QUICK START Linux DRIVER and
HARDWARE REFERENCE CARD
This Guide.
Comtrol GmbH Document Number COM226Linux
Release Rev K, 28/09/06
1. Installing Your RocketPort 550 hardware........................... 3
2. Installing the RocketPort 550 Linux Device Driver
software................................................................................... 4
3. Viewing the RocketPort 550 Port Installation ....................9
4. Driver Removal................................................................. 10
5. Application Programming ................................................ 10
6. Port Names .......................................................................11
7. RocketPort 550 Linux driver (re)compilation................... 13
8. RocketPort 550 Cable Types............................................. 15
9. Technical Support............................................................. 20
10. Specifications .................................................................. 21
11. Copyright and Trademarks ............................................. 22
2
The Linux RocketPort 550 Drivers allow application space programs to perform
asynchronous communications using boards from the Comtrol RocketPort 550 range.
When this document refers to RocketPort 550 it is relevant both the RocketPort 550
and the RocketPort 550 Universal controller. If the text is relevant to only one
controller type then the reference will be to the ‘RocketPort 550 Universal’ or
‘original RocketPort 550’
1. Installing Your RocketPort 550 hardware
Take care when you handle the RocketPort 550 PCI cards, like any electronic device,
they are sensitive to static electricity. Use normal static precautions such as wearing an
earth ground strap.
Power down the host PC and disconnect its mains input.
Follow the host PC instructions for access to the PC and the installation of additional
cards.
You may install up to 4 RocketPort 550 PCI cards in one PC.
Ensure the front panel retaining screws are fitted.
Follow the host PC instructions for re assembly of the host PC its cabling and re-fitting
of safety covers.
Re-connect the host PC mains input, power up the PC and login as root.
3
2. Installing the RocketPort 550 Linux Device Driver
software
NOTE
The Comtrol Linux driver release 2.02 was developed using the RED HAT 8.0
distribution with Kernel revision 2.4.18-14.
The driver source is provided should developers wish or need to modify the driver for
use with alternative Linux distributions and/or Kernels. For use with other 2.4.x kernels,
a simple re-compilation (on the target system) is all that may be necessary and a
‘Makefile’ is provided to automate this process. Before (re)compilation, the kernel
source must be installed.
For test purposes, the driver source was (re)compiled under Red Hat 7.3 kernel 2.4.18-3.
The driver module was installed and functioned correctly.
This driver source will not (re)compile under the obsolete 2.2.x kernels.
The installation media (i.e. what you are installing from) may be a CD ROM, 1.44Mb floppy
diskette or a CD-ROM. Alternatively, you may have downloaded the driver from
http://www.comtrol.com
There may be minor differences in the installation procedure depending on the
installation media.
If you have downloaded the driver from http://www.comtrol.com, then it is suggested
that you copy the ‘tar’ file to an MS-DOS formatted floppy diskette and follow the
floppy disk based installation procedure
Following download, you may need to unzip the downloaded file in order to obtain the tar file. The tar
file name will be of the format relXXX.tar where XXX is the release number. E.g. XXX = 202 =
release 2.02
The following assumes that you have booted Linux and logged in as root.
Step 1
Extract the files from the installation media. First insert the floppy diskette or
CD into the relevant drive and mount the media so that the file can be accessed.
DISKETTE
[root@localhost root]# mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
CD ROM
[root@localhost root]# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
4
Step 2.
Step 3.
Next, create a temporary directory into which the files can be extracted:
[root@localhost root]# cd /tmp
[root@localhost tmp]# mkdir inst_Comtrol
[root@localhost tmp]# cd inst_Comtrol
Then, extract the driver components from the tar file on the diskette or CD
ROM to the temporary directory: Note that the name of the tar file may be
different.
DISKETTE
[root@localhost inst_Comtrol]# tar xvf /mnt/floppy/rel202.tar
CD ROM
[root@localhost inst_comtrol]# tar xvf /mnt/cdrom/rel202.tar
Note:The path to rel202.tar may differ on the CD ROM.
Step 4
Run the installation script
Important Note
Two installation scripts are provided with driver V2.02. The install script is the
standard installation script for Red Hat Linux. The install.SuSE script is for SuSE
Linux.
If your Linux kernel is not version 2.4.18-14 or your kernel configuration differs
from our development system then you will need to (re)compile the RocketPort
550 driver source on your system, otherwise the Install script will display error
messages and the driver will not be installed. If this is the case then follow the
procedure in section 7 , ( Re)-compiling the RocketPort 550 Linux driver, before
proceeding with installation
Run the install script from the directory into which the files were extracted:
5
Important Note
If running SuSE Linux then use install.SuSE instead of install
[root@localhost inst_Comtrol]# ./install
===========================================================
Comtrol Europe RocketPort 550 Drivers installation
Version (x.yy)
(Month year)
===========================================================
Press Enter to begin installation
Where (x.yy) is the release ‘major.minor’ number, and ( month year ) is the release date.
Press enter to begin installation.
A screen of text is displayed. It contains information about the names you can
select for the RocketPort 550 ports and details how the driver assigns numbers to
individual ports.
Your system will connect to the RockPort 550 Ports through entries
in the /dev/ directory. You can choose any prefix for the names,
as long as it is different from names given to other devices.
For example, if you select a prefix of 'ttyA', then the RocketPort 550
Ports will be called /dev/ttyA00, /dev/ttyA01 and so on up to
/dev/ttyA63
You can install up to 4 RocketPort 550 cards in a system. The device names
for the first card starts with ttyA00, the second starts ttyA16, the third
ttyA32, and the fourth ttyA48. If the installed cards have less than
16 ports, then there will be gaps in the numbering corresponding to the
missing ports.
6
There are two names for each port, one is for communication with a
modem, the other is for communication with a terminal or computer
Usually the modem connection has a Device name like 'cuaa..' and
the terminal/computer connection has a name such as 'ttyA..'
See section 6 for more information about port naming.
You are prompted to enter the Special Device name prefix for terminal ports:
Please enter the Special Device name for terminals [....]
… and for modem ports:
Please enter the Special Device name for modems [....]
Important Note:
You may be receive prompts for RS422 and RS485 ports. These are for
special OEM versions of the RocketPort 550 controllers and unless you are
using a specially supplied OEM version you should answer ‘n’.
This also applies if you are using RocketPort 550 controllers with
RocketPort interface box or Universal Interface box that support multiple
serial interface standards.
The installation script now copies the driver file into the module directory and
adds a command to initialisation scripts so that the driver is loaded whenever
Linux is rebooted.
7
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