The slicer driver is needed for a 2 or 4 level interface. For these interfaces, PDW needs direct hardware access to the serial port, which is established through the slicer driver. If you use a PCI or PCMCIA card, PDW can't get access to its hardware due to the PCI or PCMCIA driver.
From
http://www.discriminator.nl/4-level/index-en.html - 'The interface is connected your scanner's or receiver's discriminator output and to your PC's serial port. That should be a 'real' serial port on your PC's motherboard. An RS232 to USB converter or a PCMCIA/PCI card with one or more serial ports will not work.'
If you use an
RS232 interface, you don't need to install the slicer driver, as this interface observes the standard RS232 protocol.