SUPRA TECHNICAL SUPPORT BULLETIN STATUS AND ENHANCEMENTS TO V32BIS ROM (1.2H/J) 9/18/92 Supra Corporation 7101 Supra Drive SW, Albany, OR 97321 General (503) 967-2400 / Fax (503) 967-2401 Sales: 7:00am - 5:00pm PST, M-F (503) 967-2410 (800) 727-8772 Supra Tech Support: 8:00am - 5:00pm PST, M-F (503) 967-2440 GENERAL (503) 967-2490 IBM DOS (503) 967-2491 IBM WINDOWs (503) 967-2492 MAC (503) 967-2493 AMIGA Supra BBS........(503) 967-2444 8 lines 24 Hours CompuServe.......76004,565 BIX..............SupraCorp America Online...SupraCorp2 GEnie............SupraTech AppleLink........D2456 UseNet EMail.....supratech@supra.com Dear SupraFAXModem Owner, I would personally like to thank you for recently purchasing a SupraFAXModem V.32/ V.32bis. You have chosen a modem that has quickly become the market leader due to its excellent performance, wide range of features, and economical price. In fact, you may have seen some of the SupraFAXModem's recent accolades: Byte Magazine, Jerry Pournelle, User Column, July '92 "Recommended." MacWorld Magazine, Tom Negrino, Review w/4 Star Rating, August,1992 "I strongly recommend the SupraFAXModem V.32bis." PC Magazine, John C. Dvorak, Inside Track, September 29, 1992 "The Supra 14.4 fax modem is the one I've been using recently ... " Hot Sellers List, Merisel (2nd largest U.S. computer distributor), August 1992 #1 Best Selling Modem You, our customer, have helped make the modem the success it is today. To show our appreciation and to make sure that you have the best performing product possible, we are offering you a free upgrade to our latest modem firmware. We have made several enhancements since you purchased your modem and this upgrade will bring you to the level of what we are shipping today. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this upgrade because it will enhance your modem performance and give you access to many new features. Detailed information on the enhancements are provided latter on. There are two options for upgrading your modem. Please read each description and then make the appropriate selection in our online ordering system. OPTION #1 Ä FREE This will give you the free upgrade to all of our basic enhancements as detailed latter on. Upgrade will be shipped via U.S. Mail within 10 days of receipt of your order. OPTION #2 Ä $49.95 + $5.00 UPS BLUE Shipping = $54.95 outside US $15.00 US AirMail shipping = $64.95 Caller ID allows your computer to know who's calling you before the modem even answers the phone. In the near future, you will find applications that support this feature in many ways. We have included more details and a list of potential applications on the back of this letter. Your order will be shipped within 3 days of receipt via UPS Blue Label (2 day) service or US AirMail if outside US. It can be ordered using Visa, MasterCard, or COD (there is a $5 COD charge). Our European customers can order the rom from us now, or from Supra Gmbh in Germany for a reduced shipping cost. Again, I encourage you to take advantage of the benefits these upgrades offer. Sincerely, John Wiley President P.S. Please look for the upcoming Voice firmware upgrade coming soon. NOTE: Supra has sent a notice to all registered owners. You can order the roms from that notice, you can order them from Supra's BBS or you can send a letter to us with a copy of the serial number on the bottom of the modem. Please mark the letter ATTN: V32BIS ROM. You MUST have your modem's serial number to order the roms from Supra. Only 1 set of roms will be sent for each serial number. These are the ONLY options available for requesting the new roms. As you may know, we use a Rockwell chipset as the foundation of the SupraFAXModem. Many of our competitors also use this same chipset. To differentiate our product and to make sure it is the best on the market, Supra has enhanced the standard Rockwell firmware by fixing several small problems that customers have discovered and, more importantly, by adding new features and commands. This gives the SupraFAXModem vastly superior performance compared to most of the competitors. Some of our enhancements are listed below: OPTION #1 - FREE Performance Enhancements: Fall-back in speed upon worsening telephone line conditions (V.32bis connections) Fall-up in speed when the line conditions get better (V.32bis connections) Improved DTR signal handling Improved busy signal recognition Enhanced &V modem settings display Selection of V.32 / V.32bis negotiation Enhanced fax machine capability Numerous other enhancements New standard features: ECM (Error Correction Mode) fax support Allows transmission of error-free faxes when used with fax software that supports ECM. Silent Answer This feature allows using one telephone line for both two purposes: receiving faxes with the modem, and receiving voice calls with an attached answering machine/telephone. When set to this mode, the modem lets your answering machine answer all incoming calls. If it detects fax "CNG" tones, it routes the call to your fax software. Otherwise it just sits silently on the phone line while you or your answering machine takes the call. OPTION #2 - $49.95 Caller ID In addition to all of the above features, Option #2 gives you the sophisticated Caller ID feature. Caller ID service is now approved in many states, but