393 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
393 lines
18 KiB
Plaintext
* NOTE - This is an unmaintained driver. Lantronix, which bought Stallion
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technologies, is not active in driver maintenance, and they have no information
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on when or if they will have a 2.6 driver.
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James Nelson <james4765@gmail.com> - 12-12-2004
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Stallion Multiport Serial Driver Readme
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---------------------------------------
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Copyright (C) 1994-1999, Stallion Technologies.
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Version: 5.5.1
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Date: 28MAR99
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1. INTRODUCTION
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There are two drivers that work with the different families of Stallion
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multiport serial boards. One is for the Stallion smart boards - that is
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EasyIO, EasyConnection 8/32 and EasyConnection 8/64-PCI, the other for
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the true Stallion intelligent multiport boards - EasyConnection 8/64
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(ISA, EISA, MCA), EasyConnection/RA-PCI, ONboard and Brumby.
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If you are using any of the Stallion intelligent multiport boards (Brumby,
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ONboard, EasyConnection 8/64 (ISA, EISA, MCA), EasyConnection/RA-PCI) with
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Linux you will need to get the driver utility package. This contains a
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firmware loader and the firmware images necessary to make the devices operate.
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The Stallion Technologies ftp site, ftp.stallion.com, will always have
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the latest version of the driver utility package.
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ftp://ftp.stallion.com/drivers/ata5/Linux/ata-linux-550.tar.gz
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As of the printing of this document the latest version of the driver
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utility package is 5.5.0. If a later version is now available then you
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should use the latest version.
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If you are using the EasyIO, EasyConnection 8/32 or EasyConnection 8/64-PCI
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boards then you don't need this package, although it does have a serial stats
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display program.
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If you require DIP switch settings, EISA or MCA configuration files, or any
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other information related to Stallion boards then have a look at Stallion's
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web pages at http://www.stallion.com.
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2. INSTALLATION
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The drivers can be used as loadable modules or compiled into the kernel.
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You can choose which when doing a "config" on the kernel.
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All ISA, EISA and MCA boards that you want to use need to be configured into
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the driver(s). All PCI boards will be automatically detected when you load
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the driver - so they do not need to be entered into the driver(s)
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configuration structure. Note that kernel PCI support is required to use PCI
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boards.
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There are two methods of configuring ISA, EISA and MCA boards into the drivers.
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If using the driver as a loadable module then the simplest method is to pass
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the driver configuration as module arguments. The other method is to modify
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the driver source to add configuration lines for each board in use.
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If you have pre-built Stallion driver modules then the module argument
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configuration method should be used. A lot of Linux distributions come with
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pre-built driver modules in /lib/modules/X.Y.Z/misc for the kernel in use.
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That makes things pretty simple to get going.
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2.1 MODULE DRIVER CONFIGURATION:
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The simplest configuration for modules is to use the module load arguments
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to configure any ISA, EISA or MCA boards. PCI boards are automatically
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detected, so do not need any additional configuration at all.
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If using EasyIO, EasyConnection 8/32 ISA or MCA, or EasyConnection 8/63-PCI
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boards then use the "stallion" driver module, Otherwise if you are using
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an EasyConnection 8/64 ISA, EISA or MCA, EasyConnection/RA-PCI, ONboard,
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Brumby or original Stallion board then use the "istallion" driver module.
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Typically to load up the smart board driver use:
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modprobe stallion
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This will load the EasyIO and EasyConnection 8/32 driver. It will output a
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message to say that it loaded and print the driver version number. It will
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also print out whether it found the configured boards or not. These messages
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may not appear on the console, but typically are always logged to
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/var/adm/messages or /var/log/syslog files - depending on how the klogd and
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syslogd daemons are setup on your system.
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To load the intelligent board driver use:
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modprobe istallion
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It will output similar messages to the smart board driver.
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If not using an auto-detectable board type (that is a PCI board) then you
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will also need to supply command line arguments to the modprobe command
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when loading the driver. The general form of the configuration argument is
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board?=<name>[,<ioaddr>[,<addr>][,<irq>]]
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where:
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board? -- specifies the arbitrary board number of this board,
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can be in the range 0 to 3.
