Each device to be interfaced with Rx-Universe requires a connection between the device and Rx-Universe. This connection can either be serial (using an RS232 connection), or though TCP/IP. If a device supports both, TCP/IP is preferred, as it is faster and does not require a dedicated RS232 port to be used.
Serial Connections
When using a serial connection, a serial cable is run from the equipment to a serial port on the computer that will service the request. This computer must be running an Rx-Universe Device session, and like all Rx-Universe sessions, will be set up with a particular workstation number (for example, 44). Each serial port on the workstation (whether native, on the computer, or on a multi-port serial board) is identified as a particular COM port. For example, on a multi-port serial board, the first COM port might be COM5, the next COM6, etc.
Continuing with our example of setting up an interface on workstation 44, assume the VCA device is connected to COM6. Under "Devices", then "Device Interface Params", an entry would need to be created for workstation 44, port 6. Assuming the device is a VCA-compliant device, using 9600,8,N,1 as the communication parameters, the entry would be set up similar to: