Quatech QSP-100 PCMCIA Quad RS-232 Serial Port
Client device driver for OS/2
Release 1.00

27 March 1996



SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
*******************************************************

1.  OS/2 2.1 or later.

2.  Thirty-two (32) bytes of I/O address space and one IRQ.

3.  OS/2 PCMCIA Card and Socket Services support.  See "Installing PCMCIA
    support" below if you do not already have this support installed.

4.  Quatech's serial port device drivers (version 2.01 or later).   See
    "Installing Serial Port Device Drivers" below if you do not already have
    this support installed.



INSTALLATION
*******************************************************

1.  Copy the QSP100.SYS client driver file from the distribution disk to any
    convenient directory on the hard disk.

2.  Open the CONFIG.SYS file in a text editor.

3.  Add a line as explained in the CONFIGURATION section below.  We suggest that
    you add the line immediately following the serial port device driver lines.

4.  Save the CONFIG.SYS file, shutdown and reboot to activate the changes.



CONFIGURATION
*******************************************************

    In the examples below, "x:\path\" refers to the drive and directory to which
you copied the QSP-100 client driver from the distribution disk.

    Do NOT add any parameters for PCMCIA ports to the QCOM.SYS "DEVICE="
statement in the CONFIG.SYS file.


Method 1:  Let OS/2 PCMCIA Plug-and-Play choose hardware settings
-----------------------------------------------------------------

    You provide a list of COM port numbers, separated by spaces.  When a
QSP-100 is inserted, the client driver will configure the card for four COM
ports, starting with the lowest available port number in the list.

    Examples:

    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS COM3

        The client driver's first and only choice is to configure the QSP-100 to
        use COM3 through COM6.  Only one QSP-100 can be used.


    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS COM3 COM7

        The client driver's first choice is to configure the QSP-100 to use COM3
        through COM6.  The second choice is to use COM7 through COM10.  Up to two
        QSP-100s can be used.


Method 2:  You specify the hardware settings
--------------------------------------------

    You provide a list of combinations of COM port hardware settings, separated
by spaces.  When a QSP-100 is inserted, the client driver will configure the
card for four COM ports with the settings given for the lowest available port
number in the list.

    You must ensure that the hardware settings you choose are not being used by
other devices in your system, or the QSP-100 will not be configured.

    Parameter format:   (port_number,base_address,irq)

    No spaces should appear inside the parentheses.
    The QSP-100 requires 32 bytes of I/O space, starting with the base address.
    The first port resides in the first 8 bytes, the second in the next 8 bytes,
       and so on.
    The irq is a decimal value from 2 to 15.

    Examples:

    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS (3,100,5)

        The client driver's first and only choice is to configure the QSP-100
        for COM3 through COM6 (I/O addresses 100-11F hex), using IRQ 5.
        Configuration will fail if any of these resources are already in use.
        Only one QSP-100 can be used.


    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS (3,300,4) (7,120,15)

        The client driver's first choice is to configure the QSP-100 for COM3
        through COM6 (I/O addresses 300-31F hex), using IRQ 4.  The second choice
        is to configure the QSP-100 for COM7 through COM10 (I/O addresses 120-13F
        hex), using IRQ 15.  Up to two QSP-100s can be used.



CONFIGURATION NOTES
*******************************************************

1.  A configuration will fail if a COM port already exists or if the client
    driver finds the address range or IRQ to be already in use.

2.  On card removal, resources are released for possible use by other devices.

3.  If multiple cards are present in sockets when the computer is booted, the
    card in the lowest-numbered socket normally will be configured first,
    followed by those in progressively higher-numbered sockets.

4.  On most computers, the lowest-numbered socket is socket 1.  Some computers
    may start with socket 0.  It does not matter to the client driver.

5.  The highest socket number supported by the client driver is 8.

6.  Note that each COM port parameter specifies four ports.  If parameters
    overlap, the client driver will not load.  An example of overlap is
    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS COM3 COM4, where the first parameter specifies
    COM3 through COM6, and the second parameter specifies COM4 through COM7.



CONFIGURATION Q & A
*******************************************************

Which configuration method should I choose?
-------------------------------------------

    Method 1 is ideal when only OS/2 programs will use the serial port.  OS/2
programs use only the port name to access the serial port.  Method 1 lets the
OS/2 PCMCIA Plug-and-Play system hide the details.
    Method 2 is useful if you use DOS or Windows programs to access the serial
port.  DOS programs often need to know the hardware settings because they access
the hardware directly.  Windows' Control Panel also wants this information.
Method 2 lets you determine the resources that the port will use, but you are
responsible for making sure that the resources are available.  Method 2 works
for OS/2 programs too, of course.