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name -- textual name of this board. The board name is the common
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board name, or any "shortened" version of that. The board
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type number may also be used here.
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ioaddr -- specifies the I/O address of this board. This argument is
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optional, but should generally be specified.
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addr -- optional second address argument. Some board types require
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a second I/O address, some require a memory address. The
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exact meaning of this argument depends on the board type.
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irq -- optional IRQ line used by this board.
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Up to 4 board configuration arguments can be specified on the load line.
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Here is some examples:
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modprobe stallion board0=easyio,0x2a0,5
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This configures an EasyIO board as board 0 at I/O address 0x2a0 and IRQ 5.
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modprobe istallion board3=ec8/64,0x2c0,0xcc000
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This configures an EasyConnection 8/64 ISA as board 3 at I/O address 0x2c0 at
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memory address 0xcc000.
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modprobe stallion board1=ec8/32-at,0x2a0,0x280,10
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This configures an EasyConnection 8/32 ISA board at primary I/O address 0x2a0,
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secondary address 0x280 and IRQ 10.
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You will probably want to enter this module load and configuration information
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into your system startup scripts so that the drivers are loaded and configured
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on each system boot. Typically the start up script would be something like
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/etc/modprobe.conf.
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2.2 STATIC DRIVER CONFIGURATION:
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For static driver configuration you need to modify the driver source code.
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Entering ISA, EISA and MCA boards into the driver(s) configuration structure
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involves editing the driver(s) source file. It's pretty easy if you follow
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the instructions below. Both drivers can support up to 4 boards. The smart
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card driver (the stallion.c driver) supports any combination of EasyIO and
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EasyConnection 8/32 boards (up to a total of 4). The intelligent driver
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supports any combination of ONboards, Brumbys, Stallions and EasyConnection
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8/64 (ISA and EISA) boards (up to a total of 4).
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To set up the driver(s) for the boards that you want to use you need to
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edit the appropriate driver file and add configuration entries.
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If using EasyIO or EasyConnection 8/32 ISA or MCA boards,
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In drivers/char/stallion.c:
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- find the definition of the stl_brdconf array (of structures)
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near the top of the file
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- modify this to match the boards you are going to install
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(the comments before this structure should help)
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- save and exit
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If using ONboard, Brumby, Stallion or EasyConnection 8/64 (ISA or EISA)
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boards,
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In drivers/char/istallion.c:
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- find the definition of the stli_brdconf array (of structures)
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near the top of the file
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- modify this to match the boards you are going to install
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(the comments before this structure should help)
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- save and exit
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Once you have set up the board configurations then you are ready to build
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the kernel or modules.
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When the new kernel is booted, or the loadable module loaded then the
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driver will emit some kernel trace messages about whether the configured
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boards were detected or not. Depending on how your system logger is set
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up these may come out on the console, or just be logged to
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/var/adm/messages or /var/log/syslog. You should check the messages to
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confirm that all is well.
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2.3 SHARING INTERRUPTS
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It is possible to share interrupts between multiple EasyIO and
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EasyConnection 8/32 boards in an EISA system. To do this you must be using
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static driver configuration, modifying the driver source code to add driver
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configuration. Then a couple of extra things are required:
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1. When entering the board resources into the stallion.c file you need to
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mark the boards as using level triggered interrupts. Do this by replacing
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the "0" entry at field position 6 (the last field) in the board
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configuration structure with a "1". (This is the structure that defines
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the board type, I/O locations, etc. for each board). All boards that are
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sharing an interrupt must be set this way, and each board should have the
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same interrupt number specified here as well. Now build the module or
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kernel as you would normally.
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2. When physically installing the boards into the system you must enter
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the system EISA configuration utility. You will need to install the EISA
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configuration files for *all* the EasyIO and EasyConnection 8/32 boards
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that are sharing interrupts. The Stallion EasyIO and EasyConnection 8/32
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EISA configuration files required are supplied by Stallion Technologies
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on the EASY Utilities floppy diskette (usually supplied in the box with
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the board when purchased. If not, you can pick it up from Stallion's FTP
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site, ftp.stallion.com). You will need to edit the board resources to
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choose level triggered interrupts, and make sure to set each board's
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interrupt to the same IRQ number.
