The COMM Components

SuperCom, the industrial proofen COMM toolkit, now comes even more powerfull supporting ISDN* and TCP/IP* layers. Though different the packages are, programmers use one easy to use, flexible and powerfull API.

The next step! Integrating the SuperCom Suite enables one single application to handle simultaneously connections through RS-232, TCP/IP and ISDN. Building network gateways i.e. from RS-232 to TCP/IP is now easy done.

SuperCom is a programmer's toolkit for programming serial communication programs. SuperCom contains functions for all aspects of modern data transmission.

SuperCom is a Communications-/RS-232-Toolkit for Windows, DOS and OS/2. SuperCom enables portable communications programming. It supports interrupt driven transmission and receiving buffers at speeds up to 115200 Baud (2x, 4x, 8x, rate is possible), simultaneous COM1...COM36 (easily extendable to COM256), 8250, 16450 UARTs and 16550/16650-FIFOs, RS232, RS422, RS485 serial interfaces. SuperCom functions can be used in polling mode or in the powerful event mode. In event mode SuperCom fires events as events are happening in the UART.

Transmitting and receiving takes place interrupt-driven in the background. The flow control for the application (RTS/CTS, DTR/DSR, XON/XOFF) can be taken over fully transparent by SuperCom. Every interface has a transmit and receive buffer available.

Hardware errors are detected and if required reported. The supported protocols and the modem functions make possible data transmission without problems and access to external data bases and mail boxes.

SuperCom is fast, even in a multitasking operating system like Windows. SuperCom integrates the most modern communication technology like: event reporting, thread driven data transmission, high speed byte and paket functions. Furthermore it offers the highest security and speed with little burden on the computer, particularly important in a multitasking operating system.

SuperCom Suite for Windows -- New !

• RS-232, TCP/IP, ISDN, Dual API, SuperCom Keys
• SuperCom API 32 Bit Windows DLL's (RS-232, TCP/IP, ISDN)
• SuperCom ActiveX
• Samples and Documentaton

SuperCom API

SuperCom offers an easy to use, flexible and portable API. The same API is used among different operating systems and hardware (RS-232, RS-485, ISDN, TCP/IP).

Modular

SuperCom consists of several modules which can be used according to your needs.

The ComInt module forms the core of SuperCom and contains all low level routines and operates hardware-similar. All subsequent modules form themselves around ComInt and offer the application software a high level interface for data transmission.

DataLink is a part of the high level interface and offers routines that transmit and receive data (also time dependent) which determine the status of the interface.

The Transport module, with its packet routines, forms the transport part of the high level interface. Transport offers packet routines that transmit and receive data packets (also time dependent).

The Modem module is the part of the high level interface which is responsible for the communication through the modem. Routines for programming and controlling a modem are implemented in this module.

The group Terminal consists of the terminal emulations for ANSI, TTY and VT52.

Another group made up of modules (Protocol) forms the transmission protocols (ZMODEM, YMODEM, YMODEM/BATCH, XMODEM, XMODEM/CRC, ASCII) which come with SuperCom and are responsible for the safe transmission of files.

Interlinking into the Programs

The individual modules are interlinked as LIB, OBJ, TPU or DCU files into the application. If the operating system supports DLL's (dynamic link libraries) then this type of link can be used. Through the DLL concept SuperCom can offer its services in a simple way to several programs - in the multitasking mode.

The link through a DLL makes it also possible for programs, which were written in a language like Visual Basic, to establish a link with SuperCom.

Portable

The part of your application which takes care with SuperCom of the communication can already be considered as completed, even with a possible transfer from DOS to Windows 2000/NT/Me/95/98/3.x or OS/2. Almost the whole range of functions of SuperCom are available in the above mentioned operating systems, except for a small number of operating system-dependent routines, which usually don't have anything to do with the actual data transmission.

Easy Handling

Despite the large number of functions, programming with SuperCom is very easy. The following short C programm should clearly show this:

  str = "Hello World"; 

  ComInit(COM_2);

  ComSetState(COM_2,19200,9,'N',1,SIGNAL_CTS);


  RS_TXPacket(COM_2, str, strlen(str),&Result);

  ComReset(COM_2); 

The command ComInit informs SuperCom of the configuration of the serial interface. ComSetState initializes the serial interface with the new transmission parameters and flow control. The command RS_TXPacket transmits the data packet str through the serial interface and ComReset closes each action on the serial interface and reinstalls the old state of the interface.

Event Driven

A SuperCom application can install a User Event Function to capture the event messages reported by the SuperCom low level functions. The reported events can be: received or transmitted data, modem status, line errors, modem dialup status, file transmit status.

The Hardware

SuperCom contains many functions which make it possible for you to work with a multitude of serial interfaces.

