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Port Settings

The Port Settings allow you to set Default or Override Settings for the serial communication and how to deal with incoming hardware handshaking events.

Accessing Port Settings​

  1. Open Device Manager and double click on the Brainboxes COM Port Entry under the "Ports" section.

  2. Click on the "Port Settings" tab.

Port Settings Dialog

All options can be selected from the Dropdown Menus. In addition, you can enter a non-standard value into the Baud rate.

note

Once the desired settings have been achieved, you must click OK to activate them. At anytime click the "Restore Default" button to return to the original setup.

Changing Your COM Label​

If you need to change the COM label:

  1. Double click on the Port entry in Device Manager.

  2. Click on the "Port Settings" tab and click Advanced.

    Port Settings Dialog

  3. A new COM Port label can be selected from the "COM Port Number" dropdown menu.

    Advanced COM Port Settings

    COM Port Number Selection

tip

If the COM Port number is labelled "in use", it is either currently used by a COM Port present on the system, or is reserved for a device which is not currently present. It is possible to select this COM number and force the change, if you are sure it is not required by any other device.

Default / Override Settings​

Default Settings​

The "Default Settings" will be set if an application does not specify the serial settings when it opens the COM Port.

  • This is sometimes the case with old Legacy applications and you will need to choose these settings to match the communications that you wish to use.
  • The majority of Applications will specify what Serial Settings they wish to use. In this case, it will not matter what the Default settings are, as the Port will be opened with the Application's Settings.

Override Settings​

When the "Override" box is checked next to the Default Setting, the Port will communicate at this setting whether an application has requested it or not.

  • For example, this will enable you to force baud rates that your application does not allow you to select. This can be useful for interfacing to equipment which uses higher baud rates or unusual baud rates, which your application does not support.
  • In a case where you want to use hardware handshaking, but your application is not capable, you can select RTS / CTS Always True - Hardware state ignored and choose to Override it.
warning

With the use of Override Settings, you need to ensure that the equipment you are connecting to is setup to match the communications settings you are forcing.

CTS / DSR Always True​

CTS and DSR are incoming hardware handshaking lines. This means they receive signals from the connected device which tell the ExpressCard when it is and isn't OK to send data.

Sometimes these signals may want to be ignored. By forcing CTS or DSR True, the ExpressCard will ignore those signals and always send data.

tip

These settings are especially helpful when CTS and DSR are not physically connected (such as in a 3 wire setup) and it is not acceptable for the data flow to stop and start due to arbitrary variances on the unconnected signal lines.