PCI Hardware / Jumpered DOS Modems

[OTTO WIPFEL]

ISA slots on motherboards soon to be extinct, I am looking for
PCI Hardware Modems which can be jumpered for a particular COM
port to connect to Hosts using PcAnywhere for DOS.

E-Mail to most major manufacturers is being responded to, so far
no luck. The LINUX Forums and other Info on the WEB suggest that
there are some PCI Hardware/Jumpered modems on the market but
fail to say who the manufacturers are.

Anybody knows ?

PcAnywhere can configure a connection using it's SERIAL Custom
Option for Parameters: IRQ (0-7) and Address. I once managed to
run a Modem on my son's USA Micron WIN 95 machine in Pure DOS,
having been able to see the IRQ and Address the WinModem used.
But that was some years ago and I live in the U.K.

Any of you clever guys know of a way a WinModem can be used in a
DOS 6.2 machine's PCI slot and it's IRQ/Address identified ? Or
is there a DOS driver doing what a WIN Modem driver does ?

Thanks for any advice !

O t t o.


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[This message has been edited by OTTO WIPFEL (edited January 21, 2002).]

[Mel Bishop]

If you are using PCI modems, I'm pretty sure you're stuck with
P-n-P where the com port is defined by the O/S. You may try
letting the O/S set up the com port then configuring PCanywhere
try to access it. Failing that, go with an external modem hooked
up to Com (1-4). Can't see where you can do much wrong with that.


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[Neil Hosgood]

Otto,

A company called PacificComWare (i think) do some comm port
mapping software to handle just the problem you are talking
about, ie. it will map your win-modem on comX, irqX etc.
to com3, irq4 (or what ever you choose) so your DOS apps
can use it.

http://www.pacificcommware.com/vip.html

Have Fun,

N.


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[This message has been edited by Neil Hosgood (edited January 23, 2002).]

[Mike Luther]

That same question was asked in the OS/2 Usegroups. One suggestion was
to look for w brand called Actiontek. The poster there did not know
any model numbers but offered that the board was jumper programmable.
I assume that means both Port number and IRQ with which to address it.

I haven't done the personal research yet, but I'm going to have to
do so for OS/2 purposes and some of the folks there report success
using it under OS/2. It's reportedly available from cited sources such
as Walmart in the $70 USD range as well as Office Depot here in the USA.

Thats all just gleaned from Google searching on Actiontek modem which
will get you started.

No guarantees. Just trying to help both of us here...

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Mike Luther
[email protected]

[OTTO WIPFEL]

At last !

ACTIONTEC confirmed that they have a PCI Modem which can be used
for anything from DOS up to XP.

Although the Specs say that a CD-ROM drive is required, the DOS
driver can be copied from it elsewhere to a Floppy. A Floppy may
also be supplied with the Modem, Tech.Support was not quite sure.

I am going to get a copy and test it !

PACIFIC CommWare, Neil suggested, sell TurboCom ViP which can
configure a PCI Win-Soft-Modem for use at the DOS Prompt as long
as Windows is still in command. Bought one and tried it but can
not load it in Pure DOS, "Windows is required" !

Although they promised a refund under their 30 days-money back
guarantee, I am still waiting for a reply !

US Robotics have two on their USA Web site but none in the U.K.
Despite various requests to supply information and a letter to
their CEO in the States, no response ! I thought business was bad
in the industry ? Looks like they don't care !



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[Mike Luther]

Otto ..

I hadn't gotten past checking with Office Depot and Best Buy here
locally for them. There was a substantial discussion in the OS/2
group over inability to set one up based on conflicts with it and
the NIC over IRQ use. Since I have very little experience in WIN
work I only post this for information but it may be useful. I've
a substantial amount of experience in using PCI motherboard stuff
with OS/2 including WIN-TV cards and so on but not PCI modems yet.

There are a number of variations in BIOS code and hardware setups
relative to PCI slots that are interesting WIN users mostly never
see. That is because WIN is far better at doing the system setup
and interface work automatically for the user than OS/2. Some of
what's come out of this in OS/2 may be what you will need to know
soon. Depending on the BIOS and the board itself, some PCI slots
will be able to use two IRQ's per slot and some will not! Even a
given motherboard may have a mix of this in which some will, some
won't! There are PCI cards which actually have to use two in one
slot. An example of that is the Adaptec 3940UW dual channel, two
chipset SCSI adapter card. This card is typically used in higher
level SCSI work in which, for example, it may be necessary to use
an external SCSI device of some kind which might fail in a way in
which it acutally physically burns up the chips in that SCSI buss
on the card, but literally leaves the card and the server up with
the whole rest of the system working so that it can be gracefully
closed down! Adaptec formally suggests it for this work! If you
use one, it will require two IRQ's in the same PCI slot and these
cards will only work in PCI slots which will handle that. WIN-TV
cards from Hauppage also require two, to my understanding, if the
internal FM receiver hardware option is on those cards too!

