Heimo Claasen wrote: > > apparently, "setserial" would not change a wrong IRQ > definition set for the kernel;
Why do you say that? What evidence do you have for that? After you ran setserial to set the IRQ, did you run setserial again to see whether the new IRQ was there? > that one is done with installing a distro for instance Installing a distro has no effect on the default parameters in a kernel. The kernel is simply copied from the installation CD to the HD. The only way to alter the internals of a kernel is to compile it from source. > - when there's the "networking" section to fill in(*) If the networking section of your distro allows you to change the IRQ of a serial port, then it is probably using setserial (or similar) to change the default setting. That's the problem with point-and-click-Linux-for-Dummies -- it does lots of stuff for you without you knowing about it (just like Winders). > My question was where exactly this IRQ definition resides, Not sure. Perhaps somewhere in /proc? Normally I use setserial to view them. > and if there was any means to change it _after_ "the system" > has been installed.(**) Yes. setserial. > Additional hitch: In "linuxconf" Is that some kind of Mandrake wizard? > there is no instance where you can define the IRQ of the > serial device chosen, only the "device" (any /dev/ttySnn) > as such. That doesn't make sense to me. The serial device *is* the /dev/ttySx device. The COM4 port is the serial device and its designation in Linux is /dev/ttyS3. > Default values for port and irq apparently are hold > - and _kept_ Until altered by setserial. Then the new values are used. > 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. No, it doesn't check the IRQs. It uses the defaults until changed by setserial (or similar). > 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 Ah. That could be the source of your problem. IRQ7 is normally used for the primary printer port. Why didn't you use IRQ5 for COM4? > No idea if this could confuse "setserial" or whatever. I doubt that it would confuse setserial -- it will probably still try to assign the IRQ you specify. setserial is just a dumb utility for reading and setting serial parameters. It leaves the thinking up to the user. > (*) Quite evidently, "Kppp" - disqualified by Steven I never disqualified it (whatever that means). > as something for the dumb and stupid mouseclickers It worked for you. > - is a tiny bit more clever than the praised system tool > "setserial": Kppp is a hundred times more clever than setserial. It has to be. Point-and-click utilities are designed to be used by clueless newbies, so they have to be very clever indeed. > 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 Sure, Kppp is a very powerful piece of software. No argument there. However, setserial works perfectly for me (and lots of other people). It is only 12kb in size and runs happily on a 386 with 4mb RAM. Try that with Kppp. > That's absolutely too much: Kppp _MUST_ be declared bad. No. I officially declare that Kppp is good (if you have a fast computer with lots of RAM and you like clicking on eye candy). > (**) 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. It would be interesting to know precisely what steps Mandrake went through to do this. > Not only would "setserial" not correct the IRQ setting but > it is to run each time anew after booting up. No problem. Just stick the setserial command in one of the startup scripts. That's probably what Mandrake does. :-) > (***) Now, this is what I call a construction weakness: What precisely? The fact that you have to re-install Mandrake every time you change your hardware? > as if everything in hardware would reamain unchanged (and > thus unchangeable) for all the lifetime of "the system" on > this hardware platform. Experienced users are able to change their hardware without re-installing the distribution. > Only that something like this is what Believers don't very > much like to hear, <sight>. Oh dear, another diatribe. <sigh> Cheers, Steven 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
