OpenVMS VMS712_USB-V0100 Alpha V7.1-2 USB Support ECO Summary
TITLE: OpenVMS VMS712_USB-V0100 Alpha V7.1-2 USB Support ECO Summary
Modification Date: 30-NOV-1999
Modification Type: Documentation: Note added regarding kit Release
Notes.
NOTE: An OpenVMS saveset or PCSI installation file is stored
on the Internet in a self-expanding compressed file.
The name of the compressed file will be kit_name-dcx_vaxexe
for OpenVMS VAX or kit_name-dcx_axpexe for OpenVMS Alpha.
Once the file is copied to your system, it can be expanded
by typing RUN compressed_file. The resultant file will
be the OpenVMS saveset or PCSI installation file which
can be used to install the ECO.
Copyright (c) Compaq Computer Corporation 1999. All rights reserved.
******************** NOTE ********************
* *
* The Release Notes for this ECO kit state *
* that it applies to OpenVMS Alpha V7.2-3. *
* That is incorrect. There is no such *
* version. *
************************************************
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT NOTE:
Customers who try this kit are encouraged to report any problems
they might experience through the normal problem reporting channels.
Because USB functionality is planned for a future OpenVMS Alpha
release, problem reports will be useful for ongoing USB development.
However, there is no commitment on the part of Compaq to provide
updates to this USB kit.
OP/SYS: OpenVMS Alpha
COMPONENT: USB Support
CLIUTLMSG.EXE
SET.EXE
SHOW.EXE
SYS$HUBDRIVER.EXE
SYS$LPDRIVER.EXE
SYS$OHCIDRIVER.EXE
SYS$USBDRIVER.EXE
SYS$YCDRIVER
USB_DISPLAY.EXE
SET.CLD
SHOW.CLD
SYS$CONFIG.DAT
USB$STARTUP.COM
SOURCE: Compaq Computer Corporation
ECO INFORMATION:
ECO Kit Name: VMS712_USB-V0100
DEC-AXPVMS-VMS712_USB-V0100.PCSI
ECO Kits Superseded by This ECO Kit: None
ECO Kit Approximate Size: 2352 Blocks
Kit Applies To: OpenVMS Alpha V7.1-2
System/Cluster Reboot Necessary: Yes
Rolling Re-boot Supported: Yes
Installation Rating: INSTALL_2
2 - To be installed on all systems running
the listed version(s) of OpenVMS and
using the following feature(s):
USB For Early Adopters
Kit Dependencies:
The following remedial kit(s) must be installed BEFORE
installation of this kit:
None
In order to receive all the corrections listed in this
kit, the following remedial kits should also be installed:
None
ECO KIT SUMMARY:
An ECO kit exists to provide support for USB devices.
New Functionality Included:
o This kit provides support for selected Universal Serial Bus
(USB) modems, printers, USB-to-parallel port converters, hubs,
and host controllers. This kit is for early adopters - users
who will benefit from the use of this technology, in spite of
the limitations of an early release. This document contains the
following information:
+ Hardware and software prerequisites
+ Configurations supported by this kit
+ USB devices supported by this kit
+ Guidelines for using USB printers
+ Guidelines for using USB modems
+ Limited hotswapping of USB devices
+ SET/SHOW PRINTER qualifiers for USB printers
* Hardware and Software Prerequisites
This kit is supported on the following systems:
~ Compaq AlphaStation XP900
~ Compaq AlphaServer DS10
~ Compaq AlphaServer ES40
These systems have a built-in USB controller.
A host system can have a maximum of 1 gigabyte of
physical memory installed. This restriction will
be removed in a future release.
These systems must be running OpenVMS Alpha Version
7.1-2 with the VMS712_UPDATE02-V0100 (or later) remedial
kit installed. A separate USB kit will be made available
soon for OpenVMS Alpha Version 7.2-1.
* Configurations Supported By This Kit
The following configurations are supported:
~ A maximum of one printer and one modem can be
connected to a system. Support for multiple
printers and modems is planned for a future
release.
~ A printer can be directly attached to a printer,
a modem or both.
~ Two hubs can be connected to a system. Then a
printer can be connected to one and a modem to
the other. Alternatively, both a printer and
a modem can be connected to a single hub.
