SystemSoft's CardWorks(TM)
The Complete PC CARD Solution for Windows 95
_____________________________________________
Contents
--------
Product Description
Copyright Notices
Tips for Using Real Mode Device Drivers
Novell Network Drivers for LAN Cards
CardID Settings for CardWorks
Overriding CardSoft Driver Installation
Advantages to Loading CardWizard at Startup
Using Copy and Paste with CardWizard
Installing CardWorks with a Docking Station
Removing CardWorks
Initializing PC Card Hard Disks (or ATAs)
Limitations
Product Description
-------------------
CardWorks is a Windows 95 software suite that includes SystemSoft's
industry leading CardSoft & CardWizard PC CARD software to enhance
the functionality of PC CARD technology in Windows 95. CardWorks
is intended to make PC CARD use easy and pleasurable, while
affording the greatest compatibility in the computer industry.
Copyright Notices
-----------------
The following names and terms are registered trademarks of
SystemSoft Corp.:
SystemSoft CardView
The following names and terms are trademarks of SystemSoft Corp.:
CardID CardSoft
CardWizard CardWorks
All of the above are Copyright (c) 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, SystemSoft Corp.
All Rights Reserved.
All other trademarks are held by their respective owners.
Tips for Using Real Mode Device Drivers
---------------------------------------
CardWorks provides enhanced compatibility with real mode device
drivers for use with PC CARDS which do not have Plug and Play
drivers. This section provides some tips for configuring cards
using "CardSoft Mode" (real mode) within CardWorks.
Note: Although CardWorks can display information about cards
configured by either real mode or Windows 95, the "PC
Card" Control Panel program can only display cards that
are configured by Windows 95.
Real mode drivers are typically required to be loaded in CONFIG.SYS
or AUTOEXEC.BAT during system boot. Many of these cards must be
inserted prior to booting the system. This is most often the case
with real mode network and SCSI cards, but other cards may have
this requirement as well.
You will need to consult the documentation provided with your
card for information on how to properly install the drivers.
In most cases, there is an install or setup program which
will lead you through the installation process.
CardWorks runs prior to Windows 95. CardWorks tries to determine
what system resources are available for your PCMCIA cards during
system boot. In some cases, CardWorks may mark resources as
used which Windows 95 later marks as available. Once Windows 95
is loaded, CardWorks will query Windows 95 for what resources
the operating system has allocated to devices.
For example, CardWorks may mark IRQ 7 as used when it scans for
available resources during boot. When Windows 95 loads, it detects
that IRQ 7 is free, because there is no printer attached to
your system and IRQ 7 is typically used for local printers.
CardWorks will detect that Windows 95 has marked IRQ 7 as available,
and adjust its resource data base automatically.
You can use CardWorks to include and exclude resources which
CardWorks will use when configuring cards during the boot process.
To continue with the IRQ 7 example, the following describes
how to make IRQ 7 available for cards configured by CardWorks
during boot:
- Open CardWizard and select "IRQs" from the "View" menu.
- Select "Included" and click on the add button.
- Select the IRQ 7 using the mouse or arrow keys.
- Click on the "OK" button to reboot the system
After the system reboots, IRQ 7 should then be available
(before Windows 95 launches).
Novell Network Drivers for LAN Cards
------------------------------------
Before installing real mode Novell network support for a LAN
PC card, first make sure that the card is not already supported
by Plug and Play. If not, install the Novell drivers that came
with the card, following the card software instructions. Usually,
drivers are either loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT, alternatively in a
separate STARTNET.BAT or other batch file.
Using the Windows 95 Control Panel "Network" applet, install the
"Adapter" called "Existing ODI Driver" (if you do not see
this option, recheck your network setup). Windows 95 should
remove the "NETX" or "VLM" part of the drivers loaded in
AUTOEXEC.BAT or STARTNET.BAT and replace them with the driver
ODIHLP.EXE from the Windows directory. You may have to correct
this by hand - Windows 95 does not always complete this operation
properly.
CardID Settings for CardWorks
-----------------------------
CardID is a CardSoft real mode client responsible for configuring
modems and CardSoft mode ATA disks. CardWorks supports editing
many of the setting in its initialization file, CARDID.INI. Some
settings may have to be changed by editing the file with a text
editor for best results under Windows 95 and CardWorks.
One setting which may need to be modified is "NoDOSModem=Yes".
This setting controls whether CardWorks configures modems in
DOS, before Windows 95 loads. By default, CardWorks does
not configure modems until after Windows 95 loads. If you wish
to use modems in DOS before Windows 95 loads, you will have to
change this line to "NoDOSModems=No".
CARDID.INI specifies card libraries to be loaded by CardSoft
when CARDID.EXE loads. They are listed toward the end of the
file and have a .CLB extension. The libraries control whether
CARDID.EXE configures a card.
Some entries have been commented out to prevent CardID from
configuring cards present during the boot process. If you are
using a card which is configured during the boot process by
CardSoft and you wish to use a Plug and Play driver, you should
remove the library entry for the card from CARDID.INI.