Can I mix configuration methods?
--------------------------------
    Yes.  Configurations are still tried in the order of their port numbers.


Can I do "hot-swapping" with QSP-100 cards?
-------------------------------------------
    Yes.  "Hot-swapping" is supported with both configuration methods.  System
operation could become unpredictable if a PCMCIA card is removed while an
application is using the port.  Close the application first.


Can I tie a COM port to a particular socket?
--------------------------------------------
    Yes.  Add "=Sx" to the port parameters, replacing 'x' with the socket
number.  In the examples below, a QSP-100 in socket 1 will always be configured
as COM3 through COM6, and a QSP-100 in socket 2 will always be configured as COM8
through COM11.  Using this option means that only one configuration will be tried for
a given socket.

    Example:    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS COM3=S1 COM8=S2
    Example:    DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS (3,100,4)=S1 (8,300,3)=S2


Can I configure other serial port cards with the QSP-100 client driver?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    No.  This client driver supports only Quatech QSP-100 PCMCIA cards.



WHY CONFIGURATIONS CAN FAIL
*******************************************************

1.  Trying to use more QSP-100s than there are configuration choices given on
    the client driver's "DEVICE=" line in CONFIG.SYS.  Add more choices.

2.  A port number is already in use.  Check the client driver and serial port
    driver parameters.  There may be a non-PCMCIA serial port using that number.

3.  If you are using Method 2, the I/O address range or IRQ specified may be
    unavailable.  Specify different values as necessary.  On OS/2 Warp, the
    RMVIEW utility may be useful in finding conflicts.  Type "rmview /?" at an
    OS/2 command prompt for details.

4.  The base address or IRQ value may be out of range.  Make sure that the last
    two digits of the hexadecimal base address are 00, 20, 40, 60, 80, A0, C0,
    or E0.  (This sets the address on a 32-byte boundary as required by the
    QSP-100.)  Make sure that the IRQ is a decimal number between 2 and 15.

5.  If you are using Method 1 and you know that the port number is available,
    the client driver may not be finding any resources available.  You will need
    to rearrange your system to free up some resources.  Again, RMVIEW may be
    useful in determining what is going on if you are using OS/2 Warp.



MONITORING THE STATUS OF PCMCIA CARDS
*******************************************************

    OS/2 Warp provides a utility called "Plug and Play for PCMCIA" that can be
used to monitor the status of each PCMCIA socket.  In OS/2 2.1, this utility is
called "Configuration Manager".
    When a QSP-100 is inserted, the Card Type for the appropriate socket will
display "Multi-Function".  If the card is successfully configured, the Card
Status will display "Ready".  If the card cannot be configured, the Card Status
will be "Not Ready".
    You can view the resources claimed by a configured card by double-clicking
on that card's line in the window.



INSTALLING SERIAL PORT DEVICE DRIVERS
*******************************************************

Quatech QCOM.SYS/QVCOM.SYS (version 2.01 or later, available separately)

   These drivers support ports COM1 through COM32.  To install them, refer
   to the Quatech "Asynchronous Device Driver for OS/2" documentation.


IBM standard COM.SYS/VCOM.SYS

    These drivers do not support the QSP-100.


    Quatech cannot make any representation as to the suitability of any
third-party device drivers.



INSTALLING PCMCIA SUPPORT
*******************************************************

    If PCMCIA support was not selected when OS/2 was installed, add it by using
the Selective Install facility in the System Setup folder.
    On OS/2 2.1 and 2.11, you must add Socket Services separately.  The
necessary files can be found on Compuserve in the OS2SUPPORT forum library 23 in
the file OS2PCM.ZIP, and may be available elsewhere.  Quatech does not
distribute these files.



SPECIAL NOTE FOR OS/2 2.1 USERS
*******************************************************

    PCMCIA Card Services for OS/2 2.1 sometimes fails to supply a valid I/O
address range for method 1 ("COMx") configuration.  If this happens, the
QSP-100 will not operate properly.
    Use the "Configuration Manager" program to examine the I/O address range
assigned to the QSP-100.  The range must be of the form "xy0 - xzF", where
'x' can be any digit, and 'y' and 'z' must be even digits.  (This corresponds to
a 32-byte address boundary.)  An example of a good range is "100 - 11F".
Examples of bad ranges are "108 - 128" and "110-12F".
    If you are getting a bad address range from Card Services, you will need
to use method 2 to force a valid configuration.



DEINSTALLATION
*******************************************************

    Edit the CONFIG.SYS file.  Delete the "DEVICE=x:\path\QSP100.SYS..." line.
Save the CONFIG.SYS file, shutdown the computer, and reboot.
