1. ov378parw2k.zip Driver
2. README3.TXT File Contents

README3.TXT Driver File Contents (ov378parw2k.zip)

FILE: readme3.txt                Copyright (c), Symmetric Research, 2003-2006

Custom programming readme.

This file has information for users wishing to do custom programming
and compiling for the PARxCH.  All the required software support is
included with the system so you can modify the supplied applications
(see readme2.txt) or build your own programs from the ground up.

Users should go through the usual installation proceedures and run
some of the supplied application programs to verify proper system
operation before begining custom programming.


* ALL SOURCE CODE IS C/C++

All of the support libraries are written in standard C.  Most of the
applications are written in standard C also.  The two exceptions are
scope which is written in C++ to make use of the Microsoft MFC for the
GUI interface and the vbasic demo which uses Microsoft Visual Basic.


* STUDY PARXCH.H [ \sr\parxch\include\parxch.h ]

This header file should be included in any source code for the
PARxCH.

Study the function prototypes listed in this header file to see what
library functions are available for controlling the PARxCH.  User
programs will typically consist of calls to these functions to carry
out their operations.  Additional information about the library
functions can be found in the SR PARxCH User manual
[ \sr\parxch\docs\srmanual\parxch.pdf ].

ParXch.h also contains defines that are useful with the library
functions.  DO NOT change the values of these defines.  Some of them
map into register values on the A/D converters.


* ALL SOURCE CODE IS UNIFIED

Many different Operating Systems are used on the PC these days.  They
range from DOS to Linux and Windows 2000 with everything in between.
To simplify code maintenance and improvements, we have unified the
code so that a single set of source code now services all supported
OS's.

The PARxCH library and device driver hide most of the OS variations
from the application programs.  Inside the library and driver, code
specific to an OS is conditionally compiled in by the use of define
statements.  They are all of the form SROS_xxx, where xxx is replaced
by the OS name, like SROS_WIN2K.  Be sure to include the proper
define when recompiling.  See the provided makefiles for an example.




* INSTALL KERNEL MODE DEVICE DRIVER (Win2000/WinXP & Linux ONLY)

Execution under Win2000, WinXP or Linux also requires installation of
the low level PARxCH kernel mode device driver.  To install it:

  1) Log on as Administrator or root
  2) Change to the PARxCH driver directory
  3) Run the indriver device driver installation utility

Indriver takes command line arguments.  Typical usage would be:

  > indriver 0x378

After the device driver has been installed as Administrator or root,
it can be used by all other users.  You do not have to log on as
system administrator to use the SR PARxCH applications.

Under Windows, you do not have to run indriver to reinstall the low
level driver each time you power up the PC.  After running indriver
once, the PC will automatically install the driver at power up, until
it is explicitly removed.  To explicitly remove it, log on as
Administrator or root and run the rmdriver utility.

Under Linux, to have the PC automatically install the driver at power
up, you must either include the indriver command in your start up
scripts or modify modules.conf and put the driver in the canonical
modules directory.

For more detailed explanations, see the readme.txt file in the driver
directory.


* PUT THE PARxCH DLL ON YOUR PATH  (Win9x/Win2000/WinXP/Linux)

Some of the Windows programs depend on a DLL library.  This library
provides interfaces to low level board drivers.  Place the directory
\sr\parxch\lib on your path so parxch.dll can be found dynamically at
run time.

One easy way to add the DLL directory to your path is:

> set path=%path%;\sr\parxch\lib

This appends the directory to your current path, and can be used from
the command line or placed in your autoexec.bat file.

Linux users may want to put /usr/local/sr/parxch/lib on their library
search path so their programs can find the PARxCH shared library at
run time.  The syntax is:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/sr/parxch/lib; \
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH




* SUPPORT LIBRARY

The core of all the software support are the PARxCH library
functions.  This library has the low level drivers that communicate
directly with the PARxCH.  See the file parxch.h in the include
directory for function prototypes.

For the Windows 32 bit distribution, these functions are in the
parxch.dll Dynamic Link Library (DLL) and parxch.lib is the
associated import library.  For the DOS distribution, these functions
are included as a static library rather than as a DLL.  In this case,
parxch.lib is the static library and not an import library.  For the
Linux distribution, these functions are in the parxch.o object file
or the libpar.so shared library.





* RELEASE VERSION

SR software is identified by the date and time stamps on the supplied
files.  Subdirectories have the date and time of your installation.



* COMPILING

Source code and makefiles have been provided so you can recompile any
of the programs.  You must provide an appropriate compiler installed
in its default directory.  

All 16 bit DOS software is compiled with the MS VC 1.52 compiler,
while the 32 bit Windows software is compiled with MS Visual Studio
2005.  The Linux software is compiled with the GNU gcc compiler
version egcs-2.91.66.  It is assumed that all of the compilers are
installed in their standard default directories.

SR software does not use the MS integrated development environments.
It is built with command line compile utilities like cl and nmake.
The makefiles contain direct path names to the compiler bin, include,
and lib directories.  You do not need to change your current compiler
environment variables.

By modifying the makefiles, you can compile many of the programs using
different compilers.  In order to recompile the scope.exe program,
you must have the Microsoft Foundation Classes available and in order
to recompile the Win2000/WinXP device driver you must have the
Driver Development Kit (DDK) libraries and include files available.
In order to recompile the Visual Basic Acquire program, you must have
the .NET framework files.

See each subdirectory for a makefile with the build commands specific
to that topic.