a FOSSIL test program. ADFTest will send "ATE1<cr>" to the port and expect at least one character as reply. A modem connected to the port will in most cases do the job. ADFTest is intended to be used with ADFDebug for testing and verifying FOSSIL drivers. 16 Version history v1.10 November 22, 1995 This is the first non-BETA version. The setting of the receiver FIFO trigger level on the command line has been added since the v1.00 BETAs from 1994. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 20 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── v1.20 December 9, 1995 Many improvements and bug fixes has been done. ADF now includes all FOSSIL functions 01H to 21H as X00 v1.50 does. It also includes function 7EH and 7FH for "external application". ADF will now display an error message if the baud-rate is not realizable. Some more utility programs have been included, the debug function has been moved into a separate program (option /d is no longer valid). v1.30 January 20, 1996 Bugfix of External Application. Added output of flag register in ADFDebug. Bugfix of function 1E "Extended line control initialization". Bugfix of function 04, 05, 1C, 14 when used on illegal port number. Only check DL for port number (due to bugs in other programs), valid port range is now 0-126. COM-port number may be used instead of FOSSIL port number. v1.31 January 22, 1996 The time limit of 30 days after installation has been removed. ADF will not stop executing after 30 days as before, it will run for ever, even if it is never registered. v1.32 February 9, 1996 Bugfix of External Application, such as Video FOSSIL. v1.40 March 23, 1996 Bugfix when input buffer was purged the RTS signal was not restored (activated, made high) if it had been lowered due to flow control. Receiver flow control hold and continue levels may now be specified on the command line. Improved block read and write (function 18H and 19H) for higher speed. ADFTest uses ATE1 to test block read/write with more characters. User settings of line and modem control registers. Included support for 16650. REGISTER.EXE v1.20 needed to register. Documentation improved. v1.41 July 17, 1996 Changed the reboot method. User may specify watchdog time out, default changed to 60 seconds. Documentation improved. 17 Future versions ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 21 AnDan Software FOSSIL Version 1.41 Users Manual ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── As long as people keep registering and using ADF, we will continue to make new versions, to improve ADF and to support future UARTs and environments to come. On demand from many users, I (the author of ADF) will as soon as I get information describing how to make device drivers for Windows v3.1, Windows 95 and OS/2 v3, probably make enhanced and fast communication drivers for these operating systems, with support for DOS FOSSIL applications. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scandinavian Digital Systems Page 22