Category : Network Files
Archive   : DEPCA.ZIP
Filename : DEPCARED.DOS

DEPCA Driver Overview

March 29, 1990


Quick path for DEPCA driver installation

This is an overview of what you need to do to load the DEPCA driver and bring
your workstation up on your NetWare network.

To install the DEPCA network boards and NetWare DEPCA driver, you will need
the following.

o NetWare manual set

o DECnet-DOS software and DECnet-DOS manual

o Workstation capable of performing NetWare shell generation (see NetWare
Installation manual)

o Workstation into which the DEPCA network board will be installed

Because the NetWare DEPCA driver is written to the software datalink layer, the
DECnet-DOS software is required.


Quick path installation steps

When you have gathered all the materials needed to install the DEPCA driver,
complete the following steps.

1. Install the DEPCA network board in the desired workstation following the
instructions in this manual. Record the configuration information you are
using for the DEPCA board (use a copy of the installation worksheets found
in the NetWare Installation manual).

The DEPCA network board will work with the NetWare DEPCA driver only when
using one of the configuration options listed in Section 2 of this manual.

2. Follow the instructions for generating a NetWare shell from the NetWare
Installation manual. Be sure to configure the shell according to the
configuration information recorded in Step 1 on the previous page. After
generating the NetWare shell, run ECONFIG to configure the newly created
IPX.COM file to protocol 8137. Following is the command to ECONFIG the
DEPCA driver:

ECONFIG IPX.COM SHELL:E 8137


3. Copy the generated shell to the workstation using a floppy disk.

4. Load DECnet-DOS on to the workstation. If DECnet-DOS has already been
installed on the workstation, continue with Step 5.

5. Modify the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the workstation as
instructed in the NetWare Installation manual.

When modifying the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you must add the following lines before
the IPX.COM and NET3.COM lines according to the version of DECnet-DOS you
are using.

DECnet-DOS v2.1 DECnet-DOS v2.2

SCHPC.EXE SCH.EXE
DLLDEPCA.EXE DLLDEPCA.EXE

After adding these lines, your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should look similar to one of
the following.

DECnet-DOS v2.1 DECnet-DOS v2.2

SCHPC.EXE SCH.EXE
DLLDEPCA.EXE DLLDEPCA.EXE
IPX.COM IPX.COM
NET3.COM NET3.COM


6. Make sure the workstation is correctly connected to the network (see Section
3 of this manual), and that your network is correctly configured (see the
NetWare Installation manual).

7. Reboot the workstation.

8. Run the NetWare COMCHECK utility to verify that the workstation is
communicating with the NetWare servers. (Instructions for running
COMCHECK are found in the NetWare Installation manual.)


Purpose:

This document describes the InterConnections-NetWare-DEPCA (DEPCA)
driver. The DEPCA driver is a NetWare workstation driver that conforms to
the specification defined in the document NetWare v2.1x Driver Specifications
for Network Interface Cards. The DEPCA driver allows a DEPCA card to be
as the network interface card in a workstation on a Novell NetWare network,
when used in conjunction with the DECnet-DOS Data Link Layer (DLL).


Requirements:

The requirements for the DEPCA driver are a DEPCA card, the SCH module
of DECnet-DOS, and the DLLDEPCA module of DECnet-DOS. Due to the
multiple revisions of the DEPCA hardware, the DEPCA driver was written to
the software interface defined by DEC. That interface is called the Data Link
Layer (DLL). There is a version of the DLL for each of the cards supported
by DECnet-DOS and PCSA. DLLDEPCA is the version that supports the
DEPCA card. The SCH module is required for the DLL to load. The
sequence for loading the minimum amount of software to run the DEPCA
driver would then be to load SCH, load DLLDEPCA, load IPX, and load NETx.

On top of an existing DEC-net-DOS installation, SCH and DLL would already
be loaded, only IPX and NETx would need to be added.

SHELL Generation:

The supplied DEPCA driver is called DEPCA.OBJ and the associated .LAN file
is DEPCA.LAN. These files assume that the driver will be located on the
LAN_DRV.113 diskette.


Hardware Settings:

The DEPCA card supports multiple Interrupt, I/O Port, and memory address
ranges. The DEPCA driver supports those settings through the SHELL
generation options. When loading the DEPCA configured IPX, after loading
the SCH and DLL, the IPX checks the hardware settings and will fail to load
if they do not match those chosen during the SHELL generation. The default
configuration is: IRQ 3, I/O Base 300h, RAM Base D000:0.

Limitations:

The current version of the DEPCA driver has the limitation that it only
supports the Ethernet protocol and not the Novell 802.3 protocol. The DLL
is able to send 802.3 packets but not in a manner that the NE1000 driver will
accept. The difference between the two implementations of 802.3 is in the use
of padding on packets that are too short for Ethernet. The NE1000 driver is
able to always send 60 bytes, padding packets that are too short, and
the 802.3 length field includes only the length of the 802.3 data and not the
padding. The DLL interface does not provide this ability. The DLL does not
itself pad the packet up to the minimum. Thus for the DLL, the length
passed must include sufficient padding to make the packet long enough for
Ethernet. When this is done, the padding is automatically included in the
802.3 length field also. On the receive end, the NE1000 checks the 802.3
length against the length field in the IPX header. In the NE1000 case this
works, in the DLL case the two lengths differ for packets with less than 14
bytes of IPX data.

Various combinations have been tried to come up with a solution that will
work with the NE1000 driver. (The NE1000 driver is assumed to be
prototypical.) Nothing has proven successful as yet. We have also been in
contact with DEC and hope for one of two resolutions. The first possible
solution is that we have missed something in the DLL interface or there is
perhaps something in the interface that is not documented. The second
possible solution is that DEC will agree that the DLL should do the padding
and will incorporate that in a future release.

NetWare DEPCA board configuration options

Option IRQ Base I/O RAM Address

0 3 300h D0000
1 3 300h E0000
2 3 200h D0000
3 2 300h D0000
4 2 300h E0000
5 2 200h D0000
6 4 300h D0000
7 4 300h E0000
8 4 200h D0000
9 5 300h D0000
10 5 300h E0000
11 5 200h D0000
12 7 300h D0000
13 7 300h E0000
14 7 200h D0000

Note: If you are using an IBM AT or compatible you cannot use any NetWare
configurations that use E0000 for the RAM address.

If you are using the DEPCA mouse you cannot use NetWare
configurations that use IRQ 2.

If you will be using the DIGITAL VT220 Terminal Emulator application,
you cannot use NetWare configurations that use IRQ 4.


Notes and Limitations

ECONFIG: When not installing NetWare for VMS Server you must ECONFIG
the operating system. The SHELL Driver (IPX) and operating system
LAN (except NetWare for VMS) must be ECONFIGed to 8137 for the
workstation and the Operating System to communicate. The NetWare
386 Operating System driver is loaded with the following command
to ECONFIG the driver:

Frame=Ethernet_II
Configuration Limits:

XT type machines with hard drives cannot use Configuration Options
with IRQ 5.

Hardware Limitations:

The PS/2 Model 30 does not work with this card. The DLL does not
recognize that the card is in the machine.