[WriteLog] LPT CW in WL via UserPort in XP - solving the addressing problem

[Jon Harder]

For those who may have tried UserPort without instant success, there's one
more wrinkle to consider before giving up.  If  your Setup/Ports dialog
doesn't
show what you expect,  some cut and try experimenting may be worth a shot.

When it starts, WL appears to overwrite any manual entries made in
WriteLog.INI section that designates the addresses of LPT ports.  This means
that the Setup / Ports dialog does not necessarily reflect what is really
going on in your machine.

Here's an extract from my INI file --

[Ports]
LPT1=0x3bc
LPT2=0x378
LPT3=0x278

This is not what is reported in the Device Manager, and no amount of manual
editing will permanently change these settings!   Wonder why?

In getting UserPort going, even after completing its own dialog for the
actual address of the LPT port I wished to use for CW  -- LPT 1 at 378-37F,
I found that my editing of WriteLog.INI  to show this address for LPT 1 was
repeatedly overwritten when WL started up.  The INI file would be
overwritten to show this desired address of 378 to be what it calls LPT 2.
( While I do have an actual LPT 2 for my printer, it's a PCI add-on, and XP
shows its address as B400.  Furthermore, WL.INI  would persistently show LPT
1 as at 3BC,  and an LPT 3 listed at 278. )

The work-around, at least in my case, was to tell the Setup / Ports dialog
that I was using "LPT 2" for CW, so it would look at the correct address of
378  where LPT 1 actually is.   Then it would key as expected.   No
conflicts resulted with the printer on the real LPT2.   Kind of confusing,
but WL will use the driver if you coax it a bit.   I also restarted
UserPort.exe and reset the address to use as the 200-37F  -- that opens up
the full range of LPT choices in Setup/Ports.

So, if your Ports dialog doesn't show what you expect,  some cut and try
experimenting may be worthwhile.    Recall that for some weeks, WL's
counting of serial ports was off by one, and we survived that.   8)

73,

Jon         K1US

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stan Staten" <n3hs@qsl.net>
To: "Writelog" <writelog@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 23:02
Subject: RE: [WriteLog] LPT Keying / Windows 2000 using UserPort


> I just tried it and had a different experience.  Running XP Pro on Athlon
> 1500 512MB RAM.  When I tried it with it's default port addresses, I was
> able to access all 3 LPT ports in the Writelog Ports Setup screen.
However,
> doing so on any of them didn't get LPT CW keying to work.  Then went back
> and put in only the address as shown in the control panel for the LPT
(i.e.
> the standard 0378 - 037F Hex) and only LPT2 was available for checking in
> Writelog - curious.