you should call your local phone company to check availability in your area. With this feature active, the following information will be provided to your computer between the first and second telephone rings of each call: DATE = 1021 Call date TIME = 1405 Call time NMBR = 5039672400 Phone number of calling party NAME = SUPRA CORP Listed name of the calling party (optional) Caller ID can be used by many computer applications for improved security, efficiency, and convenience. The following is a list of potential applications: Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's) Allows positive identification of all callers without the normal tedious logon sequences. Also prevents unauthorized entry due to lost or stolen accounts and passwords because the BBS knows exactly who's calling. Screening Calls Have your computer display who's calling so you can decide if you want to answer or not. Allow only important calls to interrupt your day. Professional Billing Your computer can match incoming calls to your client list and automatically create a charge to their account for your phone time. Quick Database Lookup Have your customer's record or account displayed on your computer screen before you even answer the call. Now that's service! MORE INDEPTH INFORMATION ON 1.2H/J ENHANCEMENTS Many of the enhancements are unique to the Supra V32/V32bis modem and are not available from other manufactures who are using Rockwell's v32/v32bis chipset or other v32/v32bis modems/fax modems that are on the market. The new rom is currently reved as 1.2H and J and will include the following features: 1.2H FEATURES: Enhances Busy Detection Fixes several Lock Display/Modem problems Improved Speed Renegotiation (Fall Back) upon bad line conditions Implements Fall Forward upon better line conditions Fixes Adaptive Answering (allows data/fax determination) Implements ECM (Error Correction Mode) Note: Must be supported by fax software Implements BFT mode (Binary File Transfer) Note: Must be supported by fax/terminal software Fixes problem with DCD line turning off if modem configured with &C &Dx and &Cx settings are respected when in fax mode Fixes problem connecting with some fax machines Added S-Register S109 Added S-Register S110=3 Implements Silent Answer (allows voice/fax determination) Note: Must be supported by fax software AND 1.2J Implements Caller ID Enhances Busy Detection Some people had several different problems with busy detection. All calls would return BUSY or only certain calls would return busy. All known problems have been fixed. This problem only happened to a small percentage of users. Fixes several Lock Display/Modem problems The Supra v32bis modem is running several different processors and tasks at one time. If the right timing sequence or events happen, the modem could lockup. The only way to fix the problem was to power cycle the modem. This problem only happened to a small percentage of users. Improved Speed Renegotiation (Fall Back) upon bad line conditions The 1.2C rom was our first rom to implement this feature. We have continued to improve our code to better handle bad line conditions, especially at connect time. Implements Fall Forward upon better line conditions Once the phone line conditions improve, the modem can initiate a step up in baud. Fixes Adaptive Answering (allows data/fax determination) A mode which allows the modem to connect with either a fax or a data modem. Once it makes the connection, it will return a result code indicating which one it connected with. It is then the software's responsibility to route the call to the proper program. Some "front door" software for BBS and terminal programs have this ability. "Front door" software has control of the serial port and waits for an incoming call. When it receives a call, it may present a prompt to the user asking which program they want to run, or based upon the modems result code decide which program is to be run. (Thus it functions as a call router.) The "front door" software then wakes up or runs the correct program, which than takes over control of the serial port and thus the modem. When the call is ended, the program quits or shuts down and lets the "front door" regain control of the serial port/modem. AT +FCLASS=0 AT +FAA=1 (if using class 2) or +FAE=1 (if using class 1) AT S0=(1-255) or ATA Result Codes: CONNECT XX if data call FAX if fax call NOTE: This sequence must be sent before every answer Implements ECM (Error Correction Mode) Allows the fax software to resend a block of information if it is not received correctly by the other modem. This feature MUST be supported by the fax software in order to be used. Implements BFT mode (Binary File Transfer) Allows the user to send a file to another fax modem as if it were a fax instead of a file. This feature MUST be supported by the fax software in order to be used. This allows the user to use the fax software to send the file instead of using a terminal program. Fixes problem with DCD line turning off if modem configured with &C If the modem was configured with the &C, especially during a disconnect, the modem would toggle DCD line. This problem only affected a small percentage of users, generally those running BBSes on the Apple II. &Dx and &Cx settings are respected when in fax mode The CCITT TR29.2 