Release Notes PN 93000362
Digi RealPort Driver
Version 2.8.94.0, 06/10/2003
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Software Package PN 40002164
CONTENTS
Section Description
-------------------------------
1 Introduction
2 Supported Operating Systems
3 Supported Products
4 Known Limitations
5 Upgrade driver from FAS to RealPort
6 Update RealPort driver
7 Additional Notes
8 History
1. INTRODUCTION
This document describes the device driver that supports
the Digi devices listed below. The driver is for use
with Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, or
Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
Refer to the following number when searching the Digi
International Inc. Web site (www.digi.com) or the FTP
site (ftp.digi.com) for the latest software package:
40002164_<highest revision letter>
2. SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
3. SUPPORTED PRODUCTS
Digi Connect ME
Digi One EM
Digi One IA
Digi One IA RealPort
Digi One RealPort
Digi One SP
Digi One TS
Digi One TS H
Digi One TS W
Digi Flex
Digi PortServer
Digi PortServer II
Digi PortServer TS 2
Digi PortServer TS 2 H
Digi PortServer TS 2 MEI
Digi PortServer TS 2 W
Digi PortServer TS 4
Digi PortServer TS 4 H
Digi PortServer TS 4 MEI
Digi PortServer TS 4 W
Digi PortServer TS 8
Digi PortServer TS 16
Digi EtherLite 2
Digi EtherLite 8
Digi EtherLite 16
Digi EtherLite 32
Digi EtherLite 80
Digi EtherLite 160
Digi EtherLite 162
If your device is not listed, select "Standard RealPort Device"
from the Model list.
4. KNOWN LIMITATIONS
If you plan to use the RealPort driver with serial printers,
you have to reboot the system after device installation or
after renaming ports to see the new ports listed in the Print
Spooler's list of available ports for printing. This is a
known limitation of the Print Spooler, which does not detect
changes in the list of available ports automatically.
If you experience problems printing to a serial printer,
navigate to the device's Device Properties dialog in the
Device Manager, enable "Complete Write Requests Immediately,"
and try printing again.
5. UPGRADE DRIVER FROM FAS TO REALPORT
If you have previously installed the EtherLite driver for an
EtherLite device (EtherLite 2/8/16/32/80/160/162), follow these
steps to upgrade to the current RealPort driver:
a. Uninstall the old EtherLite driver and reboot the system.
b. Update the EtherLite firmware using the DGIPSERV utility,
which is included in the driver package. You can download
the latest firmware files from the Digi Support Web site,
http://support.digi.com.
c. Install the new RealPort driver through the "Add New Hardware
Wizard".
6. UPDATE REALPORT DRIVER
You need administrative privileges to update device drivers.
Please be sure you are logged into Windows as Administrator
or as a user that is a member of the Administrators group.
To update an existing RealPort driver, first perform these steps:
1. Unzip the driver installation package to a folder of your
choice.
2. Run Dgrpcln.cmd to remove previous Inf file versions.
Next, locate and follow the instructions for your specific
operating system:
WINDOWS 2000
a. To open Device Manager, click "Start", and then click "Control
Panel". Double-click "System". On the "Hardware" tab, click
"Device Manager".
b. Click "Device Manager" and double-click "Multi-port Serial
Adapters".
c. Double-click on the device for which you would like to update
the driver. On the "Driver" tab, click "Update Driver...".
This will start the "Upgrade Device Driver Wizard".
d. Click "Next" on the first page.
e. Select "Display a list of the known drivers for this
device..." and click "Next".
f. Click "Have Disk..." and browse to the folder where you
extracted the driver files. Click "Next".
g. Select the matching device and click "Next".
h. Click "Next" and then click "Finish". You might have to
restart your system to let the changes take effect.
i. Repeat steps c. through h. for each device you would like
to update.
WINDOWS XP
WINDOWS SERVER 2003
a. To open Device Manager, click "Start", and then click "Control
Panel". Double-click "System". On the "Hardware" tab, click
"Device Manager".
b. Click "Device Manager" and double-click "Multi-port Serial
Adapters".
c. Right-click on the device for which you would like to update
the driver and select "Update Driver...". This will start the
"Update Hardware Wizard".
d. Select "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)"
and click "Next".
e. Select "Search for the best driver in these locations", check
"Include this location in the search," and browse to the
folder where you extracted the driver files. Click "Next".
f. Verify that the matching device and driver is selected and
click "Next".
g. Click "Finish". You might have to restart your system to let
the changes take effect.
h. Repeat steps c. through g. for each device you would like
to update.
7. ADDITIONAL NOTES
On-line help is available when you install the product.
Installation documentation can be found at Digi's Web site,
http://www.digi.com, or at Digi's FTP server, ftp://ftp.digi.com.
ADVANCED DEVICE SETTINGS
------------------------
The RealPort driver supports an additional set of advanced
features, each of which can be enabled or disabled from the
Device Manager:
o Right-click "My Computer"
o Select "Manage"
o In the left-hand side of the Computer Management
window, select "Device Manager"
o In the right-hand side of the window, expand the
"Multi-port serial adapters" category
o Right-click on the device to configure
o Choose "Properties"
o Navigate to the "Advanced" tab
o Verify that the top-level device (the RealPort
device) is highlighted and select "Properties..."
o The Advanced Properties dialog is displayed, which you
can use to enable and disable the advanced features.
Each of the advanced features discussed here is disabled by
default.
