Very Computer

: hi,

: I asked a while ago about whether there was a device driver for
: multi port serial cards for Linux (8 port non-intelligent Digicard
: specifically).

A friend of mine has a Digiboard (8 port "dumb") which he has been using
for a long time now.

: A number of people wrote to me asking to forward replies I got (so I
: know there are people out there looking for what I'm looking for :)

: I was also told there is currently no such device driver but one could
: be easily created for a non-intelligent card.

: Fair enough.  So:

: 1) Is there anyone out there who has written/is going to  write a device
:    driver for such a card?

I've got an 8 port card with just 8 16450's on it and the interrupt lines
multiplexed onto one irq. This was supported by the kernel (before 0.99.10)
if the base address of the I/O ports was on 0x100. It searched from this on
to (guessing here) 0x200. With the new release (0.99.10) the standard
support has been removed, you need a seperate program (still looking for
it :-) to make the serial port driver aware of the card.

: 2) If not, just how easy is it to hack an already existing device driver
:    (4 port one).  I'm a complete novice so I'd appreciate some help.

Shouldn't be neccessary if it's a "dumb" card.

: thanks,
:  cameron.

If you know the base address (and can find the above mentioned program :-)
you should be able to use the 8 port card running Linux.

Greetings,

        Ton.

   I asked a while ago about whether there was a device driver for
   multi port serial cards for Linux (8 port non-intelligent Digicard
   specifically).

   I was also told there is currently no such device driver but one could
   be easily created for a non-intelligent card.

Err... I don't know who responded to you, but I think they confused the
intelligent Digicard with the non-intelligent Digicard.  There is no
driver for the intelligent Digicard serial board, and doubt one will
appear in the near future.

However, the exisiting serial driver in Linux will support most
non-intelligent serial cards, without requiring any modification.  In
fact, with Linux 0.99pl10, all you need to do is to get the setserial
package, install /etc/rc.serial, and then modify it to configure the
serial ports to use the appropriate I/O ports and IRQ of your digicard
board.

No hacking needed at all!

                                                - Ted