The variety of serial interfaces is diverse and SuperCom is flexible enough to control the different variations. For the user to acquire an overview of the diverse serial interfaces and the performance spectrum of SuperCom we have divided the hardware selection into the following three groups:

Standard

Multi (Arnet, AST, Hostess, StarGate)

Digi

Serial interfaces which do not support interrupt sharing are called standard interfaces (e.g. COM1, COM2).

Serial interfaces which support interrupt sharing are called Multi and Digi. The differences between the last two groups are not insignificant and will be examined more closely in the appropriate section.

Interrupt Sharing

SuperCom operates each serial interface in the interrupt modus of the UART module. Only then are high transmission speeds and the highest security during data transmission guaranteed. The interrupt mode of the UART module requires though an interrupt line in order to report the interruption to the processor.

The hardware configuration in the PC has a limited number of free interrupt lines available which are even less if e.g. network boards are installed. The solution to this problem is called interrupt sharing. Several interfaces share one interrupt line. Appropriate hardware is already available and makes it possible even to control up to 32 serial interfaces through just one interrupt line. Such multiserial interface boards are equipped with 4/8 or 16 ports and if required available through us.

Multiserial Boards, for short PC COMX (X=4/8)

Two PC COM4 (AST) or one PC COM8 (Arnet) or up to four PC COM8 (Hostess or StarGate) can be installed in a PC. A combination of PC COMX ports and standard ports (COM1 to COM4) is possible. This hardware combination results in a maximum number of 12 to 36 serial interfaces in a PC. These boards require an interrupt line for each PC COM4 and/or PC COM8.

Digi ClassicBoard (PC/X=4/8/16)

Four PC/4 or PC/8 boards or up to two PC/16 boards can be installed. Several PC/X boards are connected together in the Daisy Chain procedure (ask for Daisy Chain model). A combination of Digi PC/X ports and standard ports (COM1 to COM4) is possible. This hardware combination results in a maximum of 36 interfaces in a PC. Only one interrupt line is required.

Digi AccelePort /Xe, /Xr, /Xem (X=2/4/8/16)

Intelligent boards reduce loading of host CPU. The Digi AccelePort boards are equipped with a 80186 or RISC-CPU running at 8, 10, 12.5 or 20 MHz. 64KByte to 1MByte of dual-ported zero wait-state static RAM is used for data storage and buffering. This improves the total system speed.Up to seven PC/X* boards can be installed in a PC.

FIFO-Support (16550/16650)

The 16550 module has the possibility to temporarily store up to 16 (32 with 16650) incoming characters in a FIFO (First In First Out) buffer. This possibility increases the performance of the system since the number of interrupts in the system is reduced. Furthermore the security of the data transmission is considerably improved, above all in a multitasking environment and high transmission speeds are possible.

SuperCom supports the enhanced features of the FIFO module.

Summary

Easy to use, flexible and portable API Interrupt driven transmission and receiving buffers Up to 921600 Baud (921,6 Kbps) 8250, 16450 UART and 16550/16650-FIFO Simultaneous COM1...COM36 (extendible to COM256) IRQ 0..15 Interrupt sharing RS232, RS422, RS485 Multiserial board support (Arnet, AST, Digi, Hostess, Stargate) Digi support (non intelligent PC/X, ClassicBoard, intelligent /Xe, /Xr, /Xem) Flow control with RTS/CTS, DTR/DSR, XON/XOFF and user defined Modem-Support ASCII, XMODEM, XMODEM/CRC, YMODEM, YMODEM/BATCH, ZMODEM (incl. crash recovery and multi file transfer) Optional industrial protocols like 3964/3964R, RK512 and LSV/2 are available Optional support for ISDN and TCP/IP is available ANSI, TTY, VT52 Timer, Ctrl-Break and Exception handling User-Event-Routines for Receive, Transmit, Modem Status, Line Status, Dial Status and File Transmit Status. In Windows it's even possible to post messages e.g. WM_COMMNOTIFY. Multitasking support (Windows and OS/2) Thread support (Windows and OS/2) Protected mode interface (PMI, Windows 16bit only) Support for 16-bit Protected Mode under DOS (286-DOS-Extender) e.g. Borland Pascal 7.0, Borland C++ PowerPack, PharLap, Blinker etc. BIOS INT14 emulation under DOS Language independent DLL's included SuperCom ++ included Example programs Full source code included. Over 150 functions Detailed documentation incl. description of the hardware registers of V24 and/or RS232C No Royalties Hotline

System requirements
IBM XT, AT, PS/2 or 100% IBM compatible computer with DR-DOS, PC-DOS, MS-DOS 3.0 or higher, Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000 or OS/2.

Compiler
Borland C/C++, C++ Builder, Microsoft C/C++, Microsoft Visual C++, WATCOM C/C++, Borland/Turbo Pascal, Delphi, Visual Basic, VBA, LabView and other Windows programming tools .

License Information
Executables developed using SuperCom can be distributed royalty free.

Hardware
Suitable hardware with 2, 4, 8, 16 or more ports is available.