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1990-06-02
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23KB
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780 lines
X00 Utility (XU)
Copyright 1990, by Raymond L. Gwinn
12469 Cavalier Drive
Woodbridge, Virginia 22192
All Rights Reserved
i
INTRODUCTION
XU is a utility program intended to support the Serial
Input/Output (SIO) device driver X00.
XU combines several individual utilities that were previously
distributed with X00. XU gives the user the ability to change
most of the X00 command line options that were specified in the
CONFIG.SYS file, or when X00 was installed as a TSR. Future
versions of XU will provide additional functions such as port/IRQ
re-mapping.
Use this program at your own risk. No warranties or guarantees
are given or implied.
You may enter as many commands as you wish in a single XU
execution. The only limitation is the length of DOS command
lines.
All references in this manual to the 16550A apply to the 16550AF,
16550AFN, 16C551 aka 16551, and 16C552 aka 16552. See the
appendix in X00USER.DOC for a discussion on the various chip
types.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
BOOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CAPTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
FIFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
DTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
DV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
LOCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Valid baud rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Valid parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
data bits per character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
stop bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
NASTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
STATUS or S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
USEBIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
WATCHCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1
BOOT
This function should cause a warm boot. The BOOT functions works
in most environments, including DESQview on most systems. The
BOOT function will not work on some 386 systems running protected
mode software.
An example of the usage is:
XU BOOT
One appropriate place to use this function is in a batch file
that is controlling an automated system like a BBS. If a
condition is detected that is considered by the user to be severe
enough, the BOOT command can be issued to restart the system.
2
CAPTURE
X00 is a FOSSIL serial I/O device driver. A FOSSIL is normally
entered (called) using an 80x86 INT 14h. This means that the
vector (pointer) for interrupt 14h must point to X00. Some
programs will alter the interrupt 14h vector (pointer). If the
INT 14h vector is changed, X00 may not function properly.
Application programmers please note that the INT 14h vector can
be avoided by using the HLLAPI routines included in the X00
distribution file.
The CAPTURE function is provided to instruct X00 to take control
of, or to release the INT 14h vector.
Examples of usage are:
XU CAPTURE:ON
XU CAPTURE:OFF
XU CAPTURE
CAPTURE:ON means that X00 will take/re-take the vector for
interrupt 14h. That is, X00 will make the INT 14h vector
(pointer) point to the X00 function dispatcher. The value of the
old INT 14h vector is saved. X00 does not save the INT 14h
vector if it already points to X00.
CAPTURE:OFF means that X00 is to release the INT 14h vector.
When X00 is initialized, or when a CAPTURE:ON is issued, the INT
14h vector is saved. The CAPTURE:OFF function tells X00 to
restore the last INT 14h vector that it saved. It should be
noted that the last INT 14h vector that X00 saved is not
necessary the correct vector. An explanation is beyond the scope
of this document. CAPTURE:OFF will also disable the BIOS
emulator. CAPTURE:OFF does not deactivate any FOSSIL active
ports.
If you are having problems with a FOSSIL aware program, try
CAPTURE:ON just prior to executing the program. If you are
having problems with a communications program that is not FOSSIL
aware, try CAPTURE:OFF just prior to executing the program.
This function takes effect immediately upon execution.
3
FIFO
This function is provided to give the user control of FIFOs in
the SIO chip. At this time the only FIFOed chip that is
supported is the 16550A and later versions. Other FIFOed chips
are being worked on and will be supported in the future.
Some early PS/2 systems had 16550 (non A) chips installed. X00
will identify the non A versions (and tell you that you have one)
but it will not use the FIFOs. The FIFOs of the 16550 (non A)
are not reliable.
If the SIO chip is not a FIFOed device, this command has no
effect.
Examples of usage are:
XU FIFO:15
XU FIFO:8
XU FIFO:OFF
X00 defaults to 8 for a 16550A. If an invalid FIFO value is
specified, the default value will be substituted.
When a number parameter is given, it specifies the number of
characters that can be loaded into the transmit FIFO of the SIO
chip. The receive FIFO is always set at the maximum.
The FIFO:OFF command disables both the receive and transmit
FIFOs.
I have seen problems with the 16550A when the FIFO is set to the
maximum of 16. The problems go away with the FIFO value set to
15. If you are seeing an occasional error during file transfers,
try lowering the FIFO value.
This command will not take effect for ports that are already
FOSSIL active. Once the port is reactivated, the specified FIFO