TITLE
    DOS Compatibility Card: PC Dongles May Not Work (10/96)
Article ID:
Created:
Modified: 		17259
2/23/95
10/4/96
TOPIC




    I have a DOS Compatibility Card and want to know if a PC hardware dongle works with this card. Also will hardware keys, like the kind used with 3D Studio which connects to the parallel port, work with the DOS Compatibility Card?

DISCUSSION



    Many PC dongles or hardware keys are parallel devices and connect to LPT1. These will not work with the DOS Compatibility Card because the card does not have a parallel port. Dongles or hardware keys that use the serial port may work depending on how they receive power.

    The Macintosh serial ports are RS-422 ports and do not support all RS-232 signals. In particular, the Carrier Detect (CD), Data Set Ready (DSR), Request To Send (RTS), and Ring Indicator (RI) signals are not available. On page 71 of the DOS Compatibility Card user's manual (or page 105 of the PC Compatibility Card user's guide), there is additional information about using PC peripherals. Included is a chart listing the Macintosh serial port signals and Mini DIN-8 pinouts along with corresponding DB-9 and DB-25 pinouts.

    If you have tried using the dongle and it did not work, you will need to contact the vendor to obtain specific information about how the dongle receives power. If it gets power from any of the four unsupported signals, it will not work. However, if it is powered by a signal, other than the four unsupported signals, then you may be able to get it working by using the information on page 71 along with pinout information supplied by the vendor.

    We are not aware of any dongles that will work with the game port.


    Article Change History:
    03 Oct 1996 - Modified manual page reference information.
    10 Oct 1995 - Combined articles.

Document Information
Product Area: Computers
Category: DOS Compatible
Sub Category: DOS Compatibility Cards
Keywords: kwindows

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