[ct-user] COMTSR settings vs. CT settings

Ken Wolff Ken Wolff" <K1EA@contesting.com
Tue, 16 Feb 1999 14:22:46 -0500


COMTSR was built as a general purpose com interface. Any DOS program can get
access to the com ports by calling the TSR. "Reasonable" defaults, as well
as overrides are built into the command line interface.

CT can, and does, over ride the TSR settings at startup. Things like 2 stop
bits are now automatic. The baud rate is selectable from within CT as a
convenience.

In a "stock" radio/computer situation, all you need to do is load the TSR,
start CT, then  select port and baud rate.

- Ken

***************************
Ken Wolff  K1EA
K1EA@contesting.com
***************************

-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-ct-user@contesting.com [mailto:owner-ct-user@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Walker
Sent:	Tuesday, February 16, 1999 10:09 AM
To:	Gilmer, Mike; 'CT-USER'
Subject:	Re: [ct-user] COMTSR settings vs. CT settings


Mike

Yes you need to specify both.  Never assume that it is set correctly,
especially in any software product.

I'm not sure why it was done this way, but in COMTSR you can specify more
than the baud rate.   You can add items like the software interrupt address,
IRQ (for those non-standard IRQ's), Base Memory address and flow control.
It has been this way as long as I can remember, and we have been using CT
since version 7.

Could it be done better?  Sure.  CT could be made to look at the loaded
TSR's and see what baud rate was selected.  You would just have to assign
that com port to the device you want.  But, it likely a lot easier for the
programmer to work on new functionality rather than fix something that isn't
really broken.

CT does not pick the correct baud rate for the radio.  All CT does is load
the correct command set for the radio.  As for baud rates, older Kenwood
units where fixed at 4800 baud, while newer Icoms will take anything you
throw at them as them have an Auto baud rate feature.  Just make sure the
radio, COMTSR and CT are all set to the same.  (looks like you've done this)
We used to set everything including the network at 4800 baud so we could
easily change  ports during testing.  This way we would only have to go into
SETUP to change the device (TNC, Radio, Network).

Maybe Ken can offer up why it started this way.

Mike VA3Mw

At 09:58 AM 2/16/99 , Gilmer, Mike wrote:
>
>I am confused as to the requirements for setting baud/bits/parity, etc.
>when setting up CT with COMTSRs.  It seems somewhat redundant and
>potentially fatal that both the COMTSR and CT have selections/switches
>for these parameters.  In other words, I can specify the baud in the
>COMTSR and then again inside CT.  These can be, potentially, different.
>Furthermore, I assume when selecting various radios within CT, CT picks
>the proper BAUD/STOP bits, etc., which could also be at odds with the
>COMTSR settings.
>
>I have gotten all this to work with radio-control, packet, network.
>However, I seem to need to specify all the parameters in both the COMTSR
>and in CT.  Whether this is the case or not, I would like to understand.
>Can someone please clarify.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike N2MG
>
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=================================================
Mike Walker VA3MW
Corbeil Contest Club
http://www.qrz.com/wrad/directory.cgi?VA3MW

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