[Dx4win] What does Winkey do?

[Franki ON5ZO]

3rd trial to get this through -  it seems somewhere I got listed as a spammer????

----- Original Message ----- 
>> Ok, winkey this and winkey that.  Maybe someone has been slipping me
>> thick pills again.  I looked at the winkey site and they do the same
>> yada yada yada about winkey but they don't actually say what extra
>> functionality it gives.  So what tricks does this thing do that makes it
>> a must have item?
>
> John, here's what the fuss is all about...
> K1EL's WinKey is "just another electronic keyer", that is true. Also, I think it's
> one of the cheapest kits around! But there's more than meets the eye if you take a
> look "under the hood" and see it's revolutionary idea...
>
> PC generated CW (from LPT or COM port) is very demanding when it comes to CPU
> resources. Nicely timed and smooth sent CW is a very big time consuming process for
> your PC's CPU. In the mean time, there a dozens of other tasks going on (logging,
> refreshing the screen, keyboard input etc etc). When one of these other tasks takes
> priority over sending CW, your keying will sound stuttering or you will have some
> time delay between characters. It makes you sound like a big "lid". This is
> escpecially true on older hence slower PC's with less memory and a slower CPU 
> speed.
> If it weren't for CW, these "antiquated" machines would fo a great job in a ham
> shack.
>
> WinKey handles this totally different. It is based around its own microcontroller
> (the WinKey chip) that does all the calculating for the timing etc. All is receives
> from the PC is an ASCII text string from the serial RS-232 port. This means that 
> the
> PC's CPU is now dismissed from the heavy task of processing CW, and only has to 
> take
> care of sending serial ASCII (your CW message embedded in control tags). This is
> child's play for a PC and takes NO resource from the PC's CPU. Several people have
> checked it with the Window's CPU resource meter: LPT CW = 100% CPU usage, Winkey = 
> 2%
> CPU usage.
> This is WinKey's major asset: when using one on an older, slower PC you can still
> send perfect CW without stuttering, hesitation or delays because WinKey handles the
> timing and the slow PC can focus on other tasks, like logging your QSO's.
>
> All this wasn't an issue in the DOS era, when perfect CW by LPT or COM was never a
> problem. The troubles were introduced when Windows came into play. By its very
> nature, Windows does not like to let go the control of it's hardware and keeps the
> doors tightly closed. This means that programmers who make software for hams do not
> have the access to the hardware they'd like to have to give full priority to the CW
> task. This means that other actions will disturb the CW process sooner or later,
> which is more apparent with older thus slower PC's. I am not a programmer so I do 
> not
> know the details, but you'll get the picture.
>
> Bottom line is: WinKey can make your old and slow PC send perfect CW - if your
> Windows based software supports it, which is what several people here on this
> reflector have asked (or rather begged?) for. The WinKey chip has also been used as
> an OEM keyer in several USB-port based applications lately, so the demand for 
> WinKey
> support keeps on growing.
>
> I hope the WinKey hype will make more sense now?
> 73 es Season's Greetings
> Franki ON5ZO
>