Seems logic what Garry said: > ... that it was the kernel's job to talk to the > port hardware ... so that (if it's true) would mean that setserial > simply calls the API and tells it "do these things" to the serial > port, and that the application will simply assume you've already > done that part and talk the the API using that assumption.
Only that, apparently, "setserial" would not change a wrong IRQ definition set for the kernel; that one is done with installing a distro for instance - when there's the "networking" section to fill in(*) (otherwise, with compiling a kernel directly it's probably to look up some of the myriad source files.) My question was where exactly this IRQ definition resides, and if there was any means to change it _after_ "the system" has been installed.(**) Additional hitch: In "linuxconf" there is no instance where you can define the IRQ of the serial device chosen, only the "device" (any /dev/ttySnn) as such. Default values for port and irq apparently are hold - and _kept_ - in and by the kernel, thus IRQ 3 for COM4/ttyS3.(***) When booting up, it checks for existing comports - and sees all of them indeed - but I don't know if it can, and does, check for a comm- card's IRQ setting. _Apparently_ not. In the specific case, with an IRQ 7 used for serial com4, there's still another complication: There is a second parallel (printer) port in that machine (not used/connected to something; and jumper-set to another IRQ), though default value for this is usually set to IRQ 7, and thus probably even assumed by [the kernel?]. No idea if this could confuse "setserial" or whatever. // Heimo Claasen // <hammer at revobild dot net> // Brussels 2003-01-19 The WebPlace of ReRead - and much to read ==> http://www.revobild.net (*) Quite evidently, "Kppp" - disqualified by Steven as something for the dumb and stupid mouseclickers - is a tiny bit more clever than the praised system tool "setserial": It _does_ achieve to affect the IRQ setting. And - horrible ! terrible !! - it even allows an ordinary, stupid, dumb "user" to get at the hardware and fine-tune the modem, _and_ allows him/her to _type_ in values there (GASP!!!) That's absolutely too much: Kppp _MUST_ be declared bad. (**) That's the was I solved the problem permanently, with a Mandrake (re-)install; there is a choice there to define port _and_ irq for a chosen dial-up/modem. Not only would "setserial" not correct the IRQ setting but it is to run each time anew after booting up. (***) Now, this is what I call a construction weakness: as if everything in hardware would reamain unchanged (and thus unchangeable) for all the lifetime of "the system" on this hardware platform. Only that something like this is what Believers don't very much like to hear, <sight>. To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
