1. General Information
The Quatech, Inc. DS-100 provides two RS-232 asynchronous serial communication interfaces for IBM-compatible personal computer systems using the 16-bit ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) expansion bus.
The DS-100's serial ports are implemented using 16550 Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitters (UARTs). The 16550 UARTs enable the DS-100 to transmit and receive data at a rate of up to 115.2 kbaud. The 16550 contains a 16-byte hardware buffer that reduces processing overhead. To use the 16550’s buffering capabilities, the software must be aware of the UART's presence. Otherwise, it will act as a 16450 UART.
The DS-100 is highly flexible with respect to addressing and interrupt level use. The serial ports are individually addressed and can be placed anywhere within the range of 0000 hex to FFF8 hex at 0008 hex intervals. Available interrupt levels include IRQ2 to IRQ7, IRQ10 to IRQ12, IRQ14, or IRQ15.
Both ports on the DS-100 can share one interrupt level or an interrupt level can be shared with another Quatech adapter that supports interrupt sharing. The shared interrupt feature minimizes the system resources consumed by the adapter.
In order to support the use of the shared interrupt feature of the DS-100, Quatech has developed device drivers for several popular operating systems and environments. The sales department can be contacted for details on current offerings.