For this reason, PCI motherboards often seem to 'prefer' autosets
for the system on IRQ's which move in steps of two as you move on
down the row of them! For those motherboards with AGP video card
slots as well, you need to know that the AGP video card slot plus
the adjacent PCI slot often use the same IRQ! If possible, avoid
trouble by leaving that first PCI slot next to the AGP video slot
empty as not all PCI card hardware and drivers for it really will
understand every little nuance about automatically setting up the
whole deal under less tested scenarios! Yes! Your WIN stuff is
usually tested VERY well! That's the hallmark of the WIN world's
reason it is so well into the whole PC desktop market! But since
this may be leaving that sort of world - you may be on your own!

You need to know that also, certain PCI operations with certain of
the BIOS implementations can also support shared IRQ's between the
various stuff! For example, there is line of COMPAQ server's that
is out there that actually shares the same IRQ for the video, SCSI
hard disk driver as well! But this stuff is all dependant on what
the author of the device driver knows and has written into code to
enable it! Just because your current box, under WIN or some other
operating system, is successfully using shared IRQ's for the video
and the hard disk controller and the NIC in the box, as they offer
in the COMPAQ situation, does not mean that this PCI modem can use
the same one or a conflicting one in the particular slot you stuff
it into!

For that reason, be prepared to fiddle with which slot this little
puppy goes into! It, may, for example inherintly want to start up
with IRQ 5 as originally set up in the factory default EPROM as it
was delivered to you. Your existing sound card may actually be on
that same IRQ in the current setup you have running, whatever. As
you start this whole trip, get a print run or hand make a list for
all the IRQ's and PORT numbers that are currently in use as it all
exists now! Take a good look in the docs for the modem. It it is
possible, try to first get the modem into a PCI slot which already
fits into a pattern of moving down the IRQ's the highest to lowest
in the order of the PCI slots as that's already evident from those
shown on the study work you did before you started!

You can often get it to work in one automagically by simply moving
it from one empty slot to the other! If you can't and then figure
out that the only way it will work is to pull something else, such
as your NIC card and let it go down a slot, to try to free up that
particular slot to give you one the PCI modem will use just to get
the system rebooted, be sure and let the system come up and settle
out any differences in that changed slot mix of the PCI cards once
before you try the PCI modem in that new slot!

Then, if you get it up and running and can see how this modem came
up in the complete WIN system with the diagnostics there, by using
that same data for a pure DOS operation, using that DOS setup tool
which was furnished that they are talking about, you match what is
needed in DOS with it, you'll likely get a complete system that'll
work with both the WIN world as well as the DOS world too!

There was a lot of traffic posted in the OS/2 group after this was
started there about it working in the WIN world on boxes that have
more than one operating system bootable, but not in OS/2, or plain
old DOS! Done carefully for you, automatically resolving all this
in WIN can turn into a very frustrating troubleshooting process in
other than WIN, if you don't very much know what is going on!

You have to get it all exactly right, or

BLAM! Dead wabbit!

If you like and get in trouble .. email me and I'll try to see if
I can help. What you learn going through this may be needed as we
go through this process in OS/2. We need a solution to this modem
in a box problem too as serial ports go bye-bye in planned moves to
make us all buy the latest and greatest!

Thanks!


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Mike Luther
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Mike Luther (edited February 02, 2002).]

[OTTO WIPFEL]

Thanks Mike !

Trying to tweak the BIOS is an option I was going to investigate.

My home built Pure DOS 6.22 / PIII work machine's AWARD Bios is
set "No PnP installed" with IRQ 3 and 4 set to "Legacy ISA". This
motherboard still has an ISA slot, not used as I have an external
Modem connected to COM1. It has also options to assign IRQs to
PCI slots 1 to 5. If all else fails I shall have a go at setting
a spare one to IRQ 3 or 4 to see whether that will fool a
Soft-Win-Modem in it. Could be useful if external COM ports
become history too !

