Introduction, Features, Before you begin – StarTech.com PCI8S950 User Manual
Page 4: System requirements
Instruction Manual
1
Introduction
Thank you for purchasing a StarTech.com 16950 PCI Serial card. The latest in Plug and Play
expansion cards, this high-speed serial card provides your computer with two, four, or eight
16C950 UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter) RS-232 serial ports (varies by
model). You can connect any 9-pin external serial device such as a modem, mouse, or ISDN
adapter to your system and enjoy speeds of up to 15 Mbits/sec (asynchronous mode) or 60
Mbits/sec (isochronous) mode. This 32-bit, 33MHz PCI card is also backwards compatible with
UART versions to ensure compatibility with a wide range of serial peripherals.
Features
• Provides two/four/eight 16C950 UART RS-232 serial ports
• Buffers up to 128 bytes for FIFO receiving/transmitting
• Fully adjustable IRQ trigger levels
• Automated flow-control to prevent UART overrun
• Backward compatible with 16C450, 16C550, 16C650, and 16C750 UARTs
• Complies with PCI Bus specification 2.2, Power Management 1.0, and Plug and Play
specifications
• Backed by StarTech.com’s lifetime warranty
Before You Begin
To ensure a quick and easy card installation, please read through this section carefully before
attempting to install the card.
System Requirements
• An IBM PC running Windows 95/ 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP(32/64bit)/ Vista(32/64bit)/ 7(32/64bit)/
Server 2008 R2, and Linux
• An available PCI slot
• A CD-ROM or other compatible optical drive (for driver installation)
WARNING! PCI cards, like all computer equipment, can be severely damaged by static electricity.
Be sure that you are properly grounded before opening your computer case or touching your PCI
card. StarTech.com recommends that you wear an anti-static strap when installing any computer
component. If an anti-static strap is unavailable, discharge yourself of any static electricity build-
up by touching a large grounded metal surface (such as the computer case) for several seconds.
Also be careful to handle the PCI card by its edges and not the gold connectors.