Chapter 3: Installation
45
It is also possible to write a program to run on the computer
attached to the Switch’s serial port that sends “?” to determine the
currently selected port and sends port numbers to switch to desired
ports. If you do so, however, there’s an important fact to keep in mind.
Even though the Switch will respond to “?” with pure binary values,
your program will have to send each digit of each port number (as well
as the question-mark and [Enter] characters) to the Switch the way a
terminal emulator would: as ASCII codes. For example:
• To query the Switch, send it the binary value “00111111”
(hex 63), the code for the ASCII “?” character, followed by the
binary value “00001101” (hex 13), the code for the ASCII [CR]
carriage-return character.
• To switch to port 1, send the Switch the binary value
“00110001” (hex 31), the code for the ASCII “1” character, again
followed by the carriage-return character.
• To switch to port 25, send the Switch “00110010” (hex 32,
ASCII “2”), then “000110101” (hex 35, ASCII “5”), then the ASCII
[CR] again.
4.4.3 Upgrading the firmware (Flash memory)
The ServSwitch has flash memory, which means its firmware may be reloaded
(upgraded) in order to support new features or fix any problems in its operation. To
get new firmware revisions when they become available, you can download them
from our FTP site—at the time of this writing, you would use the
“ftp://ftp.blackbox.com/pub/connectivity” directory—or from our Black Box
BBS—call (724) 746-7120. For regular -R5 level ServSwitches, filenames will
follow these formats: “UPxx.HEX,” where “xx” = the x.x firmware-revision level.
Please make sure you get the right file; the ServSwitch will not let you load
firmware intended for other Serv models (UxxP.HEX, UxxS.HEX, etc.).
There are two ways to load the firmware into the Switch, as described in the
following two subsections.
4.4.3.A Upgrading the Firmware with Terminal-Emulation Software
Take these steps to upgrade the firmware of your ServSwitch with a terminal-
emulation program such as ProComm
® Plus or Windows HyperTerminal™:
1. Connect one of your computer’s or terminal’s serial ports to the Switch’s
RS-232 port as described in Section 4.4.1.
2. Run your terminal-emulation program and set it to use the serial port that’s
connected to the Switch (COM1:, COM2:, etc.) in “direct connect” mode. Set
its serial-communication parameters to 9600 bps, 8 data bits, no parity, and
1 stop bit (“9600,8,N,1”).
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