Instruction manual

PC208W 3.0 INTRODUCTION
4 PC208W, Version 3.0, Instruction Manual
(Refer to Section 2.9 for more information on
Edlog file types.)
For users upgrading from DOS PC208
You will have to recreate the setup information
and batch routines. Edlog .CSI and .DLD files
and Split .PAR files will work without
modification. However, if your previous version
of Edlog used .DOC files, they will need to be
converted using DOC2CSI (see Section 6).
If you are connecting to one or more dataloggers
via an MD9 network, and have been using
PC208 for DOS, you will have to change the ID
switch settings on your base MD9. The DOS
software uses an address between 1 and 254;
PC208W uses address 255.
If the base MD9 ID is set to 255, you can still
use PC208 DOS software, if needed, without
changing the setting back to a number between
1 and 254. Simply add a pound sign (#) to the
end of the MD9 dialing path in the station file.
I.5 UNINSTALL
Should you need to remove PC208W from a
computer, an uninstall program is provided.
With Windows 95 or NT, select SETTINGS
from the Start button then select CONTROL
PANEL. Double click on ADD/REMOVE
programs. Select PC208W from the list and
select the Add/Remove button.
With Windows 3.1, double click on the
UNINSTALL PC208W icon in the PC208W
program group.
I.6 SOME NOTES ON SYSTEM
RESOURCES
COM Ports and Interrupts
PC208W is capable of running in the
background while you are doing other work with
other programs. To do this, it uses the system’s
idle time for some of its serial communications.
A few other applications are so resource
intensive that PC208W does not receive
sufficient time for its communications. PC208W
will not run reliably with these applications
loaded.
The Windows environment provides access to
the COM ports via a COM port driver. Many
computers have COM ports which share
interrupts with other COM ports. (Typically
COM1 and COM3 share IRQ 4 and COM2 and
COM4 share IRQ 3.) This can be checked by
examining the ‘Ports’ (Settings/Advanced)
setting in the Windows Control Panel. A COM
port sharing an interrupt with another device
can prevent Windows from reliably performing
communications using that port, particularly if
the COM port and device are used concurrently.
This shared interrupt problem would also affect
operation of PC208W.
NOTE: If you appear to be experiencing
communication problems when using
external modules, always check the COM
ports setting in the Windows Control Panel,
using the ‘Ports’ (Settings/Advanced)
option, and check for any shared interrupts.
Other programs may also try to use the COM
ports, and some may leave the COM ports
“open” even when not active. This is especially
true of DOS based communications programs.
If PC208W has trouble connecting to a
datalogger when you believe the setup and
connections are correct, check to make sure
other programs that use the same COM ports
are closed.
For Windows 3.1 and 95 Users
A problem which is inherent to Windows 95 may
surface when scheduling Tasks which call DOS
programs. When a DOS command is
executed, a certain amount of system resources
are allocated to this command. Windows 95
does not free up this resource when the
command has been executed and control is
returned to Windows. This memory is freed,
however, once your computer system is
rebooted.
If your Windows 95/3.1 system remains on-line
for long periods of time (such as a week or
more without being powered down), it is
suggested that the system be rebooted every
few days if DOS commands are being
executed. If not, your system may run out of
system resources and fail to respond. The only
solution to this system “lock-up” is to reboot the
computer. Any files which have not been saved
to disk will be lost.