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WHATSNEW.124
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1990-10-10
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It seems the change to use the PS/2 defaults for COM3 and COM4
has caused many problems. Simply checking for the existence of
the ports using the PS/2 addresses caused problems on non PS/2
systems. Those that read the documentation and tried NOPOST
probably did not have a problem.
X00 now detects that it is working on a PS/2 or compatible. If
the host system is a PS/2, then the PS/2 port address for COM3
and COM4 are used as the defaults port addresses. If the host
system is not a PS/2, then the defacto standard port addresses
for COM3 and COM4 are used as the default port addresses.
V1.22n of X00 enabled the FIFOs of the 16550a (et al) at load
time. This was done at the request of several users. At load
time, X00 does not know which comm ports will be used so all
16550's FIFOs were enabled. However, some (dumb) communications
programs will not recognize the existence of a comm port that has
a 16550a installed with the FIFOs enables. X00 no longer enables
the 16550's FIFOs at load time. However, the FIFOs are left
enabled when X00 shuts down a FOSSIL active port.
The HLLAPI routines are now back in the distribution file but are
largely untested. They should now correctly find and use a TSRed
X00. Please report any problems that you find. Future additions
will include selective tracing with BOB.
BOB will now write the trapped communications data to a disk
file. A program written by Bob Hartman called ANALYZER.EXE will
convert the BOB files to text. ANALYZER.EXE is included in the
BOB.ZIP file. See the HISTORY.TXT file in BOB.ZIP for more
information.
I am somewhat dismayed to note that the X00 distribution file is
now over 100k.
A FidoNet echomail conference tagged X00_USER is now available
from the FidoNet Backbone. This conference is intended for users
of X00 to exchange solutions to problems. Additionally, the
conference should eliminate the need for me to answer the same
questions from several users via net-mail.
An embarrassing problem in flow control has been corrected. The
lower end threshold was not being checked correctly. The net
effect was that receiver was being enabled after only a few bytes
were taken from the buffer. This problem has been in X00 for a
long time and explains some speed comparisons reports that I have
received.
X00 now detects the processor types 808x, V20/V30, 8018x, 80286,
80386 and 80486. Based on the processor type, X00 selects one of
three routines to service communications interrupts. 808x
processors have there own interrupt routine. 8018x and V20/V30s
share a second routine. 80286, 80386 and 80486 share the third
interrupt routine. The use of three different routines allow
processor specific instructions to be used, which result in
faster execution. The manner that I implemented the three
individual interrupt service routines requires approximately 100
bytes of additional code.
Strangely enough, users of 808x and V20/V30s will see the most
dramatic increase in speed of serial communications when using
high speed modems.
Users of other processors will probably not notice any increase
in speed. However, the overhead caused by communications
interrupts will be reduced.
Some correction have been made to the HLLAPI routines. The C and
Quick Basic HLLAPIs are no longer X00 specific.
For those that believe that larger buffers mean faster I/O, you
will be glad to know that X00 is no longer limited to a total
size of 64k. The sum total of the buffer sizes for a single port
can be up to 48k. If you are using a slow computer, be sure to
try a small buffer (256 bytes or so). Many times, a small buffer
on a slower computer will yield better throughput.
Two problems were corrected in BOB. One problem would cause some
systems to crash. The other problem was that BOB would stop
monitoring a port if an active port was re-activated. Both have
been corrected.