IR Communications Driver 2.0 Relnotes.doc (Part 1 of 2) (149449)

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Microsoft Windows 95
Infrared Communications Driver
Version 2.0
Release Notes
10 May 1996

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1996.   All Rights Reserved.

Contents
   Infrared Communications Driver, Version 2.0
      Using the IR Communications Driver
      Troubleshooting
      Product Support

INFRARED COMMUNICATIONS DRIVER, VERSION 2.0
===========================================
The Infrared Communications Driver, Version 2.0, is an optional component
of the Windows 95 operating system. The Infrared Communications Driver
supports hardware devices which enable networking and communications over
the infrared media. The hardware device can be either an infrared port
built into the platform or an infrared adapter connected to one of the
platform's serial or parallel ports.

User motivations for installing the infrared hardware device and the
Version 2.0 Infrared communications driver are:

 - The user can use wireless IR links instead of serial and parallel
   cables. For example, files can be exchanged wirelessly between two
   computers that have an IR device and the Version 2.0 driver installed,
   instead of using a serial or parallel cable. Files can also be printed
   wirelessly on IR-capable printers.

 - The user can use wireless IR links instead of LAN cabling, if the user
   has an IR-capable LAN access point product connected to the network
   (see "Using the IR Communications Driver" for a list of LAN access
   point products the Version 2.0 IR driver has been tested with).

The Version 2.0 IR communications driver supports IR communications links
running at speeds up to 115.2 kbps.

USING THE IR COMMUNICATIONS DRIVER
==================================
This section of the Release Notes lists the hardware and software
components on which the Version 2.0 IR communications driver has been
tested.

Notebook Computers
------------------
The Version 2.0 IR communications driver has been successfully tested on
the following Windows 95 notebook computers that have built-in IR ports:
   Gateway 2000 Liberty
   HP Omnibook 600CT
   HP Omnibook 4000C
   IBM ThinkPad 701C (Butterfly)
   Sharp PC 3050
   TI TravelMate5000

Some testing of the Version 2.0 IR driver was also done on these Windows 95
notebooks:
   Digital HiNote Ultra CT475
   TI TravelMate 5000

IR Adapters
-----------
The Version 2.0 IR driver has been successfully tested on Windows 95
platforms with the following IR adapters connected to serial ports:
   ACTiSYS ACT-200L Infrared Wireless Interface
   ACTiSYS ACT-220L Infrared Wireless Interface
   Adaptec AIRport APA-9320 External Infrared Adapter (this adapter is
      also called the Adaptec AIRport 2000)
   AMP PhasIR Serial Adapter
   Extended Systems JetEye PC Infrared PC Interface (ESI-9680)
   Parallax IR Adapter LiteLink PRA9500A

To obtain any of the IR adapters listed above, contact the adapter
manufacturer. The addresses of these manufacturers are listed in "IR
Adapter Manufacturer Names and Addresses" at the end of this document.

Applications
------------
The following applications have been run successfully over an IR
communications link, using the IR communications driver and the hardware
listed above:
   Windows 95 Direct Cable Connection (DCC).
   Various Windows communications applications, including HyperTerminal
      and DynaComm.

Because the IR link simulates a serial communications link, some
communications applications may not perform as expected after they connect
over the IR link. See "Troubleshooting" for more information. For
instructions on running DCC over an IR link, see "Notes on Running the
Direct Cable Connection Application Over an IR Link" later in this
document.

Printers
--------
Numerous Windows 95 applications have successfully printed over an IR link
to an HP Laserjet 5P or 5MP printer, which have built-in IR ports. Numerous
Windows 95 applications have also printed successfully over an IR link to
other printers with an Extended Systems JetEye Infrared Printer Port ESI-
9580 infrared adapter connected to the printer parallel port.

IrLan Access Points
-------------------
Local area network access over an IR link has been tested with the
following IrLan access point devices:
   Extended Systems ESI-9910 JetEye Net Plus.
   Hewlett-Packard NetBeam IR Infrared LAN Adapter.

TROUBLESHOOTING
===============
Some general troubleshooting tips are:

 - A user must always remove any previously installed version of the IR
   communications driver every time the driver is installed. If Version
   1.0 of the driver is installed, it must be removed before installing
   Version 2.0. If an early Beta release of the Version 2.0 driver is
   installed, it must be removed before installing the current Version 2.0
   release. Instructions for removing the IR communications driver are in
   "An Optional Step: Removing the IR Communications Driver."

 - If the user changes the IR adapter model that is connected to the
   computer, the user must remove the installed IR communications driver
   and reinstall it, specifying the new IR adapter type. Instructions for
   removing the IR communications driver are in "An Optional Step:
   Removing the IR Communications Driver."