Figure 1, which appears only in the PostScript version
of this file (USB.PS in the kit), shows the configurations
that are supported by this kit. After installation of the
kit, the USB.PS file can be found in the [SYSHLP] directory.
* USB Devices Supported by This Kit
For this initial release, certain printers, modems, host
adapters, and hubs are supported, as shown in the following
table.
Table_1_Supported_USB_Devices______________________________
Model Name/
Type________Company________Model_Number___Description_____
Modems 3Com Corp. 5606 56K Voice
Faxmodem Pro
Compaq Corp. 322050-001 Compaq 56K USB
Modem
Printers Epson P110A Epson Stylus
Color 740
USB-to- Hewlett C4033A HP Printer Cable
parallel Packard Kit for the iMac
port
converters
Epson C-USB-PK2 USB Adapter
Printer Cable Kit
Belkin F5U002 USB Parallel
Printer Adapter
Aten UC-1284/AT- USB to IEEE-1284
1284 Printer Cable
Hubs Entegra MAC-HUB-4U 4-Port Mac USB
Hub
Peracom UH4100-K USB Quad Hub Kit
IO Networks Hubport7
Belkin F5u001 Belkin_4-Port_Hub
* Guidelines for Using USB Printers
Observe the following guidelines when using USB
printers:
~ Some USB printers do not conform to the USB Printer
Specification. They can corrupt data sent by the USB
printer driver. If a USB printer is not acting as
expected, take the following steps:
1. Clear all communications with the printer. This
may require stopping any processes that have
issued I/O to the printer as well as turning off
the printer and/or issuing the following command:
$ SET PRINTER/RESET LPxx
2. Clear the printer's POLLED attribute with the
following DCL command:
$ SET PRINTER LPxn /NOPOLLED
Note that using the SET PRINTER LPxn /NOPOLLED
command turns off an error-checking feature built
into the driver. Turning this feature off reduces
the driver's ability to quickly detect error conditions
in the printer.
~ When switching printers connected to a
USB-to-parallel port converter, unplug the converter
at both ends. Unplugging the printer from the converter
is not sufficient.
________________________ Note ________________________
The capability of the OpenVMS USB printer driver to read
bulk data from a USB printer has not been tested because
bidirectional USB printers are not yet available on the
market.
______________________________________________________
* Guidelines for Using USB Modems
Observe the following guidelines when using USB modems:
~ The use of SET HOST/DTE to talk to the modem automatically
enables the XON/XOFF flow control on the line throttle
input. Compaq recommends that you enable an alternate
type-ahead buffer on the terminal line (TXAO) before you
specify SET HOST/DTE for the first time. The type-ahead
buffer reduces the amount of flow control that has to be
performed. By default, terminals have a 78-character
type-ahead buffer. The default size of an alternate
type-ahead buffer is 200 characters.
To enable an alternate type-ahead buffer, use the
following command:
$ set term/perm/alt txa0:
The following command sequence shows the recommended
way to use the SET HOST/DTE command with an alternate
type-ahead buffer:
$ allocate txa0:
$ set host/dte/esc=a txa0
.
.
.
$ deallocate txa0
~ For USB modems, unlike most other modems, there is
no need to specify to the modem that DSR (data set
ready) follows CD (carrier detect).
~ If you power off or unplug a USB modem, the terminal
line TXA0 will be set off line, and the error count
will be incremented.
~ The maximum line speed supported is 115.2K baud. This
setting is appropriate in most cases. Actual data
rates are determined by the speed negotiation when
the modems link up.
~ If the modem is not initially recognized when the
system is booted, it may be necessary to power cycle
the modem or unplug and plug it back into the USB bus.
* Limited Hotswapping of USB Devices
USB devices can be plugged into or unplugged from a running
system. When a USB device is plugged into a running system,
it is recognized by the system and added to the system's
device database.
When a USB device is unplugged from a running system, the
following limitations exist:
~ The device name is not deleted from the system's device
database.
~ Unplugging a device may result in the loss of data.
* SET/SHOW PRINTER Qualifiers for USB Printers
The following qualifiers have been added or, in the case
of /POLLED, /NOPOLLED, its use expanded, for USB printers.