On the other hand, if you wish to use a card in CardSoft mode,
you may have to enable the library entry for the card. In
particular, the GENATA.LIB library is commented out of CARDID.INI
by default. This library controls most PCMCIA hard disks. If
you wish to use PCMCIA hard disks in CardSoft mode, you should
remove the semicolon from the beginning of the line which contains
GENATA.LIB.
Overriding CardSoft Driver Installation
---------------------------------------
CardWorks uses Plug and Play features to try to assist you
in installing the correct drivers for your PCMCIA cards. In
some cases, Plug and Play drivers may work with certain cards
even though the Plug and Play information for the driver does
not exactly match the information CardWorks reads from the
PCMCIA cards.
CardWorks provides a way for you to configure cards for Plug
and Play mode, overriding the default selection made when the
card is first inserted in your system. To override the
driver selection, insert the card into your computer with
CardWizard running. Select the card you wish to configure
from the Card Information view. Select "Properties..." from
the "View" menu and select the "Drivers" tab. Select the
"Change Card Driver" option and click on the "Use Plug and
Play" option.
Advantages to Loading CardWizard at Startup
-------------------------------------------
CardWorks does not automatically install the CardWizard application
into the system Startup group. If you wish to have CardWizard
start automatically when Windows 95 loads, you can add the
application to the Startup group by selecting "TaskBar..." from
"Settings" of the "Start" button.
By running the CardWizard application at startup, you will be
able to view cards which are inserted into your system, track
system resource usage, start applications on card insertion,
play sound files on card insertion, and easily "stop" Plug
and Play configured cards before removing them.
If you have a configuration problem with a PCMCIA card, CardWizard
may be able to solve the problem for you. Loading CardWizard at
startup will allow you to be informed of configuration problems
should they occur; however, CardWizard does not have to be loaded at
startup to help diagnose PCMCIA problems. You can run CardWizard
any time and consult the "wizard" for help.
Using Copy and Paste with CardWizard
------------------------------------
CardWizard allows the text of the Wizard tips (problem solving
suggestions) to be copied into a file for printing. To copy text
onto the Windows clipboard, highlight the text you wish to copy with
the mouse. Hold the control key down (usually the control
key has "CTRL" for a label) and press the 'C' or the "Insert"
key. The Wizard text will be copied to the clipboard and
can be pasted into a text editor such as Notepad for printing
or later review.
Installing CardWorks with a Docking Station
-------------------------------------------
CardWorks needs to be added after Windows 95 has already been
installed with a docking station, and after 32-bit PCMCIA support
has been enabled. If you acquire a docking station after
installing CardWorks, you will need to remove CardWorks and then
reinstall it in order to support PCMCIA slots on the dock. See
the next section, "Removing CardWorks", for instructions on how
to remove CardWorks.
Deinstalling CardWorks
----------------------
If you have previously installed CardWorks and wish to remove it, take the
following steps:
Note: If your machine is setup with docking enabled and your docking station
has PCMCIA slots, you need to dock the machine before you start the
CardWorks deinstall process.
1. First remove CardWorks from the Start Menu (if it was previously installed
to automatically appear in the TaskBar when Windows 95 starts):
╖ Select Start/Settings/TaskBar.
╖ Select the Start Menu Programs Tab.
╖ Click on the Remove Button
╖ Select the CardWorks entry and click on the Remove Button. - then
confirm that you want to remove this item
2. If you had previously installed CardWorks to run upon startup, Double Click
on Startup entry, select Wiz (if available) and click on Remove.
3. Close the Remove Shortcuts/Folders dialog, then press OK in the TaskBar
Properties dialog.
4. Remove any short cut to the CardWizard application on the Desktop by clicking
on the icon with the right mouse button and selecting Delete.
5. You must then use the Windows 95 device manager to deinstall CardWorks to use
the basic PC Card support provided with Windows 95.
╖ To deinstall CardWorks, open the Control Panel (by selecting Start,
then Settings, then Control Panel) and select the System icon. Open
that icon and select the Device Manager tab.
- Double click on PCMCIA socket and select the PCMCIA controller. Use
the remove button to remove the PCMCIA controller (Then select OK to
confirm removal in the device removal dialog box)
6. Windows will ask you to restart your system. After restarting your system,
open the Control Panel and select the System icon.
- Open that icon and select the Device Manager tab.
- Inspect the PCMCIA controller entry. If it does not appear, add PCMCIA
support using Add Hardware in the control panel (See procedure # 2 above)
- If the PCMCIA controller entry has an x on top of it, select it and press
the property button.
- Inspect the Device Status. If the status is disabled, in the Device Usage
Box, check the Undocked configuration box and press OK. The PCMCIA Wizard
will guide you and enable PCMCIA.
7. Consult the Windows 95 Help file for complete instructions on adding the
Windows 95 PCMCIA (PC Card) support. Note: Make sure you fully reinstall Windows
95 PCMCIA support before you reinstall CardWorks - or else the error dialog
(see previous) will appear when attempting to install CardWorks.