committee has not defined how the modem should react to the &D and &C settings when in class 2 fax mode. While the committee has not defined this, there is a strong sentiment for respecting the &D and &C settings as it is handled in class 1 and when the modem is in data mode. This also allows the modems to work better under fax mode in the Unix environment. Fixes problem connecting with some fax machines The 1.2C roms had a few problems making connections to some fax machines. The fax machine used a slightly different tone when answering. This resulted in the two machines toning back and forth, not making a connection and then eventually hang up. This problem only happened to a small percentage of users. Added S-Register S109 Controls speeds available for V.32bis carrier handshake, or the carrier rate to negotiate error correction, if S-Register S110=3. Decimal Value Explanation 1 reserved 2 4800 bps 4 7200 bps 8 9600 bps 16 12000 bps 32 14400 bps 64 reserved 128 reserved *S109 is a bit-mapped register, so you simply place the sum of the rates you wish to support in S109. The default is all rates supported by turning on all valid bits with S109=62. Added S-Register S110=3 V.32bis standard negotiates carrier speed at 4800 baud then jumps to the agreed carrier speed to negotiate error correction/data compression. On noisy lines this can cause various connection problems. Supra's solution is to set S-Register S110 to 3. This causes the modems to connect at the slowest possible V.32 or V.32bis speed. Once this is done, as long as the line is clean enough, the modems will up-shift to the next possible carrier rate. The slowest possible carrier speed can be limited by the use of S-register S109. NOTE: Some modems can only up-shift a few times and then they will lose the connection (especially Supra V.32 and V.32bis with ROMs < 1.2C). The solution is to change S-Register S109 so that it does not need to up-shift as many times. S109=56 S110=3 is a good setting with units that only handle a few speed shifts. NOTE: This only works when the modem is originating the call. Implements Silent Answer (allows voice/fax determination) When the phone rings, the modem will start monitoring the telephone line after the 2nd ring. If it detects a fax tone, it will do one of two things: 1. If S-Register S0 > 0, the modem will immediately answer the phone and attempt a fax connection. 2. If S-Register S0 = 0, the modem will quickly issue up to 9 RINGS messages, expecting the fax software to issue an ATA. This eliminates the need for a $150 voice/fax black box. NOTE: DO NOT plug the answering machine into the telephone jack on the back of the modem, or plug the modem into the answering machine. They should be plugged into seperate jacks, or side-by-side with a duplex jack. This option also also works with a telephone is in the circuit with the faxmodem. NOTE: You must be able to modify your fax software initialization string to take advantage of this feature. (Not all software initialization strings can be modified.) Your software may also issue commands you are not aware of, which could interfere with your ability to use this feature. Software is being updated to support Silent Answer; if your software does not support Silent Answer, please contact the software company. If you can modify your fax software initialization string, use the following fax commands to enable Silent Answer: AT +FCLASS=0 AT +FAA=2 (if you are using class 2) or AT +FAE=2 (if you are using class 1) *If you do not know which class your software uses, please contract the software company. Implements Caller ID This is a feature is only available in some areas of the country. In between the 1st and the 2nd ring, the phone company will send information on who is calling you. If you ere in terminal mode and had told the modem to answer on the 3rd ring, you would see: RING DATE = 0321 TIME = 1405 NMBR = 5039672400 NAME = SUPRA CORPORATION (Not available all areas.) RING CONNECT 19200 To enable CALLER ID: AT#CID=1 Enables Caller ID in formatted format AT#CID=2 Enables Caller ID in unformatted format (ASCII printable hex numbers) AT#CID=0 Disables Caller ID In addition to the enhancements and corrections noted above, Supra's new 1.2H and 1.2J ROM releases also include modifications that were implemented in the previous 1.2C ROM release. They are as follows: %G0 disables Rate Renegotiation on V.32bis %G1 enables Rate Renegotiation on V.32bis enables Rate Renegotiation and Retrain on V.32 %E has not changed, but if both %G1 and %E1 are set, then the modem will Rate Renegotiate during a Retrain. This is also the only way the V.32 modem can Rate Renegotiate. AT&F1 and AT&F2 defaults now include %G1 S-Register S110: 0 causes connect at V.32 only 1 enable V.32bis on V.32bis modems 2 enable V.32bis and automatic rate renegotiation. 3* *S110=3 was not added in the 1.2C code. Fixed several problems on the fax side of the modem UPCOMMING FEATURES AND NEW PRODUCTS: The following features and new products are being worked on. We do not have any information on dates, technical information, upgrade costs, or product cost. As soon as we have the information, we will post it on our BBS. Internal version Certifiable International version V23 Voice digitization in modem Voice software DTMF encoding/decoding