			Parallel Port Black Box Tester
			    Author: Tom Corson
				JavaSoft


Black Box is a Java(TM) application for monitoring and testing parallel
ports.

It's usage is:

Usage: java -native ParallelBlackBox [-h] | [-f] [-l] [-n] [-d receive_delay] [-p ports]

Where:
	-h	this usage message

	-f      "Friendly" mode.  Relinquish control of the port (close it)
		 if another requestor attempts an open.

	-n 	do not use receiver threads.  Slows the receive processing 
		down by using the same thread for the transmitter as
		well as the receiver.  Useful for checking flow
		control.

	-d	sleep for receive_delay msecs after each read.  Delays 
		the receive processing. 

	-l	run as a line monitor.  The output stream for each port 
		is interchanged with the output stream of the other
		port.  This means that what is received on port A is
		resent on port B and vice versa.  On a system with at
		least 2 parallel ports, this allows you to connect the
		system to a device being tested and observe all data
		sent and received as well as control signal
		transitions, etc.  This setting allows the tool to be
		used as a line monitor.

	-p	open only the ports specified (separated by spaces).  If 
		not specified, all ports will be opened.
		Note: This must be the last argument given.

When BlackBox starts, it opens the specified parallel ports (or all, by
default) on the machine from which it is run and displays an
information panel for each.  The information shown consists of:


The name of the port.

	The label color reflects the state of the port as follows:

		Green  - port is open
		Yellow - port is in use but awaiting an open when the
			 port becomes available
		Red    - port is closed

	Note: Clicking on the port name toggles the port from open to
	      closed.


A control for:

	Mode

	Manipulating it changes the port mode to the indicated
	value.


A set of indicators for:

	SEL	Printer Selected
	BSY	Printer Busy

	TO	Timed Out
	PE	Printer Error
	PO	Paper Out

	BE	Output Buffer Empty



A text area for transmitting data, a display of the buffer size in use,
along with a count of the number of bytes sent and the actual
(calculated) baud rate.  

There are 2 check boxes above the transmit text area:  

	Selecting "Auto Transmit" causes a test pattern to be
	continuously transmitted.

Note: Clicking on the "Bytes Transmitted" label resets the counter to 0.

      Clicking on the "Baud Rate" label resets it to 0.

      Clicking on the "Buffer Size" label resets the buffer size to the
      default value.


A text area for receiving data, a display of the buffer size in use,
along with a count of the number of bytes received and the actual
(calculated) baud rate.

There are 3 text fields above the receive text area:  

	Entering a value for "Timeout" causes the receive timeout to be
	set to that many milliseconds.

	Entering a value for "Threshold" causes the receive threshold
	to be set to that many bytes.

	Entering a value for "Framing" causes the receive framing byte
	to be set to that hexadecimal value.

Note: Clicking on the "Bytes Received" label resets the counter to 0.

      Clicking on the "Baud Rate" label resets it to 0.

      Clicking on the "Buffer Size" label resets the buffer size to the
      default value.

      Clicking on the "Timeout" label resets the receive timeout to the
      default value.

      Clicking on the "Threshold" label resets the receive threshold to
      the default value.

      Clicking on the "Framing" label resets the receive framing byte
      to the default value.

Note: Any nonprintable characters received will be shown as multi-byte
symbols, eg, "^C".


README
Version: 1.1
Last Modified: 06/02/98