 - During installation of the IR communications driver, a user may select
   the wrong port when the Add Infrared Device Wizard prompts for the
   physical COM port to which the IR device is connected. If the user
   selects the wrong COM port, the IR device will be unable to discover
   another IR device within range. Reasons why the user may select the
   wrong COM port vary, ranging from reasoning such as "there is only one
   physical COM port for the IR adapter to be connected to so it must be
   COM1" to mislabeled COM ports on the computer case to the simple fact
   that the user doesn't know which COM port to select and doesn't know how
   to find out. A troubleshooting procedure is:
      1. Put an actively searching IR device close to the computer's IR
         device.
      2. Click the Infrared Monitor Options tab and then choose a
         different communications port (for
           example, COM1 instead of COM2).
      3. Continue selecting different COM ports in this way until the IR
         device on the computer discovers the nearby IR device.
   Note that the alternatives displayed in the IrMon Options tab are
   always based on the internal wiring of the computer platform:
    - COM1 always means a COM port wired to IRQ 4 and I/O address range
      0x3F8 to 0x3FF.
    - COM2 always means wired to IRQ 3 and 0x2F8 to 0x2FF.
    - Physical COM3 always means IRQ 4 and 0x3E8 and 0x3EF.
    - Physical COM4 always means IRQ5 and 0x2E8 and 0x2EF.

 - To get two IR devices to discover each other, the user may have to
   realign the IR devices so they point right at each other, move them
   closer together, and/or change the batteries in an IR adapter or plug
   the AC power into an IR adapter. The devices must be three feet apart,
   or less, and the angle of the cone of IR transmission is 30 degrees.
   Some devices work best if kept at least six inches apart.

 - If an IR adapter is attached to a COM port that is using an 8250 UART
   instead of a 16550 UART, or if an IR adapter is connected to a
   relatively slow computer (such as a 386 running at 20 MHz), the user
   might need to use the Limit Connection Speed To option in the Infrared
   Monitor Options tab to limit the connection speed to 19.2 kbps. After
   establishing a successful IR connection at this speed, the user can use
   the Limit Connection Speed To option to experiment with establishing a
   connection at a higher speed on their particular computer.

 - If the IR Monitor Options tab is used to change the port the IR adapter
   is attached to while IR communications are in progress, the IR
   connection is lost without prompting the user to verify that it is OK
   to disconnect.

 - Communication over a virtual COM port link between two computers may
   not be reliable if a printer's IR adapter is also within range. The
   user should move the printer's IR adapter out of range.

 - A user should not suspend a Windows 95 computer while an IR connection
   is established. Wait until the IR link is disconnected or force a
   disconnection before putting the computer in suspend mode. For example,
   if an IrLan connection is established on a laptop, the user must always
   move the laptop out of range of the IrLan access point before
   suspending the system or closing the laptop lid. Otherwise, the
   connection remains active and over time can drain the battery.

 - Connecting and disconnecting over a low-speed IR link or over a poor-
   quality link can take a long period of time (a few seconds), during
   which time the screen will appear to be frozen. To work around this,
   the user should use a higher-speed connection and/or take steps to
   improve the quality of the connection by, for example, realigning the
   IR devices so they point right at each other, moving the devices closer
   together, changing the batteries in an IR adapter, or plugging the AC
   power into an IR adapter.

Troubleshooting Tips Specific to Using IrLan Access Point Devices Are
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 - Do not assume that because an IR device on a PC communicates with an IR
   device on another PC at 115.2 kbps that the IR device will also
   communicate with an IrLan access point device at that speed.  For
   example, suppose a user has two PC-based IR devices that have
   negotiated a link speed of 115.2 kbps. Then if the user points one of
   the devices at an IrLan access point device, these two devices can
   negotiate a link speed of 115.2 kbps but no subsequent communication
   takes place (the PC has no access to the network through the IR link).
   No error message is displayed in this case.
 - Extended Systems ESI-9910 JetEye Net Plus users utilizing NETBEUI may
   receive an error message when copying large files (for example, 5 MB
   files) to a network drive. If this happens, call Extended Systems, Inc.
   product support for NETBEUI configuration changes. For Extended
   Systems, Inc. contact information, see the topic "IR Adapter
   Manufacturer Names and Addresses."
 - If there is a problem establishing an IR link to an IrLan access point
   device when the network is also connected to a network interface card
   in the computer, try disconnecting the LAN from the network interface
   card. Restart the computer and make sure the computer IR device and the
   LAN access point IR port are within range. Then use the Infrared icon
   in the Control Panel to activate the IR link between the computer and
   the LAN access point device.
 - The IPX protocol may not communicate over an IrLan access point. This
   can be caused by the Dial-Up Adapter becoming the primary IPX adapter
   and no other adapter, such as the IrLan adapter, can take over. To get
   around this problem, the user can create a profile that does not
   contain the dial-up adapter and use it when accessing the net through
   IrLan.
 - During a file copy to a NetWare server running burst mode, if the IR
   connection between the computer and the IrLan access point is
   disconnected (for example, the IR beam is blocked), the file transfer
   cannot recover and the computer screen will stay the same indefinitely.
   If this happens often, turn off burst mode to enable recovery from a
   disconnection. There will be performance degradation with burst mode
   off.
 - Using the virtual parallel port connection to an Extended Systems ESI-
   9910 JetEye Net Plus IrLan access point to send data to a printer may
   result in a program fault. To get around this, use the virtual serial
   port on the IrLan access point to reach the printer.