Note: On some systems, the PCMCIA controller will be redetected when Windows
restarts, and the PCMCIA controller icon in "DeviceManager" reappears and its
status is "working properly". On these systems, you need to uncheck the "Undocked"
configuration box and select "OK". When Windows asks you to restart your computer,
choose "No" and again click on "Properties" for the PCMCIA controller. Now check the
"Undocked" box in the "Device Usage" section. This will start the PCMCIA
Wizard and enable native 32-bit PCMCIA support.
Initializing PC Card Hard Disks (or ATAs)
-----------------------------------------
ATAINIT.EXE is a program that initializes the low level
format of PC Card hard disk drive. It is used fairly
infrequently because the hard disk can be reformatted using
the MS-DOS FORMAT command once it has been initialized. A
known limitation of ATAINIT.EXE is that it does not work in
an MS-DOS window.
To use ATAINIT, first you must edit the file CARDID.INI in the
CardWorks home directory. Remove the semicolon from the line
;CardLib=GENATA.CLB
Now you need to restart your computer, using the "Shut Down"
option from the "Start Menu". Insert the PC Card hard disk
that you want to initialize and use CardWizard to change the
card driver to "Use CardSoft Mode". Reinsert the card and
ensure that CardWizard says it is properly configured. Take
note of the drive letter used by the hard drive in CardSoft
mode. Now use the "Restart the Computer in MS-DOS Mode"
option from "Shut Down" on the "Start Menu". Change to the
CardWorks home directory and type ATAINIT followed by the
CardSoft drive letter, for example:
ATAINIT D:
The PC Card hard drive should be initialized. You should
next FORMAT the drive, as per the CardWizard Help on "ATA
Card Formatting". After the drive is initialized, you should
replace the semicolon that you removed from CARDID.INI.
Limitations
-----------
Application Launching
The application launch feature of CardWizard is currently
restricted to assigning only the program name to a card - a
program command line option cannot be added using the "Browse"
button from the Wizard's Application Launching Assignments dialog.
Command line options can be added manually by editing the WIZ.INI
file. To add a command line to an application, first use the
Wizard to assign the application to the card. Then use a text
editor to edit WIZ.INI, which is located in the Windows directory.
Find the application program name under [APPLICATIONS], add the
command line to the end, and save the file.
CardWizard is not automatically started when CardWorks detects
a problem configuring a card that has been previously inserted.
CardWizard does not display memory resources for PC cards
configured with Plug and Play mode, as it does cards configured
in CardSoft mode.
The "PC Card" applet in the Control Panel will not display cards
that are configured in CardSoft Mode (CardWizard will display
cards configured in either Plug and Play mode or CardSoft mode).
CardWizard will not identify as "Stopped" cards that are stopped
by the "PC Card" applet.
ATAINIT does not work in an MS-DOS window. See the section
"Initializing PC Card Hard Disks" above.
Memory Window Configuration
Cardworks is currrently installed using a 64K memory window in
Upper Memory Block (UMB) space in the range D000-DFFF. Many
notebooks use a large range of UMB space for other functions and
therefore, the only UMB area remaing is the 'D' segement
(D000-DFFF) and part of the 'C' segment (CC00-CFFF or C800-CFFF).
The current CardWorks installation takes all of the 'D' segement,
leaving only a small amount of UMB space free.
On systems with less than 16 MB of memory, PCCARD uses extended
memory in the range of 8 Meg to 16 Meg for most of its memory
requirements. However, on systems configured with 16 Meg of memory,
PCCARD is forced to use UMB memory to locate it's own memory windows.
In addition, card drivers which require memory to operate, may also
be located in the UMB area on systems which have 16 Meg or more of
physical memory.
The combined requirements of all drivers for UMB space may exceed
the space which remains after the default CardWorks installation.
As a result, some cards may not configure properly with CardWorks
installed. This is particularly true of LAN cards with memory
mapped buffers.
To workaround this problem, you can decrease the amount of UMB
space used by CardWorks. Do the following:
1.) Modify CSALLOC.INI
MEMEXCLUDE=C000-CFFF,E000-EFFF
change it to
MEMEXCLUDE=C000-CFFF,D800-EFFF
2.) Modify SYSTEM.INI
EMMEXCLUDE=D000-DFFF
if it is there, change it to
EMMEXCLUDE=D000-D7FF
3.) If EMM386.EXE is loaded, modify CONFIG.SYS
device=emm386.exe noems x=d000-dfff
to
device=emm386.exe noems x=d000-d7FF
===============================================================================
Ver.4.11.00D
1. Corrected the problem of flash card - sscirrus.exe 12v output fail.
2. Truncated noise when using ZV port.
3. Add 4 slots function.
08/08/1996
Ver.4.11.00E
1. Correct the double slot problem.
12/11/1996
Ver.4.11.00F
1. The excluded memory range be changed to "D000-D7FF" in the
SYSTEM.INI or CONFIG.SYS.
12/17/1996
