Re: On the BOCA 2016 and ttySx
I've never passed my insights on regarding the BB2016, of which I've
installed a few recently. I'll send this message to you and CC the mini
HOWTO maintainer. If he doesn't add my comments to the mini, maybe I'll
update it. ?? The version I've got (from Debian 1.3.1) was last updated
more than two years ago.
>I just got my BOCA2016 set up with setserial script setting the 16 ports
on
>the 2016. I read David mini-BOCA faq but I didn't find any details and
it's
> a bit out of date.
True. And there are a few errors as well.... ;-)
>I tried using minicom on ttyS16 which ud rgwew ua
Huh?
>My question, how I do know which port on the Boca box correspond to which
>ttySx or cuax device file?
Port 1 = ttyS16, Port 2 = ttyS17, ...., Port 16=ttyS31
Have you build a kernel with support for the BB2016 as described in the mini
Howto?
Is the kernel recognising the board? i.e. Right at the start of the boot
process, all sixteen ports should be listed onscreen with ttySxx, I/O Port,
and IRQ identified. Also, `setserial -bg ttyS*` should list *every* port in
your system.
By default, the BB2016 is configured to use IO Ports between 0100 and 017f.
This creates problems on systems with two IDE controllers. The second
controller, ide1, uses 0170-0177 which falls into this range. Big
problems!!!
So, the solution, in my cases, is to go with an IO base of 0200 through
027f. I haven't had any conflicts in this region; however, you may want to
check you system to be sure. (run `cat /proc/ioports` - better run `cat
/proc/interrupts` to make sure IRQ 12 isn't used either.)
Once you've found an IO range and IRQ that isn't used, you'll have to change
the jumpers on the BB2016 and edit /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/serial.c to
reflect the new settings. Then, compile the kernel and install as per
normal.
Anyone familiar with mknod wouldn't have a problem with this, but the Boca
mini Howto has some errors when explaining how to create the devices for the
BB2016.
The Howto provides the following example on creating the devices:
mknod /dev/ttyS16 4 80
mknod /dev/ttyS17 4 81
...
There's an error in syntax here which results in errors.
You must specify the type of device you are creating - block or char. In
this case, we're creating a char device, so use:
mknod /dev/ttyS16 c 5 80
mknod /dev/ttyS17 c 5 81
...
Other than that, the Howto was extremely helpful. Many thanks to David H
Dennis for this Howto.
Good luck! If you have any questions, please let me know. I'll be glad to
help you out.
BTW, I've used the BB2016 several times and found to work really well under
Linux. I'm extremely happy with them. They perform very well, are very
inexpensive, and are reliable. They claim 115200 bps per port. I've got a
unique situation whereby I've got two systems with a PPP serial link between
them. I'm running this link at 115200 and I experience almost 0% error rate
(with hundreds of thousands of packets transmitted). My next step is to
implement EQL and additional PPP links between the boxes to increase the
bandwidth... We'll see how it goes.
One final note. Contrary to the suggestion in the Howto, I build my own
cables for the BB2016 (they've got RJ ports on them). At first, I "dabbled"
with RJ45-8 conductor plugs, but the BB2016 has RJ48-10 conductor jacks, so
to get full modem support, I ended up going that route.
I now run all 10 wires between the BB2016 and my modems. It works great!
No problems, no regrets! The only initial problem I had was finding a
source for RJ48 plugs, 10 conductor wire, and RJ48 to DB25 adapters.....
None of these are very cheap due to the low demand. Oh, yeah, and you need
an RJ48 crimper as well.
If you want, I can build these cables for you and send them to you. If
you're interested, e-mail me and I'll let you know pricing, etc. I found
building my own was cheaper than the adapter that is mentioned in the
Howto - which I couldn't find a source for anyway.
Well, like I said, Good Luck!!!!
Later,
Kevin Traas Baan Business Systems
Systems Analyst Langley, BC, Canada
Kevin@Baan-BBS.CA (604) 882-8169
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