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General Description

Configuration of the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP serial lines is performed in 3 steps:

  1. Loading the virtual serial lines' controller, for example:

    load DHV11/DHV11 TXA

    In this example, an instance of a  "DHV11" serial line controller is loaded and named "TXA".

    Note that the VAX/PDP11 console adapters ("UART", "QUART") do not need to be loaded; they are preloaded.

  2. Mapping an object type to host resources. For example:

    load virtual_serial_line/chserial TTA1
    set TTA1 port = 10003 application = "putty.exe -load TTA1_preset"

    In this example the object "virtual_serial_line" is loaded, named "TTA1", mapped to the "putty" terminal emulator and connected to this CHARON instance using the port 10003 (this setting is encoded in the "TTA1_preset" parameter of the "Putty" terminal emulator).

  3. Connect the loaded virtual line controller and the mapped object:

    set TXA line[5]=TTA1

    In this example, the 6th line of the DHV11 controller, "TXA", loaded in step 1, is connected to the mapping object, "TTA1", loaded in step 2.

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Console

CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP offers a one- or four-port serial console, depending on the specified VAX/PDP11 model. The one port serial line controller is identified in CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP with the name UART. The four port serial lines controller is identified in CHARON-VAX with the name QUART. 

UART is used in Qbus systems only (e.g. the MicroVAX/VAXserver 3600/3900, PDP11/93 and PDP11/94).

QUART is used in SCSI (e.g. MicroVAX 3100 model 96/98, VAXstation 4000 model 90) and SCSI/Qbus systems (e.g. VAX4000 model 106/108). The last QUART line (line[3]) is the console port (known in VAX/VMS as OPA0). 

CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP console ports can be configured to connect to an external terminal via the host system COM port or can be connected via TCP/IP.

CHARON-AXP offers a one- (OPA0) or two-port serial console, depending on the specified HP Alpha model. 

The AlphaServer DS10, AlphaServer DS10L, AlphaServer DS15, AlphaServer 400, AlphaServer 800, AlphaServer 1000 and AlphaServer 1000A has an additional on-board serial line controller providing a serial line TTA0.

The regular console OPA0 is already preloaded, so you need to specify just its mapping to the host resources, for example:

load physical_serial_line OPA0 line="COM1:"

In case of the TTA0 console the mapping looks like that:

load virtual_serial_line TTA0 port=10000
set COM2 line=TTA0

The first line specifies a mapping to some TCP/IP host port, while the second line connects this mapping (TTA0) to the on-board serial line controller having the name "COM2" in CHARON environment.

Refer to this section for details of the mapping.

 

 

ParameterTypeValue

rts[<line>]

Text string

  • "On" - assert the RTS (Request To Send) signal

  • "Off" - clear the RTS signal (default)

  • "DTR" - assert the RTS signal as soon as the DTR signal is asserted

dsr[<line>]

Text string

  • "On" - always reports DSR signal assertion

  • "Off" - always reports DSR signal deassertion

  • "DSR" - use the DSR signal of the physical serial line (if configured)

  • "CD", "DCD", "RLSD" - use the CD (carrier detect) signal of the physical serial line (if configured)

Info

This parameter is applicable only for line "2" of QUART.

communication [<line>]

Text string

  • "ASCII" - for connection to terminals  (default)

  • "BINARY" - for serial lines carrying binary (packet) protocols, which are used mainly for communicating with PLCs

line[<line>]

Identifier

This parameter is used to connect a particular serial line interface to the controller. See below for details.

Info

Note that the "line" parameter in the table above is applicable only in the case of QUART.

 

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Serial line controllers

Asynchronous serial line multiplexers are capable of serving up to 8 asynchronous serial lines (the DHW42-BA supports up to 16 lines).

The following asynchronous serial line multiplexers are supported:

 

...

VAX model

...

Asynchronous serial line emulation

...

PDP-11/93, PDP-11/94, MicroVAX II, MicroVAX 3600, MicroVAX 3900, VAXserver 3600, VAXserver 3900  (QBUS systems)

...

CXA16, CXB16, CXY08, DHQ11, DHV11, DZV11, DZQ11, DL11, DLV11, DZ11

...

MicroVAX 3100 - 96, MicroVAX 3100 - 98 (SCSI systems)

...

DHW42-AA, DHW42-BA, DHW42-CA

...