COMPLETE WRITE REQUESTS IMMEDIATELY
-----------------------------------
Checking this field means that the driver confirms the
completion of a write request as soon as data is written to
the buffer. The default is to wait until the data is sent
out the port.
SEND KEEP-ALIVE PACKETS
-----------------------
Sending keep-alive packets is a mechanism for keeping a TCP
connection up all the time, even when there is no network
traffic between the RealPort driver and the Digi device.
ALLOW PORTS TO BE OPENED WHEN NETWORK IS UNAVAILABLE
----------------------------------------------------
Turn this feature on if you want the RealPort driver to
always succeed open requests, even if the driver cannot
communicate with the remote device at the time of the open.
By default, the driver only succeeds an open request if it
can communicate with the remote device.
RETURN ERROR CODES WHEN NETWORK IS UNAVAILABLE
----------------------------------------------
The RealPort driver supports two methods to handle Wide Area
Network (WAN) errors, such as those generated when the
RealPort driver loses its TCP/IP session with the remote
RealPort device.
By default, the feature is disabled and the RealPort driver
seamlessly and transparently handles any and all network
errors. The most common network error is that the driver
loses its TCP/IP session with the remote RealPort device,
either because the RealPort device is unreachable due to
general network failures or because the RealPort device was
rebooted or powered off.
In the event that the RealPort driver loses its TCP/IP
session with the remote RealPort device, the driver will
attempt to reestablish a new connection with the device once
every second. The driver will also simulate a loss of
hardware flow control lines by lowering each of the following
signals -- DCD, DSR, and CTS. It will also simulate receipt
of an Xoff character, if software flow control is being used.
In this mode, client applications will not and cannot detect
network errors. Client applications are free to continue
reading from and writing to any RealPort ports, and to
continue using the ports as they otherwise normally would.
In this way, network errors are handled transparently from
the client application.
However, it is sometimes useful for a client to know when the
remote RealPort device is unreachable because the TCP/IP
session was dropped. In this case, you can check the "Return
error codes when network is unavailable" feature, and the
RealPort driver will then communicate network errors to the
client when the network is unreachable.
In this mode, if the network connection is dropped and a
client initiates a read or a write, the driver will
immediately complete the operation and return the error,
ERROR_NETWORK_UNREACHABLE. A client application can be
modified to recognize this error code and to respond to the
error by performing some special operation, such as logging
the error to a file. The driver will continue to return this
error code until it is able to reestablish a network
connection with the remote RealPort device, at which point
the driver will resume normal processing of reading and
writing to the port.
8. HISTORY
Version 2.8.94.0 (Rev. N, June 10, 2003)
---------------------------------------
o Added support for Digi Connect ME.
o Fixed a problem processing write requests after the input
buffer is cleared with PurgeComm during network disconnect.
o Corrected break event signaling.
o Fixed detection of modem line transitions for EtherLite 2.
Version 2.7.90.0 (Rev. M, April 22, 2003)
-----------------------------------------
o Added support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
o Improved management of outgoing network resources.
o Fixed a condition where a network disconnect under certain
conditions may cause a bugcheck.
o Fixed RTS Toggle functionality. A RTS pre- and post-delay
can be configured through the command line interface or the
web interface of your Digi One or Digi PortServer.
o Modified the Complete Writes Immediately feature to allow
queued data to drain when the port is closed.
o Fixed framing error detection to not insert bogus data
into the read data stream.
o Modified driver to default uninitialized ports to 1200,7,e,1,
like the standard serial driver, and to maintain baud rate,
line settings and flow control across opens.
o Added code to force RTS low when device is closed; sometimes,
if a port was using RTS/CTS flow control and was closed, RTS
would remain high.
o Added support for Digi One TS H, Digi PortServer TS 2 H,
and Digi PortServer TS 4 H.
o Added support for Digi One TS W, Digi PortServer TS 2 W,
and Digi PortServer TS 4 W.
Version 2.6.82.0 (Rev. L, January 31, 2003)
-------------------------------------------
o Added support for Digi One EM, Digi One IA and Digi One SP.
o Fixed race condition when switching parity states.
o Modified Complete Write Requests Immediately feature to work
irregardless of flow control.
o Added user interface option "Send keep alive packets" to control
keep alive packets sent to the remote device. The default setting
is disabled.
o Fixed condition where default Xon and Xoff characters were
not initialized correctly.
o Fixed detection of parity and framing errors.
o Fixed Xon/Xoff limit bounds checking.
o Exposed GUI option to allow serial ports to be opened
even if the driver cannot communicate with the remote device.
o Improved driver load time when network is disconnected.
o Changed event reporting to begin accumulating events once
SetCommMask is called, instead of waiting for WaitCommMask.
Version 2.5.67.0 (Rev. K, August 28, 2002)
------------------------------------------
o Microsoft WHQL certification.
Version 2.5.67.0 (Rev. J1, August 07, 2002)
-------------------------------------------
o Enhanced network interface to more efficiently process
data when presented with out-of-sequence and fragmented packets.
o Fixed completion of writes for ports not using flow control
but enabling DTR or RTS.
o Improved detection and reporting of local network disconnects.
o IRP_MJ_READ was not completed although a non-zero value for
the ReadIntervalTimeout was set.
o Latency enhancements.
o Enhanced logging of error conditions in System Event Log.
o Added user interface option, "Complete write requests
immediately," for timing-sensitive applications.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.