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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!network.ucsd.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pipex!uknet!mcsun!sun4nl!relay.philips.nl!cnplss5!rooij From: rooij@mozart.cft.philips.nl (Guido van Rooij) Subject: Re: com port question again! Message-ID: <1993May10.091812.28264@cnplss5.cnps.philips.nl> Sender: news@cnplss5.cnps.philips.nl (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: mozart Organization: Philips Communications & Processing Services, Eindhoven References: <1993May9.163932.3153@latcs1.lat.oz.au> Date: Mon, 10 May 1993 09:18:12 GMT Lines: 53 wongm@latcs1.lat.oz.au (M.C. Wong) writes: >Hi, > I need some advice before investing in an AST (or compatible) dump muliport >serial card. > When I first heard about Chris' driver for interrupt sharing, I thought it >meant I can have "standard" COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4, driven with shared IRQ >on standard COM address, not until later I realized that it meant to be for >interrupt sharing card only. And that is when I already invested in 4 standard >COM ports (2 cards) already. My question is : > Should I merely sap the current (COM3 & COM4 card) with one that supports >alternate IRQ2 and IRQ5, since that causes cheaper. You could do it with a bit of solder... > On the other hand, I am thinking of investing in something like AST (or comp.) >dump 4-port serial card, and let it sits on IRQ2. The reason being that, I am >having COM1 and COM2 on a local bus multi-i/o card which supports only IRQ4 and >IRQ3. If I am to substitue, say my standard COM1, with the 4-port IRQ sharing >card, it means a lot of marking around with my h/w, and worst of all I can't >use the multi-i/o card COM1 slot. So, before I invest on multi-port card, I >like to know : > i) Is there any driver for IRQ sharing with the standard COM1-COM4 ? Yes. Cgd's can. You just need to change it a little bit. In comattach IENABLE is not set on interrupt sharing devices on different cards. Be carefull though because it is out of spec and you may loose some hardware. > ii) If i) is out, will a dumb multi-port card give me a satisfactory > performance with 386BSD and existing COM driver ? (in terms of the > speed, and reliability, becasue with a 9600 terminal from my COM1, I > find its screen update not up to expected satisfactory, and on higher > I finds it hangs up the session very soon). Also, I will need to use > the spare COM to drive a 14.4K Masetro modem and 1 or 2 more terminals. Soon (dont know exactly when though), Bruce Evans's com driver will be in the patchkit (and in NetBSD as well). I hacked in the multiport and bidirectional stuff. With this serial driver you will have a *high* performance. > Note, I am not criticising or biasing on anyone's COM driver, but I hope that >someone can tell me the latest status of Chris' driver (Chris ?), and Bruce's, >and whether the latter is included in patchkit 0.2.3 ? Bruces will be in the next patchkit, provided no further problems with npx-0.5. I dont know if my patches will make it into it, but if not i'll post them to the net. As far as i know, Chris is far to busy to give his comdriver anymore support. > Many thanks in advance ! >-- >- wongm@latcs1.lat.oz.au -Guido