1 General Information
The Quatech, Inc. DSC-200/300 provides two RS-422 or RS-485 asynchronous
serial communication interfaces for IBM-compatible personal computer systems using
the PCI expansion bus. The DSC-200/300 uses Quatech's new Enhanced Serial Adapter
design. Legacy serial port data rates are limited to a maximum of 115,200 bits per
second. Quatech Enhanced Serial Adapters can achieve data rates as high as 921,600
bits per second.
As a PCI device, the DSC-200/300 requires no hardware configuration. The card
is automatically configured by the computer's BIOS or operating system. The two
serial ports share a single interrupt line and are addressed in a contiguous block of 16
bytes. A special interrupt status register is provided to help software to manage the
shared interrupt.
The DSC-200/300's serial ports are using 16750 Universal Asynchronous
Receiver/Transmitters (UARTs). These UARTs contain hardware buffers (FIFOs) which
reduce processing overhead and allow higher data rates to be achieved. The 16750
contains a 64-byte FIFO and can transmit and receive data at a rate of up to 921,600 bits
per second. The 16750 is recommended for heavy multitasking environments and for
applications involving high data rates.
The DSC-200/300 is supported under several popular operating systems and
environments. Contact the sales department for details on current software offerings.
Most device drivers are available for download from the Quatech world wide web site
at http://www.quatech.com.
Quatech DSC-200/300 User's Manual
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