Serial lines

General Description

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

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.
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).
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.

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.

rts

Parameter	rts[<line>]
Type	Text string
Value	"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 ( Applicable only for QUART )

dsr

Parameter	dsr[<line>]
Type	Text string
Value	"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) This parameter is applicable only for line "2" of QUART. UART has no such parameter.

communication

Parameter	communication[<line>]
Type	Text string
Value	"ASCII" - for connection to terminals (default) "BINARY" - for serial lines carrying binary (packet) protocols, which are used mainly for communicating with PLCs

line

Parameter	line[<line>]
Type	Identifier
Value	This parameter is used to connect a particular serial line interface to the controller. See below for details.

.

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

All the values in this table are case insensitive.

Example:

set QUART rts[2]="DTR"
set QUART dsr[2]="On"
set QUART communication[2]="binary"

Line 2 of the QUART is the only one which can be used for connecting modems. Therefore, the "DSR" parameter for that line (i.e. "dsr[2]") is internally set to the appropriate value ("CD") but can be changed from the configuration file. Values for the "rts" and "dsr" parameters for the lines other than 2 are not visible for any applications running on CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP.

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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

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:

address

Parameter

address

Type

Numeric

Value

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.

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

vector

Parameter

vector

Type

Numeric

Value

Specifies the interrupt vector.

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

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

line

Parameter

line[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

Type

Identifier

Value

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

Parameter

communication[N]

N=0…4(7,15)

Type

Text String

Value

"ASCII" - for connection to terminals (default)
"BINARY" - for serial lines carrying binary (packet) protocols, which are used mainly for communicating with PLCs

rts

Parameter

rts[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

Type

Text String

Value

Controls the RTS signal of the Nth line of the multiplexer.

"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

Parameter

dsr[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

Type

Text String

Value

"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)

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

tx_q_max_depth

Parameter

tx_q_max_depth[N]

N=0…3(7,15)

Type

Numeric

Value

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.

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: loading 2 instances of DHV11

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

Example: loading DHW42CA

load DHW42CA/DHV11 TXA

.

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Mapping Serial line controllers to system resources

Types of serial line mapping

Type

Function

physical_serial_line

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

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

virtual_serial_line

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

Example:

load physical_serial_line/chserial OPA0

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physical_serial_line

line

Parameter line

Type Text string

Description

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

Example:

set OPA0 line="\\.\COM1"

baud

Parameter baud

Type Numeric

Description

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_on

Parameter break_on

Type Text string

Description

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: "Ctrl-P", "Break" or "none" ("none" disables triggering a HALT condition).

Example:

set OPA0 break_on="Ctrl-P"

The default value is "Break" for line 3 of QUART and "none" for other lines.

stop_on

Parameter stop_on

Type Text string

Description

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

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

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

Example:

set OPA0 stop_on="F6"

The default value is "none".

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

log

Parameter log

Type Text string

Description

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 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 does not create a console log.

Examples:

set OPA0 log="log.txt"

set OPA0 log="C:\Charon\Logs"

log_file_size

Parameter log_file_size

Type Text string

Description

If log rotation is enabled, the log_file_size parameter determines the log file size threshold at which the log is automatically rotated.

"unlimited" or "0" (default) - the feature is disabled
"default" - default size is used (4Mb)
<size>[KMG] - size of the current log file in bytes with additional multipliers:
- K - Kilobyte - multiply by 1024
- M - Megabyte - multiply by 1024*1024
- G - Gigabyte - multiply by 1024*1024*1024

Examples:

set OPA0 log_file_size="default"

set OPA0 log_file_size=10M

Minimum log file size is 64K, maximum is 1G. Setting size less then 64K effectively makes the log file unlimited.

Example: mapping a console line to a host physical serial line

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

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virtual_serial_line

host

Parameter host

Type Text string

Description

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).

port

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

application

Parameter application

Type Text string

Description

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_on

Parameter break_on

Type Text string

Description

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 it is the only line of UART and "line[3]" of QUART).

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

Example:

set OPA0 break_on="Ctrl-P"

The default value is "Break" for line 3 of QUART and "none" for other lines.

stop_on

Parameter stop_on

Type

Text string

Description

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

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

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"

The default value is "none".

Setting "F6" triggers the STOP condition upon receipt of the "<ESC>[17~" sequence.

log

Parameter log

Type Text string

Description

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 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 does not create any console log.

Examples:

set OPA0 log="log.txt"

set OPA0 log="C:\Charon\Logs"

log_file_size

Parameter log_file_size

Type Text string

Description

If log rotation is enabled, the log_file_size parameter determines the log file size threshold at which the log is automatically rotated.

"unlimited" or "0" (default) - the feature is disabled
"default" - default size is used (4Mb)
<size>[KMG] - size of the current log file in bytes with additional multipliers:
- K - Kilobyte - multiply by 1024
- M - Megabyte - multiply by 1024*1024
- G - Gigabyte - multiply by 1024*1024*1024

Examples:

set OPA0 log_file_size="default"

set OPA0 log_file_size=10M

Minimum log file size is 64K, maximum is 1G. Setting size less then 64K effectively makes the log file unlimited.

Example: mapping a console line to an onboard serial line

load virtual_serial_line/chserial OPA0 set OPA0 port=10003 stop_on="F6"

Notes on "virtual_serial_line" options:

Use the combination of "port" and "host" parameters as follows to connect a 3rd party terminal emulator or similar program.
load virtual_serial_line/chserial TTA0 host="192.168.1.1" port=10000
In this example CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP connects to port 10000 of a host with TCP/IP address "192.168.1.1" and at the same time it accepts connections on local port 10000.
It is possible to specify a port on a remote host (note that CHARON always acts as a server). The syntax is:
load virtual_serial_line/chserial TTA0 host="192.168.1.1:20000" port=10000
In this example CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP accepts connection on local port 10000 and connects to remote port 20000 of a host with TCP/IP address "192.168.1.1"

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

Example: two CHARON systems connected to each other

On host "A":

load virtual_serial_line/chserial TXA0 port=5500 host="B"

On host "B":

load virtual_serial_line/chserial TXA0 port=5500 host="A"

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

set <serial controller instance name> line[<line number>]=<serial line instance name>

Example:

set quart line[0]=TTA0

This command connects the first serial line ("line[0]") of a "QUART" serial line controller to a CHARON-VAX / CHARON-PDP connection instance named "TTA0". As explained earlier, TTA0 may be a virtual serial line connected to a port or a physical serial line connected to a host serial port or a virtual terminal.

In the example below, the command connects the sixth serial line of a previously loaded controller (named "TXA") to "TTA1". "TTA1" could be defined, for example, as a physical serial line connected to COM/COM port:

set TXA line[5]=TTA1

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