Troubleshooting Tips Related to Using
Particular Applications Over IR Links Are
-----------------------------------------
 - If the Windows 95 application HyperTerminal is used to transfer files,
   there may be trouble doing file transfers successfully over an IR link.
   If the Zmodem protocol fails with a link speed of 115.2 kbps, use the
   IR Monitor Limit Connection Speed To tab to limit the link speed to
   19.2 kbps and then retry the Zmodem file transfer.
 - When the Windows 95 application Direct Cable Connection (DCC) is run to
   establish the connection between the host and guest computers, the
   guest computer may display the message "Direct Cable Connection was
   unable to display shared folders of the host computer" and prompt the
   user to enter the computer name of the host computer. A convenient way
   to find the computer name of the host computer is on the Status tab of
   the Infrared Monitor interface screen.
 - When the Windows 95 application Direct Cable Connection (DCC) is run to
   establish an IR connection between the host and guest computers, DCC
   prompts the user to select a communications port (this procedure is
   described in the topic "Establishing and Using the DCC IR Link Between
   Host and Guest"). Selecting the virtual Infrared port in this step will
   fail (DCC announces the virtual port is not available) in the rare case
   that the user has suspended the Windows 95 operating system before
   invoking DCC in a session. Restart Windows 95 to begin a new session
   and DCC will work over an IR link.

A Troubleshooting Tip Related to Developing an IrDA
Standard IrCOMM Component for an IR Communications Driver Is
------------------------------------------------------------
 - The IrCOMM implementation in the IR communications driver that runs on
   Windows 95 supports full emulation of 9-wire connections, but does not
   support emulation of 3-wire cooked connections. A specific example of
   this is the inability to print over an IR virtual COM port from the MS-
   DOS prompt, which uses a 3-wire cooked connection. IrDA drivers
   developed for platforms designed to communicate with Windows 95
   platforms over IR links must implement full emulation of 9-wire
   connections (as specified in the IrDA IrCOMM specification). For
   example, a pair of handheld computer platforms may communicate with
   each other over IR links using 3-wire cooked emulation. However, if the
   user also expects to use one of the handhelds to communicate with a
   Windows 95 computer then the handheld IR driver must implement 9-wire
   connections.

Troubleshooting Tips Related to Specific Infrared Hardware Are
--------------------------------------------------------------
 - The Adaptec AIRport 2000 infrared adapter can be powered by either the
   serial port, installed AA batteries, or an external power supply. In
   some cases, the serial port may not provide sufficient power for the
   operation of the adapter. This can cause reduced operating range and/or
   a failure to find another IR device which is nearby and aligned
   correctly. If such a problem is suspected, connect an AC adapter or add
   four AA batteries to the battery compartment in the infrared adapter.
   This will assure sufficient power. In some instances, the user may need
   to separate the adapter by at least six inches from the other IR device.
 - If an ActiSys 220L IR adapter is attached to a computer and used to
   print to a printer that is using an Extended Systems ESI-9580 printer
   IR adapter, or for printing to an HP DeskJet 340, the Options tab in
   the Infrared Monitor must be used to limit the connection speed to 19.2
   kbps to print successfully. If the IR devices are allowed to
   automatically negotiate the connection speed without setting this
   limit, they will negotiate a higher connection speed and an application
   will not be able to print.
 - The TI TravelMate 5000 may communicate over an IR link only at very low
   speeds (9600 bps).
 - The Sharp PC 3050 may communicate over an IR link only at speeds
   between 9600 bps and 19.2 kbps.
 - For the HP Omnibook 4000C or an HP Omnibook 600CT, which have built-in
   infrared ports, a special echo-canceling serial driver must be
   installed in addition to the components that make up the IR
   communications driver. The echo-canceling driver, along with
   instructions on how to install it, are available from Hewlett-Packard.

				

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