This page provides a brief overview of the new high speed SCC card for the PCI bus.
The existing BayCo ISA based USCC card is employed at several hundred network nodes and user stations. However, due to a lack of buffering in the Z8530 SCC chips, the maximum data rate with this hardware is around 38400 bit/s. Also, many new PCs do not longer feature an ISA slot. This called for the development of new, powerful hardware.
In cooperation with Jens David, DG1KJD
(Hardware, Linux drivers) and Steffen Köhler, DH1DM (DOS and Windows
drivers) we have developed the PCISCC, a PCI based successor to the USCC
card. This card will allow High-Speed packet radio up to the Megabit range.
We have tried to preserve the investments
of the radio amateurs into their network infrastructure. Thus, the PCISCC
allows the use of the same piggyback modems as on the USCC>4. With
the FPGA based piggy back modem by HB9JNX a new high speed modem will be
available soon which has been designed especially for the PCISCC.
The PCISCC bases on the Infineon DSCC-4
communication controller (PEB 20534H). This chip achieves its high throughput
by a number of measures: It features 10 built in DMA controllers and is
capable to process a data rate of up to 52 Mbit/s per serial channel. It
features four channels, which can be configured independently from each
other.
Each channel consists of:
- A clock generation and regeneration
block, which provides up to 13 different clock modes and a clock regeneration
PLL for data rates up to 2 Mbit/s.
- A Decoder block supporting NRZ, NRZI,
FM0, FM1 and Manchester coding.
- A bit processing unit supporting synchronous
and asynchronous data transmission (e.g. RS-232 or HDLC), with CRC, Preamble
generator and programmable bit stuffing.
Since the programmability and interfacing
of this chip is very good, almost no other components are required.
Full technical information:
Download Manual GERMAN language (includes schematic; pdf, 120kbyte)
Download Manual ENGLISH language (includes schematic; pdf, 120kbyte)
Drivers and Operating System support:
Download actual drivers (zip file of CD-ROM content)
A) DOS (FlexNet)
First option: The PCISCC can be operated under DOS together with the DOS Flexnet package.
1. Install the FlexNet software by copying
all files from the directory DOS/FLEXBIN on the CD-ROM into an appropriate
directory on your hard disk. The newest version of the FlexNet software
is available from the Internet. ( on http://www.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~flexnet/).
The driver for the PCISCC card is named SCCDRV.EXE.
2. Power up your PC and then start the
FlexNet software by typing in the commands printed in Courier:
FLEXNET (starts Flexnet)
SCCDRV (no Parameters)
FLEX (finish driver load)
FSET MODE 0 76800trzd
(set modes for channel 0, repeat with
correct parameters for channels 1-3)
BCT Start application (here
the BayCom Terminal, on CD-ROM this can
be found in the directory DOS/BCT)
Now the divided Screen of the BayCom Terminal should show up. The modem can be tested easily by entering a connect command (:C <destination call> <channel number>) in the upper window or by sending out a few test packets (e.g. on monitor screen; change to monitor screen by pressing F10, then enter correct channel (e.g. :K 0), then delete the : on first cursor position and press ENTER. If the PTT LED on the modem lights up, the principal function of the card should be given.
IMPORTANT NOTE: SCCDRV.EXE cannot be operated in the DOS window of a Windows application, a true DOS operating system is required. The driver is not EMM386 compatibel.
For further explanation of the operation
of FlexNet: See FlexNet documentation.
B) Operating the PCISCC with FlexNet32 on Windows NT
The currently available driver is only suited for Windows NT. Other Windows operating systems are not supported.
The CD-ROM only contains the drivers for the PCISCC card, but not the FlexNet32 software or a suitable terminal. Actual versions of these need to be downloaded from the internet.
1. Download FlexNet32 for windows. The
actual version is available from:
http://www.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~flexnet/
2. If you need a terminal program, we
would recommend using PAXON. This software is available from: www.paxon.de.
Of course also other FlexNet32 compatible applications can be used. Install
the terminal according to the PAXON documentation, before proceeding with
the driver installation. Paxon is available from www.paxon.de.
3. Extract the FlexNet package into any
suitable directory on your hard disk. Copy the PCISCC drivers from the
WIN32 directory of the CD-ROM into the same directory. (files: PCISCC.DLL,
PCISCC.SYS). If you cannot see these files in your windows explorer, you
need to select “Show System Files” in your EXPLORER options.
4. Start the Flexnet control Center FLEXCTRL.
5. Select sub menue TOOLs and entry PARAMETER.
Select the first available channel by double clicking and select “NEW DRIVER”
by clicking with the right mouse button. A new window appears. Select “PCISCC”
by doubleclicking. If this entry is not present, the drivers were not copied
correctly on item 3. (Remind that the drivers need to be in the same directory
as the flexnet software). The four SCC channels are now being added in
the parameter window.
6. The channel parameters are now being
configured by highlighting a channel with the left mouse button and then
selecting EDIT with the right button. A normal TCM3105 modem needs to be
set to 1200Bd. When using the BayCom FSK modems, the switches NRZ and external
TX and RX clock need to be activated. When all settings are correct, the
channel is displayed as “activated” in the parameter window (instead of
being crossed out).
7. Start the PAXON terminal. Packet operation
may begin now.
C) Operating the PCISCC under Linux
For the PCISCC, DG1KJD has also developed
a Linux driver. However, this is not officially supported by BayCom. Installation
and use are not that easy, so we would recommend this option for Linux
experts only. The driver and more detailed informations are available from
the authors home page: http://www.afthd.tu-darmstadt.de/~dg1kjd/.
The Linux driver is only supported by
Linux versions 2.2.x, the Kernel needs to be patched, too.
1. After inserting the card and booting,
check availability of the card:
cat /proc/pci. This displays a table
with all PCI devices. A slotcard with ID 110a:2102 should be visible, this
is the PCISCC.
2. AX.25 support and PCISCC needs to be
configured in the kernel. The kernel needs to be recompiled.
3. Install new Kernel and reboot.
4. insmod ax25 and insmod pciscc4. This
adds AX.25 protocol stack and PCISCC drivers.
5. By using ifconfig –a all channels can
be displayed, output should include dscc[0..3].
6. Driver contains a module named SETPCISCC.
This needs to be compiled and installed (install ax25-tools)
7. SETPCI allows setting of channel parameters,
e.g. setpciscc –i dscc0 –d txd=192 sets TX-Delay for a 19k2-channel to
10ms. See DG1KJD homepage for detailed explanation.
8. ifconfig dscc0 hs ax25 dg1kjd-8 mtu
256 up configures channel 0 with a callsign (in this example: dg1kjd-8)
and maximum packet length.
9. Axparms and call sets a route and establishes
connection.
Modem availability
The PCISCC card is available now. It costs
290.- DM / 148.70 EURO.
The FPGA based FSK modem is not yet available,
but all USCC modem will fit on the PCISCC, too.
For more infos on ordering/contact, please
look here.
