Quatech ESC-100, User Manual

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1 General Information
The Quatech, Inc. ESC(LP)-100 provides eight RS-232 asynchronous
serial communication interfaces for Low Profile IBM-compatible personal
computer systems using the PCI expansion bus. The ESC(LP)-100 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 ESC(LP)-100 requires no hardware
configuration. The card is automatically configured by the computer's
BIOS or operating system. The eight serial ports share a single interrupt
line and are addressed in a contiguous block of 64 bytes. A special
interrupt status register is provided to help software to manage the
shared interrupt.
The ESC(LP)-100's serial ports are implemented using
16750-compatible Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitters
(UARTs). These UARTs contain hardware buffers (FIFOs) which reduce
processing overhead and allow higher data rates to be achieved.
The ESC(LP)-100 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.
ESC(LP)-100 User's Manual 1