Paul wrote:
hi,
typing setserial -g /dev/ttyS? gives:
/dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4 /dev/ttyS1, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3 /dev/ttyS2, UART: unknown, Port: 0x03e8, IRQ: 4 /dev/ttyS3, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02e8, IRQ: 3
Which seems okay?
Yes, they look ok, except no UART is specified for 1, 2, 3. Although it could be connected to 0 and the UART is correct. Check the UPS specifications to find out its UART. You can correct this with setserial. You can also use setserial to automatically configure the serial ports ("man setserial" for further information).
However, cat /dev/ttyS0 gives absolutely nothing, no chatter, nothing.
It would give nothing. Assuming the UPS understands some commands in the same way as a modem, you could just echo commands to it and this will be displayed on the screen with cat /dev/ttyS0.
For example, for a modem:
On console 1 ([CTRL] [ALT] [F1]), login as root and then execute:
cat /dev/ttyS0
On console 2 ([CTRL] [ALT] [F2]), login as root and then execute:
echo "AT" > /dev/ttyS0
and assuming the modem knows AT commands then it will reply and show the reply on console 1.
So, assuming a UPS has some standard commands (refer to the manufacturer's manual) then it will respond to commands sent by echo and display the output on console 1
-- /Paul
"It's not about the ending, it's about the journey." - Lex Luthor
Okay it's working. The serial comms package that minicom has as a dependency (and was not installed on my machine) is: "rzsz" X-, Y- and Z-Modem Data Transfer Protocols (ver 0.12.20-842) I guess you must need this for serial comms to work properly. Under normal circumstances I would imagine this is installed by default, but when I selected not to have anything ISDN related (at installation), it must have been auto-deselected (?). This is slightly odd, since just because you don't want/have ISDN doesn't mean you don't have serial devices.....? Anyway, everything seems fine now. Thanks for all your help. Best wishes, Jon. -- Jonathan Brooks (Ph.D.) Research Assistant. PaIN Group, Department of Human Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QX tel: +44(0)1865-282654 fax: +44(0)1865-282656 web: http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/~jon