Modem-HOWTO
David S.Lawyer <mailto:dave@lafn.org>
v0.20, August 2001
Help with selecting, connecting, configuring, trouble-shooting, and
understanding modems for a PC. See Serial-HOWTO for multiport serial
boards.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 DSL, Cable, and ISDN Modems in other HOWTOs
1.2 Also not covered: PCMCIA Modems, PPP
1.3 Copyright, Disclaimer, Trademarks, & Credits
1.3.1 Copyright
1.3.2 Disclaimer
1.3.3 Trademarks.
1.3.4 Credits
1.4 Contacting the Author
1.5 New Versions of this HOWTO
1.6 New in Recent Versions
1.7 What is a Modem ?
1.8 Quick Install
1.8.1 External Modem Install
1.8.2 Internal Modems (ISA, PCI and AMR)
1.8.3 ISA Modems: What IOs and IRQs may be used?
1.8.4 PCI (and AMR) Modems: What IOs and IRQs have been set?
1.8.5 Both PCI and ISA: Use setserial to tell the driver
1.8.6 Use MS Windows to set the BIOS (A last resort method)
1.8.7 All Modems
2. Modems for a Linux PC
2.1 External vs. Internal
2.2 External Modems
2.2.1 PnP External Modems
2.2.2 Cabling & Installation
2.2.3 What the Lights (LED's) Mean (for some external modems)
2.3 Internal Modems
2.4 Software-based Modems (winmodems, linmodems)
2.4.1 Introduction software modems (winmodems)
2.4.2 Linmodems
2.4.3 Software-based modem types
2.4.4 Is this modem a software modem?
2.4.5 Should I get a software modem?
2.5 PCI Modems
2.6 AMR Modems
2.7 Which Internal Modems might not work with Linux
2.7.1 MWave and DSP Modems
2.7.2 Rockwell (RPI) