RELEASE NOTES R1.018 SCSI/EtherLite(R) Driver for Windows NT (c) 1997-2000 Digi International Inc. ======================================================================== Software Driver (X86) P/N: 40001899D1 Source Code P/N: 81000102D1 Release Notes P/N: 93000332D1 ======================================================================== Overview -------- This driver package supports both SCSI Terminal Servers and EtherLite Terminal Servers products from Digi International Inc. Installation Instructions ------------------------- 1. Install your Terminal Server hardware as described in the accompanying instruction booklet(s). 2. If you have installed no EtherLite units (i.e., you have installed SCSI Terminal Servers), skip to step 4. 3. Set up an IP-address server on your network (if one is not present already), and reserve an IP address for each EtherLite unit. Detailed instructions for doing this can be found under "Operating an EtherLite Port Server" in the Digi International Help file (Digielst.HLP in the same directory as this README file). 4. Install and configure the software by running the SETUP.EXE program in the same directory as this README file. Release notes for R1.018 update ------------------------------- o Included updated version of the storeip utility, storeip32.exe. This file is a self extracting archive containing a readme file and a few utilities used to manipulate the IP address of an EtherLite unit. Release notes for R1.018 ------------------------ o Fixed RTS_CONTROL_TOGGLE blue screen crash bug. (Bug ID 4783) o Fixed port remap tool problem with EL-2 485 devices. (Bug ID 4574) o Fixed memory leak in non-paged pool. Reverted to the original method of establishing an initial connection to the device. (Bug ID 3934) o Included new utility program (storeip.exe) for setting the IP address on EtherLite units. Release notes for R1.017 ------------------------ o Fixed buffered output capability (Bug ID 4261) o Any attempt to connect to an inaccessible unit will result in a significant non-paged pool memory leak over time. The fault appears to lie in a system routine called during this process. Consequently, to minimize the leak, initial attempts to connect to a unit and attempts to connect to a unit which goes offline will timeout after two hours. Also, the interval between retrying for an initial connection will grow from ten seconds to two minutes within the first several minutes of driver startup. (Bug ID 3934) KNOWN BUGS: o Configuring units which are not physically accessible will precipitate a memory leak in non-paged pool memory. This memory cannot be reclaimed without rebooting your system. o RAS will not work on MP systems. Release notes for R1.015 ------------------------ o Fixed multiple MP bugs in the driver's line discipline code (Bug ID 3024, 3081). o Fixed RAS dial-out bug (Bug ID 3429). o Fixed AbortOnError flag handling (Bug ID 3447). o Changed the service name in the installation pack from 'Port Server' to 'Terminal Server' per request ID 3198. o Fixed the Digi logo bug in the installation package (Bug ID 2631). o Replaced remapping utility with working version. Release notes for R1.013 ------------------------ o Fixed a bug in the driver installation program that the Digi logo and some EtherLite unit type strings are partially clipped off in one of the dialog boxes. The NORTEL release has the Nortel specific COM port remapping utility. Release notes for R1.012 ------------------------ o Added "Port Remapping" utility that allows user to specify the starting COM port number for a specific unit. If the user does not specify a starting COM port number for a unit, the lowest available contiguous COM port block is assigned to the unit. o Corrected the way parity/framing/overrun error is handled. o Corrected the properties (e.g., version, copyright, company name, etc.) of the Alpha version of the driver file sts.sys. Release notes for R1.011 ------------------------ o Changed all references of "Central Data" to "Digi International," reflecting the July 1998 acquisition of Central Data Corporation by Digi International. Both Central Data- and Digi-branded hardware will continue to be supported by this driver package. o Changed the behavior of WriteFile(). The buffering scheme used in R1.010 caused some applications to lose data when the applications (e.g., 16 bit DOS applications) close the port immediately after a WriteFile() call without calling FlushFileBuffer(). Now in blocking mode, WriteFile() returns after all data are transmitted out of the serial port, not just after driver copies the data to its internal buffer. Similarly, in overlapped mode, the write completion event is asserted after all data are transmitted. Applications wishing to use the buffering scheme can do so by calling SetupComm() to set the size of output queue to a nonzero value, which must be less than or equal to 0x4000 bytes. FlushFileBuffer() must also be called before closing a port to ensure that all data are transmitted. When applications repeatedly write small chunks of data (less than a few hundred bytes) at a time, using buffering scheme can increase throughput. Release notes for R1.010 ------------------------ o Changed the way WriteFile() works for better performance. In blocking mode, WriteFile() returns after all data are copied to the driver's internal buffer. Similarly, in overlapped mode, the write completion event is asserted after all data are copied. For applications requiring that WriteFile() return or that write completion event be asserted only after data are transmitted out of the serial port, the applications need to call SetupComm() to set the size of output queue to zero. o Fixed the bug that incorrectly reported parallel ports and RS422 ports as RS232 ports. o Enhanced unit recovery for EtherLite units. With this enhancement, after an EtherLite unit goes offline, applications do not need to close and reopen the ports on this unit to reestablish connection. However, before the unit goes back online, any I/O attempt on any port of the unit would return immediately with an error. When the driver reestablishes the connection to the unit, all the communication parameters (i.e., baudrate, flow control mode, etc.) will be automatically restored. I/O activity can then continue. Release notes for R1.009 ------------------------ o Added support for ST-1400B, ST-1800B, ST-1800B+, EL-2, EL-2.1, EL-2.2 and UT-16. o