Motion Commander Version 3.03
This update to 32-bit Motion Commander III for Windows 9x/ME/NT4/2K addresses several very important communications issues specific to the new generation of PMAC cards and firmware.
USB PMAC Communications
A minor change was made to allow Motion Commander III to communicate with PMAC over USB. Simply specify the “PComm32” communication type in the Motion Commander PMAC device's attributes. If the Executive Program is talking to that PMAC device over USB, then Motion Commander will also.
DPRAM ASCII
Communications
A new "Use DPRAM ASCII comm" option has been added to the Motion Commander PMAC device's attributes. When this option is checked, Motion Commander will attempt to route all ASCII buffer communication through PMAC's dual-ported RAM. This option only works with the "PComm32" communication type. Having this option selected when no DPRAM is installed does not cause any problems.
New Communications
I-variables
PMAC firmware v1.16G added three new communication I-variables: I62 (internal message carriage return control), I63 (ctrl-X echo enable), and I64 (internal response tag enable). These variables are now set to zero when Motion Commander communication is opened with PMAC, making communication backward-compatible with previous versions of the firmware.
The communications initialization string sent for the "COM1", "COM2", and "PcBus" communication types is "CLOSEI1=1I3=3I4=3I6=2I62=0I63=0I64=0". The communications initialization string sent for the "PcBus DT" and "PComm32" communication types is "CLOSEI1=1I3=2I4=0I6=1I62=0". The "Start Up" string can be used to override these values if absolutely necessary.
Serial Communication
with Turbo PMAC
Motion Commander's built-in serial communication, long valued for its speed and reliability, was updated to fix a problem specific to opening communication with the Turbo PMAC. In addition, the higher Turbo PMAC baudrate options have been supported. Baudrates higher than 38,400 may not work properly with all hardware.