~ /RESET
This new qualifier sends a reset message which stops
all pending I/O to the printer, including any print
jobs already queued. Before using this qualifier,
clear all communications with the printer, as described
above. This function requires OPER privilege and will
print an error message otherwise.
~ /POLLED, /NOPOLLED
This qualifier disables the port-status byte checking
after every QIO data transfer.
Checking the status byte when certain printers are
busy can cause data corruption in the printer. The
use of /NOPOLLED enables customers to work around this
faulty hardware.
Note that this is not a new qualifier but a new use
of an existing qualifier.
~ /IDSTRING
When you specify this new qualifier, the ID string
belonging to the USB printer is returned as a text
string and printed to the screen, along with the data
typically available through the SHOW PRINTER command.
The ID string will follow the other information.
An example of the use of this qualifier follows:
$ show printer lpa0 /idstring
Printer LPA0:, device type PC printer, is online,
record-oriented device, carriage control.
Error count 0 Operations completed 0
Owner process "" Owner UIC [SYSTEM]
Owner process ID 00000000 Dev Prot S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W
Reference count 0 Default buffer size 132
Page width 132 Page Length 66
No Carriage_return Formfeed Uppercase
No Passall No Wrap No Printall
No Fallback No Tab Truncate
No Sixels No Bitmapped Polled
IDString:
MFG: HEWLETT-PACKARD;
MDL: DESKJET 895C;
CMD: MLC,PCL,PML;
CLASS: PRINTER;
DESCRIPTION: Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 895C;
SERN: MX88P2V0VWGO;
VSTATUS: $HB0$FC0,ff,DN,IDLE,CUT;
If the USB device has been disconnected and marked off
line, the SET PRINTER /IDSTRING command will display the
following information:
$ show print lpa0 /idstring
Printer LRA0:, device type LP11, is online,
record-oriented device, carriage control.
Error count 0 Operations completed 0
Owner process "" Owner UIC [SYSTEM]
Owner process ID 00000000 Dev Prot S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W
Reference count 0 Default buffer size 132
Page width 132 Page Length 66
No Carriage_return Formfeed Uppercase
No Passall No Wrap No Printall
No Fallback No Tab Truncate
No Sixels No Bitmapped Polled
%SYSTEM-F-DEVOFFLINE, device is not in configuration
or not available
If the attempt to read the ID string fails (for an
unknown reason other than device disconnection), the
following error message is displayed:
%SHOW-W-NOIDSTRING, ID String could not be retrieved
~ /SERIALNUM
This new qualifier is used to display the serial number
of a USB printer. An example of its use follows:
$ show print lpa0 /serialnum
Printer LPA0:, device type PC printer, is online,
record-oriented device, carriage control.
Error count 0 Operations completed 0
Owner process "" Owner UIC [SYSTEM]
Owner process ID 00000000 Dev Prot S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W
Reference count 0 Default buffer size 132
Page width 132 Page Length 66
No Carriage_return Formfeed Uppercase
No Passall No Wrap No Printall
No Fallback No Tab Truncate
No Sixels No Bitmapped Polled
Serial Number: MX88P2V0VWGO
If the ID string is not supported by the USB printer in
question, the following error message is displayed:
%SHOW-W-NOSERIALNUM, Serial number could not be
retrieved
If the device has been disconnected and marked offline,
the following error message is displayed:
%SYSTEM-F-DEVOFFLINE, device is not in configuration
or not available
INSTALLATION NOTES:
The images in this kit will not take effect until the system is
rebooted. If there are other nodes in the VMScluster, they must
also be rebooted in order to make use of the new image(s).
If it is not possible or convenient to reboot the entire cluster at
this time, a rolling re-boot may be performed.
After the kit is installed, you need to edit SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM to
invoke the USB startup command procedure. Add the following
command to SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM: SYS$STARTUP:USB$STARTUP.COM. This
command should precede any commands that set up or configure any
queues that communicate with a USB printer.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This patch can be found at any of these sites:
Colorado Site
Georgia Site
Files on this server are as follows:
dec-axpvms-vms712_usb-v0100--4.README
dec-axpvms-vms712_usb-v0100--4.CHKSUM
dec-axpvms-vms712_usb-v0100--4.pcsi-dcx_axpexe
vms712_usb-v0100.CVRLET_TXT
|