Fixed the bug in elcfg utility that caused EM-16 to be misrepresented as EL-160. o Fixed the bug that crashes the system in the presence of any Central Data SCSI device that is not supported by the driver. o Fixed the bug in cdupdate utility that prevents firmware from being downloaded when device name is 16 bytes long (e.g., ST-1008/ST-1800P). o Corrected the properties (e.g., version, copyright, company name, etc.) of the driver file sts.sys. Release notes for R1.008 ------------------------ o Added support for ST-1032, ST-1620, EL-160 and EL-162. o Fixed the bug that could crash the system when all (or nearly all) ports on an EtherLite unit are transmitting data at 115200 bps. o Fixed the bug that prevented more than 10 EtherLite units from being configured on one machine. Release notes for R1.007 ------------------------ o Fixed the bug that could crash the system when a single ST-1002 is installed. o Fixed the bug that would crash the system when an application calls EscapeCommFunction() with parameter SETXOFF followed by WriteFile(). o Changed the way WriteFile() works. In blocking mode, WriteFile() returns after all data are transmitted out of the device, not just after driver sends the data to the device. Similarly, in overlapped mode, the write completion event is asserted after all data are transmitted. Release notes for R1.006 ------------------------ o Added support for EL-32, ST-1032, and ST-1620. o Fixed the bug that could cause application programs to hang when the programs try to communicate with EtherLite units after the units are offline. o Fixed the bug that would cause the "EtherLite Config" utility program to hang when an invalid EtherLite IP address was specified at driver install time. Release notes for R1.005 ------------------------ o Fixed the problem that could cause machine crashes when an application uses both ReadTotalTimeout and ReadIntervalTimeout under NT 4.0. o Corrected the order in which STS driver is loaded during boot time. The STS driver is now loaded after the internal serial port driver, but before the start of RAS service. Release notes for R1.004 ------------------------ o Fixed the bug that caused RAS server to disconnect the second dial-in call and ignore the subsequent dial-in calls after the first successful connection. o Fixed a RAS client connection problem which occurred on some SCSI units. o Added "EtherLite Config" utility that allows user to add and/or remove EtherLite units without having to reinstall the driver and rebooting the machine. o Made the existing cdupdate utility a Windows-based application. Release notes for R1.003 ------------------------ o Made the EtherLite driver a TDI client. The driver now directly communicates with the NT TCP layer without going through the dedicated user level daemon process (cdether.exe) used in previous versions. o Added support for parallel ports. o Added device start and stop capabilities through the Devices applet in Control Panel. o Added support for EL-8, EL-8+, and EL-32. o Fixed the bug that caused GetCommModemStatus() to fail. (bug ID 191) o Fixed the bug that could cause system crash when a small buffer size is specified and an invalid baud rate is used. (bug ID 190) o Fixed the install program that did not generate a program group when the driver package is installed on NT 4.0. o Fixed the bug that could cause Fax software to fail due to improper handling of output flow control. Release notes for R1.002 ------------------------ o Unit recovery is now fully implemented for scsiTerminal Servers. o Added cdupdate utility program for upgrading the firmware on units with FLASH EPROM. o Fixed bug ID 178: Blue-screen crash if sts.sys is stopped. The "Unload" functionality has been disabled. o Fixed bug ID 157: GetCommProperties() response always says 115.2K. The correct maximum baud rate is now reported for all Central Data units. Release Notes for R1.001 ------------------------ o Recovery of EtherLite units, which was essentially absent from the R1.000 release, has since been added. Recovery of SCSI- based units will be added in the next release. o A bug which would cause the driver to crash if it found on the SCSI bus a Central Data unit with a parallel port has been fixed. Note however that at present the driver still supports only the serial ports on Central Data scsiTerminal Servers. Support for parallel ports may be added in the future. o The on-line documentation has been expanded. Release Notes for R1.000 ------------------------ o Some limitations in driver functionality should be noted. Most of these are due to features which remain to be added to SCSI and EtherLite firmware. The firmware changes are currently being reviewed and are expected to be implemented shortly. The following items are not currently supported: IOCTL_SERIAL_XOFF_COUNTER, mark/space parity, DTR-, DSR-, or DCD-based flow control, explicit break on/off control, and two variants of standard RTS and XON/XOFF flow control. See the Help file (CENDATA.HLP) for more details. None of these limitations affect basic RAS or terminal program functionality in any way that we've detected. o Unloading the driver via the Devices applet of the Control Panel should be avoided. Should you wish to uninstall the Central Data driver, you may do so as described in the Help file and rebooting. o Older Adaptec SCSI drivers do not handle undersized SCSI packets appropriately and will, in conjunction with the Central Data driver and firmware which generate undersized packets as a matter of course, fill up the system log with spurious warning/error messages. Current Adaptec SCSI drivers, which do not exhibit this problem, can be found at http://www.adaptec.com/techsupp/bbs_wnt.html or via anonymous FTP at ftp.adaptec.com in /pub/BBS/winnt. o The boot firmware in the DEC AlphaServer 2000 and 2100 will crash if a SCSI Communications device (such as a scsiTerminal Server or a scsiModem Server) is found on a SCSI bus. A firmware update to fixed this problem is available from Central Data. ======================================================================== If you have any difficulties installing or operating your Digi International Port Servers, please contact our Support Department for assistance. Technical Support Digi International 11001 Bren Road E. Minnetonka, MN 55343 Phone: 1-612-912-3456 Fax: 1-612-912-4958 E-mail: support@dgii.com WWW: http://www.dgii.com/ FTP: ftp.dgii.com