GENERAL FAQ ANSWERS

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This page contains answers to frequently asked questions about our company and products. For a list of the questions, please return to the main FAQ index page. If you still have questions after reading this page, email them to info@symres.com and we'll be glad to answer them for you.

 
Q: How much does it cost ?

The prices of our products are shown on the catalog page. Please refer to this page for all current pricing. Shipping charges and international export fees are additional and depend on the carrier, destination, etc. Please see our how to order page.

Each product comes with the basic software, cables, etc that it needs to work with your PC. Generally there will be no hidden costs. The product will be ready to work "out of the box".

 
Q: How do I order ?

You can order by phone, fax, or email. Please see our how to order page for details.

 
Q: Can I purchase it on my credit card ?

We accept the major credit cards: MasterCard and Visa. Credit cards are particularly convenient for international purchases as the credit card company automatically takes care of all currency conversion.

 
Q: What is your address, phone, fax, etc ?

All our contact information is listed on our company info page.

 
Q: Can you send me complete specs ?

We prefer to distribute information via the web. You can find extensive information by following the links from our catalog page. Feature lists, manuals and software descriptions are available for each product.

In addition, many board level specs such as A/D resolution match the specs of the individual components. Component data sheets are available from the third-party page.

If you still have questions after reviewing the online material, we will be happy to answer them for you. Just send email to info@symres.com or call us at (702)341-9325.

 
Q: Do you have any Application Notes ?

Yes. SR Application Notes typically include both a Adobe PDF document and related zipped source code files. These files are located on our downloads page.

 
Q: Do your products have any digital input/output capabilities ?

Our PARxCH 1/4/8 channel 24 bit A/D systems have four digital input bits and four digital output bits for general use. The output bits are latched while the input bits are polled. On the PAR8CH, the input bits are also sampled automatically in step with the analog data. The boards also have a user programmable LED for visual feedback. These bits are intended for general purpose control applications of external equipment in conjunction with analog data acquisition.

Our PAR24B 8 channel 24 bit A/D system has eight digital output bits and no input bits. The output bits are latched. Like the PARxCH, the system also has a user programmable LED for visual feedback.

Our DSPSMT and DSPMOD boards feature a high speed 32 bit parallel port. This port is capable of reading or writing 32 bit words at the rate of 12.5MHz, (ie a 50 MB/sec IO bandwidth). These boards are ideal for anyone who needs to do buffered high speed digital IO with the PC.

For users only needing very simple digital IO, we recommend the PC parallel port. The programming is very simple, and nearly every PC has a parallel port. Multiple parallel ports can be installed on a single PC if needed. You can download a free demo program, setport.exe, from the downloads page of our site to get started.

 
Q: How do I get a copy of the circuit diagrams ?

When purchasing a SR product, you will receive a PDF format manual and circuit diagrams. The manuals are available for free from our downloads page, but the circuit diagrams are NOT as they are reserved for our existing customers.

Current customers who need another copy of the circuit diagrams can get them by sending email to info@symres.com. Our technical support staff is also happy to answer questions from potential customers with circuit related concerns.

 
Q: What Operating Systems do you support (Linux, NT, etc) ?

Our standard software distribution comes compiled for Windows 2K/XP, Windows ME/98/95, DOS, and Linux. The software for the protected mode OS's, such as Win2K and Linux, have true ring 0 kernel mode drivers for best performance and integration.

Software for the QNX RTOS is provided by Symmetry Innovations.

 
Q: Do you include source code with your software ?

You get all the source code for our software. This includes the kernel mode drivers and GUI applications. The latest version is also available for free from our downloads page.

In an effort to simplify the distribution and maintenance, the same source code files are used for all OS's with platform differences being handled by conditional compilation in a few sections of the code.

 
Q: What compilers can I use with your software ?

We compile our code with the Microsoft Visual C++ compilers on Windows machines and with the GNU gcc compiler on Linux machines.

Our core libraries are also supplied in 32 bit DLL format for users wishing to use dynamic linking. Even though static linking is generally the best match for software involving our products, the DLL's provide a way for almost any user from any language to access our core libraries. For example, Borland users can easily access our DLL libraries without having to recompile.

 
Q: What is a DLL ?

Consider a function like printf. Traditionally "run time" functions like printf have been statically linked in with an executable. That means every .exe application has its own duplicated copy of printf. And, since nearly every executable uses run time functions, there are a lot of copies of printf running around on the hard disk.

In an effort to save disk space, dynamic linking was introduced. The idea is to have only one copy of the executable for printf saved in a file. A .dll file in Windows terminology, or a .so shared object file under Linux, etc. Applications would fetch a copy of printf on an as needed basis at run time from this file. Thus saving having multiple copies of printf on the disk.

Despite the initial appeal of DLL's, they have given the industry a lot of maintenance trouble. Suppose someone writes a new improved version of printf. Do you then require two DLL files on your hard disk? And how will applications know which one to use? And worst of all, what happens if an application can't find a particular DLL it needs. We've come to like static linking for our applications, and try to use it when possible.

 
Q: What is a device driver ?

Life was simple under DOS. Everyone had access to all the machine resources. Anyone could execute any instruction. Hardware relies on low level instructions like in and out. And you could easily write software that accessed it from "user space". Of course the downside was that any application could compromise the security of the machine by making unauthorized disk accesses etc.

Protected mode operating systems like Win2K and Linux protect system security by NOT allowing most users to directly access low level instructions like in and out. Hardware in and out instructions can only be accessed from low level "ring 0" kernel mode device drivers.

Under protected mode OS's, the device driver is a piece of software that must be installed by the system administrator. Once installed, "user space" programs can access it by calling functions in our provided libraries. The device driver software architecture goes a long way to preserving system integrity.

We provide two easy to use command line utilities for installing and removing the device drivers for our various products. They are called indriver and rmdriver. See the readme.txt notes that came with your product for more information.

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