VAX4000 - 106, VAX4000 – 108, VAX4000 – 700, VAX4000 – 705 (QBUS/SCSI systems)

...

CXA16, CXB16, CXY08, DHQ11, DHV11, DZV11, DZQ11, DLV11, DHW42-AA, DHW42-BA, DHW42-CA

...

VAX6310, VAXstation 4090

...

N/A

 

The following names are used for the multiplexers:

 

...

Device name

...

Module name

...

DHV11

...

DHV11

...

DHQ11

...

DHV11

...

CXY08

...

DHV11

...

CXA16

...

DHV11

...

CXB16

...

DHV11

...

DHW42AA

...

DHV11

...

DHW42BA

...

DHV11

...

DHW42CA

...

DHV11

...

DZV11, DZ11

...

DZ11

...

DZQ11

...

DZ11

...

DL11, DLV11

...

DL11

 

The following example loads an instance of an asynchronous serial line multiplexer:

load DHQ11/DHV11 TXA
Warning

Only one instance of DHW42 can be loaded. There is no restriction on the number of the other multiplexers.

The multiplexers offer the following configuration parameters, specified with the "set" command:

 

...

Parameter

...

Type

...

Value

...

address

...

Numeric

...

Specifies CSR address. The address must be a valid QBUS 22-bit wide address in I/O space.

Default values are 017760440 for the DHV11-family controllers and 017760100 for the DZV11/DZQ11 family controllers, which are the factory settings for asynchronous serial line multiplexers.

Warning

 This parameter is not applicable to DHW42-xx serial line controllers

...

vector

...

Numeric

...

Specifies the interrupt vector.

The default value is 0300, which is the factory setting for asynchronous serial line multiplexers. 

Warning

 This parameter is not applicable to DHW42-xx serial line controllers

...

line[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

...

Identifier

...

Specifies the name of the serial line interface object in the configuration to which the N-th line of the multiplexer is connected. See below for details.

...

communication[N]

N=0…4(7,15)

...

Text String

...

  • "ASCII" - for connection to terminals  (default)

  • "BINARY" - for serial lines carrying binary (packet) protocols, which are used mainly for communicating with PLCs

...

rts[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

...

Text String

...

  • "On" - assert the RTS (Request To Send) signal
  • "Off" - clear the RTS signal (default)
  • "DTR" - assert the RTS signal as soon as DTR signal is asserted

When left blank (initial state), the level of the RTS signal is as requested by the VAX/PDP11 software.

...

dsr[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

...

Text String

...

  • "On" - always reports the DSR signal assertion
  • "Off" - always reports the DSR signal deassertion
  • "DSR" - use the DSR signal of the physical serial line (if configured)
  • "CD", "DCD", "RLSD" - use the CD (carrier detect) signal of the physical serial line (if configured)
Info

This parameter is applicable only for the DZV11 and DZQ11 serial lines controllers

...

tx_q_max_depth[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

...

Numeric

...

Specifies the depth of the TX FIFO for the N-th line of the multiplexer. Possible values are 1…1000, initially set to 1, to properly represent the hardware limitation of certain multiplexers. Values greater than 1 improve transmission rate of the corresponding lines, but break correspondence to the original hardware.

Info

This parameter is applicable only for the DHV11 serial lines controller

 

Use the "address" and "vector" parameters to load several instances of the Qbus multiplexers. Both "address" and "vector" parameter values must be unique for every instance of a QBUS multiplexer.

Read the VAX/PDP11 hardware documentation and the VM system management documentation to understand how to correctly assign the "address" and "vector" parameters.

Example of loading 2 instances of DHV11:

load DHV11/DHV11 TXA address=017760440 vector=0300
load DHV11/DHV11 TXB address=017760460 vector=0310

Example of loading DHW42CA:

load DHW42CA/DHV11 TXA

.

AXP.

 

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Mapping Serial line controllers to system resources

Types of serial line mapping

 

TypeFunction
physical_serial_line

This type of mapping associates a COM port on a host system with an emulated VAX/PDP11 HP Alpha serial line controller virtual "line".

