PCShare Upgrade - Version 3.2

These notes give a brief overview of upgrading from a previous version of PC- Share to V3.2. You should read these if you are already running a version of PC-Share and intend to upgrade to a new version.

If you are a new user, proceed to the PC-Share Users guide for full installation instructions.

Upgrade from PCShare V3.1x to 3.2

The update from v3.11 to v3.2 involves an interface change on the 'read RTC' message between host/PC. If you have written software which makes use of this call, to take this change into account, consult the Data Interface Protocol page for the exact structure of the new message (essentially, the date field expands to support 4 digit date codes) and adjust your code appropriately. Dragon/OS9 users should download the latest set of OS9 drivers and extract from the archive the pc_clock module, then replace this with the one in your 'cmds' directory.

Upgrade from PCShare V3.1 to 3.2

Apply the changes as per the upgrade from V3.1x to 3.2. Unzip the latest executable over your existing copy. If you are using the 8255-IO DLL to communicate with your host computer, unzip and rename the file to PCS-IOxx.DLL as per the original installation instructions.

Upgrade from another version of PCShare V3.1/3.11/3.2

PC-Share V3.x is available for a number of OS's. This section is for if you intend using another version of PCShare 3.x  instead of/as well as your existing 3.x installation.

Both DOS/Windows versions are designed to be interchangable - provided you download and configure the new version with the correct IO drivers, the new version will work without any other changes. Download the relevent .ZIP file into a temporary directory. For the MS-DOS release, make sure you use the extract .EXE (PCS3I.EXE for Intel 8255 chip, PCS3L.EXE for LPT port i/f). Copy this file along with the PCSHRHLP.TXT and PCSHRHLP.NDX files into your PCShare directory. For the MS-Windows release extract the exectuable and also extract the relevent .DLL (8255-IO.DLL for Intel 8255, PAR-IO.DLL for LPT port) and rename it to PCS-IO.DLL (PCS-IO32.DLL for Win95, PCS-IONT.DLL for NT/95). Copy the .EXE (and .DLL, .HLP) files into your PC-SHARE directory. The .EXE files can be renamed to prevent overwriting the other version.

If you are upgrading to the Windows NT version of the software you will also have to obtain and install the 3rd party kernal IO drivers necessary for this version of the software. See the user documentation for full details on this procedure.

The newly loaded executable will use the existing configuration files setup by your other 3.1 executable.

The OS9 drivers do not require updating.

PC Drivers: If you have written a device driver for any V3.x release then it can be built for the other release without any changes PROVIDED you have left in the Windows switches for the DLL. Follow the User Manual for information on building a new driver for DOS/Windows.

Upgrade from PCShare for Windows 3.0 to 3.2

Download the new ZIP file into a temporary directory. For the MS-DOS version, extract which executable you need (PCS3I.EXE for the Intel 8255 PIO or PCS3L.EXE for the standard parallel port). Copy this and the PCSHRHLP.TXT and PCSHRHLP.NDX files to your PCShare directory. For the MS-Windows version extract and rename the relevent DLL to PCS-IO.DLL (PCS-IO32.DLL for Win95, PCS-IONT.DLL for WinNT). Copy this, the executable and the .HLP file to your PCShare directory.

OS9 Drivers Update: Download the required OS9 driver set and extract the following files:
 

  • PCSBF - /h0/cmds
  • PC_CLOCK - /h0/cmds


    • Existing 3.0 users should also check the version number of their current WINDRV device driver - v3 is the latest and contains some important bug fixes.

    PC Drivers: You will need to update your existing driver files, specifically to take into account the compiler switches for 32/NT builds and to incude the new routine 'close_io_port'. Use the 8255-IO.C as a template.

    Upgrade from PCShare V2.1x or V2.2x

    Perform a full installation as per the Users Guide. Your HDISK files will be unaffected but you will need to re-enter your configuration details again.

    OS9 Drivers Update: You will need to upload and install the new OS9 drivers file as per the User's Guide. Existing device descriptors (H0, PC etc.) are unchanged so you can continue to use your existing ones.

    Jon Bird, Jan 1998, July 1998, August 1999