"Watch this space"

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[Mike Luther]

Com1 is normally used with IRQ4.
Com2 is normally used with IRQ3.

If your mother board has an actual serial port for them, then
you should not really try to assign those IRQ's to other things.
You may someday want to use something on them and the setup will
still need then if that is true!

IRQ2 is normally used in the old ways together with those up
above IRQ8 as it is paired with IRQ9. You use 2; you are really
using 9, and the reverse. Old systems often internally used 9
internally, but modern ones don't. IRQ1 and IRQ8 are used in
the scheme of things internal; you don't get to use them in
'standard' ways. IRQ7 in the old scheme of things is taken for
the normal use of the first parallel port, typically a parallel
port printer, but also scanners and lots of other things folks
like to use are here. IRQ5 is usually in the old way of things
sort of wanted for the second parallel port, but ... It is oftem
found used by either the sound card or the network card.

IRQ 14 is used by the first IDE hard disk or device driver in
the normal way of things. IF you have a second IDE device
driver at work, a frequent way that we get optimum speed if
we use a hard disk and a cd-rom on each, that one will be on
IRQ15. Thus any video card IRQ which is needed will typically
show up on the highest IRQ not in other use between IRQ15 and
your IRQ12, but the standard one for the MOUSE in the old way
of things is that IRQ12 for the MOUSE port! IRQ13 is used
internally for things systematic in the normal way of things
and isn't available for fun and games. Some sound cards actually
use TWO of the IRQ's as well! And joy sticks and other control
devices can be in there as well!

You are left, in most cases, with only possible "free" IRQ12,
if the MOUSE doesn't have it or IRQ11, IRQ10, IRQ9 and sometimes
IRQ5 for typical user boxes with IDE systems. Those that do not
have a second IDE driver in use also have the IRQ15 available too.

I think the by far most ordinary matrix that shows up all said
and done is to see the sound card on IRQ5. You then see many
of the NIC network cards wind up on IRQ10. Alternatively you'll
quite often find the sound card on IRQ10 and the NUC on 11, and
Mr. Mouse will be on IRQ12 in PCI slot boxes, under the logic in my
first post plus what is here.

Thus a new modem in a PCI slot that leaves the COM1 and COM2
operations still there, will usually wind up on IRQ10 or IRQ11,
or if it is not in use on IRQ5. You'll have to use the desired
and agreed upon actual serial port hex number for your modem
that is other than COM2 or COM3. If you DO uses these COM1 amd
COM2 ports in a PCI slot which is also used with a motherboard
that has that same serial port too, be sure to disable the on-board
one in the BIOS. While some operating systems use what we
call LEVEL STATE signal levels. others, such as OS/2 do not! The
first time that anything touches that IRQ in OS/2 that isn't
taught carefully to be shared, it is GONE for use later in the
boot run. Many a standard setup run on a card that did that
and confuses the system for that reason for use with it somewhere
else later on has caused many worries in users that don't understand
that. You have to also, thus, know how these IRQ's are used in
whatever you do to do all this on your own too!

You'll have to learn your hex numbers for the ports to make
sure you have that not in conflict with something else!

And there is one other little thing that will not be needed
in the thinking process for your new PCI modem. That is the
DMA numbers which are also used for some of this. Even though
your new PCI slot modem doesn't use them. while you are going
through this, take note of how the sound card and so on do
use them! Yes the floppy drive uses IRQ6 as well as a DMA!
These little creatures can't be in conflict either on normal
old equipment or BLAM .. Dead Wabbit!

All of this stuff also changes in the case of the USB port
boards. USB is there partly to help solve all this mess for the
average user as sharing these scarce resources can be a mess
if you run out! The other reason we do this is that serial
port communications are more difficult to get high speed data
across too! Port speeds of over 128K on serial ports are very
special animals in the zoo! Nowdays, we really need to get
up there WAY over that to even take any advantage of DSL or
CABLE connected IP use and plain line connected modems of only
V90 or V92 are simply too slow as serial port devices to even
be in the race any longer!

Phew .. but only trying to help others here. One of the hardest
things in the game to fix is a box that goes bonk just because
you put a hardware card in a slot that doesn't work like you
think it should.

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Mike Luther
[email protected]

[OTTO WIPFEL]

For the record:

PACIFIC CommWare have refunded the money for the Soft-Win-Modem
driver software which does not work in Pure DOS. No news about
a driver which does, yet.

The search goes on

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