Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utcsri!uthub!ecf!tapes
From: tapes@ecf.toronto.edu (Tape Dump Person)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc
Subject: Another Diagnostic Program for the PC
Message-ID: <446@mv02.ecf.toronto.edu>
Date: 5 Feb 88 04:52:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: mv02.446
Posted: Thu Feb  4 23:52:31 1988
Reply-To: tapes@mv02.ecf.UUCP (Tape Dump Person)
Distribution: world
Organization: Engineering Computing Facility, University of Toronto
Lines: 47
Keywords: serial, parallel, video
Summary: The information for it. TEXT


                                   DIAGS.EXE
      
          Special Serial, Parallel, Video diagnostics for the PC
  
          Written by Joan Riff for: 
      
          Computerwise Consulting Services 
          P.O. Box 813, McLean, VA 22101 
          (703) 280-2809 
      
      
     Introduction
     ____________
      
     DIAGS is a tool for the advanced PC user, period. It is NOT for the
     general public. This manual will not explain things in elementary terms.
     If you know what a 6845 is, and what an 8250 is, and what parallel
     handshaking lines are, then DIAGS will be extremely useful to you. If
     not, then you may have better things to do with your time than try to
     figure out this program. 
      
     DIAGS started out as a testbed for our new interrupt-driven RS232
     libraries. The Serial Port Diagnostics were the first written, to test
     the Microsoft version 3.0 'C' interface to these routines. 
      
     It has since grown. As we have added more assembler routines to our
     library, we have added corresponding DIAGS functions to test them.
      
     Additionally, DIAGS has been expanded as we experienced the need for new
     diagnostics capabilities. So the Parallel Port diagnostics were added
     when we had to debug yet another unknown printer's handshaking. And the
     6845 diagnostics were added when we needed to test various video tricks
     like displaying 30 lines of text, smooth scrolling, etc. 
      
     As it now stands, DIAGS is a very powerful facility for: 
      
          1) Testing all sorts of asynch communications lines 
      
          2) Testing printer handshaking and cable wiring 
      
          3) Examining an unknown system's DOS environment, including:

               a) Interrupt vectors 
               b) Resident device handlers 
      
          4) Directly manipulating the 6845.