The COM port can be a physical hardware port or a logical COM port.

virtual_serial_lineThis type of mapping associates a network connection on the host system with an emulated VAX/PDP11 HP Alpha serial line controller virtual "line"

...

load physical_serial_line/chserial OPA0


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physical_serial_line

 

ParameterTypeDescription
lineText string

A defined COM port on a host system in the form of "\\.\COMn"

Example:

set OPA0 line="\\.\COM1"
baudNumeric

Forces the baud rate of the corresponding COM port to be a specified value.

The variety of supported values depends on the underlying physical communication resource (COM port). The most widely used values are: 300, 1200, 9600, 19200, 38400.

Example:

set OPA0 baud=38400
break_onText string

Specifies what byte sequences received over the physical serial line will trigger a HALT command.

This parameter works only for the console line (for the one UART line and "line[3]" of QUART).

Specify the following values: "Crtl-P", "Break" or "none" ("none" disables triggering a HALT condition).

Example:

set OPA0 break_on="Crtl-P"
stop_onText string

Specifies what byte sequences received over the physical serial line will trigger a STOP condition. The STOP condition causes CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP to exit.

Specify the one of the following values: “F6” or “none” ("none" disables triggering a STOP condition).

Example:

set OPA0 stop_on="F6"

Setting "F6" triggers the STOP condition upon receipt of the "<ESC>[17~" sequence. Terminals usually send these sequences by pressing the F6 button

logText string

A string specifying a file name to store the content of the console sessions or a directory where the log files for each individual session will be stored.

If an existing directory is specified, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP automatically enables creation of individual log files, one for each session using the same scheme as used for the generation of the rotating log files. If the "log" parameter is omitted, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP does not create a console log.

Examples:

set OPA0 log=”log.txt”

.

set OPA0 log=C:\Charon\Logs

...

load physical_serial_line/chserial OPA0
set OPA0 line="\\.\COM1"


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virtual_serial_line

ParameterTypeDescription
hostText string

A remote host’s IP address or hostname (and optionally a remote TCP/IP port number) for the virtual serial line connection. If omitted, the virtual serial line does not initiate a connection to the remote host and will listen for incoming connection requests.

Specify the value in the following form:

set OPA0 host="<host-name>[:<port-no>]"

If the "<port-no>" is not specified, the virtual serial line uses the TCP/IP port number specified by the "port" parameter (see below).

portNumeric

The TCP/IP port number for the virtual serial line. A virtual serial line always listens on this port for incoming connection requests.

applicationText string

An application (a terminal emulator is assumed in most cases) to be started on initialization of this serial line emulation. The specified application startup string may contain all required parameters.

Example:

set OPA application = "putty.exe -load OPA0"

In this example the terminal emulator application: "putty" is started with the parameters "-load OPA0" telling it to load a specific saved session named "OPA0", (created separately) from the host registry.

The "application" parameter is often combined with a "port" parameter:

set TTA1 port = 10003 application = "putty.exe -load TTA1"
break_onText string

Specifies what byte sequences received over a virtual serial line triggers a HALT command.

This parameter works only on the console line (for CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP it is the only line of UART and "line[3]" of QUART).

Specify one of the following values: "Crtl-P", "Break" or "none" to disable triggering a HALT condition. The commands are case insensitive.

Example:

set OPA0 break_on="Crtl-P"
stop_onText string

Specifies what byte sequences received over the virtual serial line will trigger a STOP condition. The STOP condition causes CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP to exit.

Specify one of the following values: “F6” or “none” ("none" disables triggering a STOP condition). The commands are case insensitive.

Example:

set OPA0 stop_on="F6"
logText string

A string specifying the filename to store the content of the console sessions or a directory where log files for each individual session will be stored.

If an existing directory is specified, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP automatically enables the creation of individual log files, one for each session using the same scheme as used for the generation of the rotating log files. If the "log" parameter is omitted, CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP does not create any console log.

Examples:

set OPA0 log=”log.txt”
set OPA0 log=”C:\Charon\Logs

...

Note: the examples above are mainly used for inter-CHARON communications. They are used to connect CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP to an application that communicates to CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP as described below.

Example of two CHARON systems connected to each other:

...

On these two hosts, executing CHARON-VAX, the two TXA0 lines connect to each other, thus creating a "serial" cable between the two emulated VAXes. The sequential order in which the instances of CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP are started makes no difference.

 

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Linking serial controller port to host connection

The final step in the CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP serial line configuration is the association of each loaded serial port with a CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP AXP host connection instance as follows:

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