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

27 June 1995



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

1.  OS/2 2.1 or later.

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



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

1.  Copy the SSP100.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.  Find the line referencing AUTODRV2.SYS.  If you are not using AUTODRV2 for a
    fax/modem card, comment it out by inserting "REM " at the start of the line.
    Otherwise, make sure AUTODRV2.SYS appears below the SSP-100 client.

4.  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.

5.  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 SSP-100 client driver from the distribution disk.

    Do NOT add any parameters for PCMCIA ports to the COM.SYS or QCOM.SYS
"DEVICE=" statements 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 an
SSP-100 is inserted, the client driver will configure the card for the lowest
available port number in the list.

    Examples:

    DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS COM3

        COM3 is the client driver's first and only choice.  Only one SSP-100
        can be used.


    DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS COM3 COM4

        COM3 is the client driver's first choice, and COM4 is the second choice.
        Up to two SSP-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 an SSP-100 is inserted, the client driver will configure the
card 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 SSP-100 will not be configured.

    Parameter format:   (port_number,base_address,irq)

    No spaces should appear inside the parentheses.
    The base_address is a hexadecimal value that must end with 0 or 8.
    The SSP-100 requires 8 bytes of I/O address, starting with the base address.
    The irq is a decimal value from 2 to 15.

    Examples:

    DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS (3,110,5)

        COM3, using I/O addresses 110 through 117 hex and IRQ 5, is the client
        driver's first and only choice.  Configuration will fail if any of these
        resources are already in use.  Only one SSP-100 can be used.


    DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS (3,3E8,4) (4,118,3)

        COM3, using I/O addresses 3E8 through 3EF hex and IRQ 4, is the client
        driver's first choice.  COM4, using I/O addresses 118 through 11F hex
        and IRQ 3, is the client driver's second choice.   Up to two SSP-100s
        can be used.



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

1.  A configuration will fail if the 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.



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 SSP-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, an SSP-100 in socket 1 will always be configured
as COM3, and an SSP-100 in socket 2 will always be configured as COM4.  Using
this option means that only one configuration will be tried for a given socket.

    Example:    DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS COM3=S1 COM4=S2
    Example:    DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS (3,3E8,4)=S1 (4,2E8,3)=S2


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



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

1.  Trying to use more SSP-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 base
    address is a hexadecimal number ending in 0 or 8.  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 an SSP-100 is inserted, the Card Type for the appropriate socket will
display "Serial Port".  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
*******************************************************

Choose ONE option below if you need to load serial port device drivers.

    A.  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.


    B.  IBM standard COM.SYS/VCOM.SYS

        These drivers support ports COM1 through COM4.  To install them, use the
        Selective Install facility found in the System Setup folder and choose
        "Serial Device Support".


    Third-party serial port device drivers may operate with the SSP-100 client
driver if they are fully compatible replacements for the IBM standard drivers.
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.  You must
also update COM.SYS if you plan to use the IBM standard serial port device
drivers.  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.



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

    Edit the CONFIG.SYS file.  Delete the "DEVICE=x:\path\SSP100.SYS..." line.
Save the CONFIG.SYS file, shutdown the computer, and reboot.