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You must complete both the above steps for this to work. When you reboot
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or load the driver your EasyIO and EasyConnection 8/32 boards will be
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sharing interrupts.
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2.4 USING HIGH SHARED MEMORY
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The EasyConnection 8/64-EI, ONboard and Stallion boards are capable of
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using shared memory addresses above the usual 640K - 1Mb range. The ONboard
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ISA and the Stallion boards can be programmed to use memory addresses up to
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16Mb (the ISA bus addressing limit), and the EasyConnection 8/64-EI and
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ONboard/E can be programmed for memory addresses up to 4Gb (the EISA bus
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addressing limit).
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The higher than 1Mb memory addresses are fully supported by this driver.
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Just enter the address as you normally would for a lower than 1Mb address
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(in the driver's board configuration structure).
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2.5 TROUBLE SHOOTING
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If a board is not found by the driver but is actually in the system then the
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most likely problem is that the I/O address is wrong. Change the module load
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argument for the loadable module form. Or change it in the driver stallion.c
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or istallion.c configuration structure and rebuild the kernel or modules, or
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change it on the board.
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On EasyIO and EasyConnection 8/32 boards the IRQ is software programmable, so
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if there is a conflict you may need to change the IRQ used for a board. There
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are no interrupts to worry about for ONboard, Brumby or EasyConnection 8/64
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(ISA, EISA and MCA) boards. The memory region on EasyConnection 8/64 and
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ONboard boards is software programmable, but not on the Brumby boards.
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3. USING THE DRIVERS
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3.1 INTELLIGENT DRIVER OPERATION
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The intelligent boards also need to have their "firmware" code downloaded
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to them. This is done via a user level application supplied in the driver
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utility package called "stlload". Compile this program wherever you dropped
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the package files, by typing "make". In its simplest form you can then type
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./stlload -i cdk.sys
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in this directory and that will download board 0 (assuming board 0 is an
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EasyConnection 8/64 or EasyConnection/RA board). To download to an
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ONboard, Brumby or Stallion do:
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./stlload -i 2681.sys
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Normally you would want all boards to be downloaded as part of the standard
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system startup. To achieve this, add one of the lines above into the
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/etc/rc.d/rc.S or /etc/rc.d/rc.serial file. To download each board just add
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the "-b <brd-number>" option to the line. You will need to download code for
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every board. You should probably move the stlload program into a system
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directory, such as /usr/sbin. Also, the default location of the cdk.sys image
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file in the stlload down-loader is /usr/lib/stallion. Create that directory
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and put the cdk.sys and 2681.sys files in it. (It's a convenient place to put
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them anyway). As an example your /etc/rc.d/rc.S file might have the
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following lines added to it (if you had 3 boards):
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/usr/sbin/stlload -b 0 -i /usr/lib/stallion/cdk.sys
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/usr/sbin/stlload -b 1 -i /usr/lib/stallion/2681.sys
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/usr/sbin/stlload -b 2 -i /usr/lib/stallion/2681.sys
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The image files cdk.sys and 2681.sys are specific to the board types. The
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cdk.sys will only function correctly on an EasyConnection 8/64 board. Similarly
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the 2681.sys image fill only operate on ONboard, Brumby and Stallion boards.
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If you load the wrong image file into a board it will fail to start up, and
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of course the ports will not be operational!
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If you are using the modularized version of the driver you might want to put
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the modprobe calls in the startup script as well (before the download lines
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obviously).
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3.2 USING THE SERIAL PORTS
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Once the driver is installed you will need to setup some device nodes to
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access the serial ports. The simplest method is to use the /dev/MAKEDEV program.
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It will automatically create device entries for Stallion boards. This will
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create the normal serial port devices as /dev/ttyE# where# is the port number
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starting from 0. A bank of 64 minor device numbers is allocated to each board,
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so the first port on the second board is port 64,etc. A set of callout type
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devices may also be created. They are created as the devices /dev/cue# where #
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is the same as for the ttyE devices.
