1 General Information
The Quatech, Inc. DSC-100 provides two RS-232 asynchronous serial communication
interfaces for IBM-compatible personal computer systems using the PCI expansion bus. The
DSC-100 uses Quatech's new Enhanced Serial Adapter design. Legacy serial port data rates are
limited to a maximum of 115,200 bits per second. Quatech Enhanced Serial Adapters can
achieve data rates as high as 921,600 bits per second.
As a PCI device, the DSC-100 requires no hardware configuration. The card is
automatically configured by the computer's BIOS or operating system. The two serial ports share
a single interrupt line and are addressed in a contiguous block of 16 bytes. A special interrupt
status register is provided to help software to manage the shared interrupt.
The DSC-100's serial ports use 16550 Universal Asynchronous
Receiver/Transmitters (UARTs). These UARTs contain hardware buffers (FIFOs) which reduce
processing overhead and allow higher data rates to be achieved. The 16550 contains a 16-byte
FIFO and can transmit and receive data at a rate of up to 921,600 bits per second. The 16550 is
recommended for heavy multitasking environments and for applications involving high data
rates.
The DSC-100 is supported under several popular operating systems and environments.
Contact the sales department for details on current software offerings. Most device drivers are
available for download from the Quatech world wide web site at http://www.quatech.com.
Quatech DSC-100 User's Manual
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