mac serial

[wb2oyc <wb2oyc@bellatlantic.net>]

>
>Start minicom. It complains that it can't find /dev/ttyS0 (it is where it is
>supposed to be). After it exits, start it again. No problem. 
>
Nick,
    Michael Schmitz (kernel guy) and I have investigated this issue at
some length.  It is a fault somewhere in minicom itself.

    When I first ran into it (Mac Quadra 650) I thought the serial ports
were not being initialized during the boot.  I was not able to connect
to either the console serial port of another computer, or my modem on
either Mac serial port.

    Then, I discovered that if I entered minicom's config menu (Meta O)
after launching it, and then toggled ANYTHING ON IT, say the baud rate,
then put it back where I wanted it, exited, that the serial port would
start passing data!  Until I did that, nothing moved in either direction.

    However, Michael suggested not entering minicom, and instead just 
do a cat of some file to the port, and the data went.  And, I did it
the other way too, starting the IPX with the Mac port connected and
doing a cat /dev/ttyS0 and saw the dialog as the IPX started up!

    But, if I then went into minicom it still wouldn't pass data UNTIL
I did that toggle deal in the config menu, then all was fine.

Paul