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For the most part the Stallion driver tries to emulate the standard PC system
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COM ports and the standard Linux serial driver. The idea is that you should
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be able to use Stallion board ports and COM ports interchangeably without
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modifying anything but the device name. Anything that doesn't work like that
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should be considered a bug in this driver!
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If you look at the driver code you will notice that it is fairly closely
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based on the Linux serial driver (linux/drivers/char/serial.c). This is
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intentional, obviously this is the easiest way to emulate its behavior!
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Since this driver tries to emulate the standard serial ports as much as
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possible, most system utilities should work as they do for the standard
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COM ports. Most importantly "stty" works as expected and "setserial" can
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also be used (excepting the ability to auto-configure the I/O and IRQ
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addresses of boards). Higher baud rates are supported in the usual fashion
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through setserial or using the CBAUDEX extensions. Note that the EasyIO and
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EasyConnection (all types) support at least 57600 and 115200 baud. The newer
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EasyConnection XP modules and new EasyIO boards support 230400 and 460800
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baud as well. The older boards including ONboard and Brumby support a
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maximum baud rate of 38400.
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If you are unfamiliar with how to use serial ports, then get the Serial-HOWTO
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by Greg Hankins. It will explain everything you need to know!
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4. NOTES
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You can use both drivers at once if you have a mix of board types installed
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in a system. However to do this you will need to change the major numbers
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used by one of the drivers. Currently both drivers use major numbers 24, 25
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and 28 for their devices. Change one driver to use some other major numbers,
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and then modify the mkdevnods script to make device nodes based on those new
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major numbers. For example, you could change the istallion.c driver to use
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major numbers 60, 61 and 62. You will also need to create device nodes with
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different names for the ports, for example ttyF# and cuf#.
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The original Stallion board is no longer supported by Stallion Technologies.
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Although it is known to work with the istallion driver.
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Finding a free physical memory address range can be a problem. The older
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boards like the Stallion and ONboard need large areas (64K or even 128K), so
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they can be very difficult to get into a system. If you have 16 Mb of RAM
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then you have no choice but to put them somewhere in the 640K -> 1Mb range.
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ONboards require 64K, so typically 0xd0000 is good, or 0xe0000 on some
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systems. If you have an original Stallion board, "V4.0" or Rev.O, then you
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need a 64K memory address space, so again 0xd0000 and 0xe0000 are good.
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Older Stallion boards are a much bigger problem. They need 128K of address
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space and must be on a 128K boundary. If you don't have a VGA card then
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0xc0000 might be usable - there is really no other place you can put them
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below 1Mb.
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Both the ONboard and old Stallion boards can use higher memory addresses as
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well, but you must have less than 16Mb of RAM to be able to use them. Usual
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high memory addresses used include 0xec0000 and 0xf00000.
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The Brumby boards only require 16Kb of address space, so you can usually
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squeeze them in somewhere. Common addresses are 0xc8000, 0xcc000, or in
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the 0xd0000 range. EasyConnection 8/64 boards are even better, they only
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require 4Kb of address space, again usually 0xc8000, 0xcc000 or 0xd0000
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are good.
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If you are using an EasyConnection 8/64-EI or ONboard/E then usually the
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0xd0000 or 0xe0000 ranges are the best options below 1Mb. If neither of
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them can be used then the high memory support to use the really high address
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ranges is the best option. Typically the 2Gb range is convenient for them,
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and gets them well out of the way.
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The ports of the EasyIO-8M board do not have DCD or DTR signals. So these
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ports cannot be used as real modem devices. Generally, when using these
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ports you should only use the cueX devices.
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The driver utility package contains a couple of very useful programs. One
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is a serial port statistics collection and display program - very handy
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for solving serial port problems. The other is an extended option setting
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program that works with the intelligent boards.
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5. DISCLAIMER
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The information contained in this document is believed to be accurate and
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reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed by Stallion Technologies
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Pty. Ltd. for its use, nor any infringements of patents or other rights
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of third parties resulting from its use. Stallion Technologies reserves
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the right to modify the design of its products and will endeavour to change
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the information in manuals and accompanying documentation accordingly.
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