This file contains instructions for installing and configuring EdgeVDD. EdgeVdd.DLL is a 'Virtual DOS Driver' for NT4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. This driver permits DOS applications to access Windows COM ports above COM4 by implementing a virtual 16450 UART within the DOS box for each Windows COM port configured by the user. Currently, the driver does not come with an installation utility and must be manually installed and configured, using the following installation steps. Steps 2 and 3 can be automated somewhat with the supplied Registry .INI file called "EdgeVdd.Ini". 1. Copy EDGEVDD.DLL into the %SystemRoot%\System32 directory. The supplied .INI file expects the file to be here. If you wish to run the DLL from a different directory, you must add a path to the string specified in step #2 below. 2. Update the following registry value to instruct Windows to load EDGEVDD.DLL whenever a new DOS box is created: Under the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VirtualDeviceDrivers there will be a REG_MULTI_SZ entry called 'VDD'. You must update this entry to contain the string "EdgeVdd.DLL". If you copied the EdgeVdd.DLL file to a different directory, add the path as part of this string. 3. Create registry entries to configure EdgeVDD COM port mappings. Under the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Inside Out Networks\EdgeVdd\Ports you must create one or more REG_SZ entries named "COMx" which instruct EdgeVDD to map the given Windows COM port to the specified I/O port address and IRQ values within the DOS box. Each entry under ports should have the following value: = REG_SZ "," Where is the Windows name for the COM port, and the I/O port is specified in hex, and the IRQ number in decimal. For example, COM5 = REG_SZ "100,5" would instruct EdgeVDD to create a virtual UART at I/O ports 0100h through 0107h, using IRQ 5. This virtual UART would be mapped to the Windows COM5 port. Instead of manually editing the registry, we have supplied a .INI script file which may be used with the REGINI.EXE program from the Windows NT/2000/XP Resource Kit. This .INI script is simply a text file which may be edited with Notepad. The sample script creates 12 virtual UARTs, all using IRQ 5 and based at I/O ports from 0100h through 0158h. The user should edit the script to correspond to the actual COM ports available on the system and to the I/O port and IRQ values expected by the DOS application(s). Once the .INI script is edited, use the following command to place the updated values into the registry: REGINI EdgeVdd.Ini At this point, EdgeVdd.DLL will be loaded for each DOS session that is created, and you should be ready to run DOS applications which access the configured port(s).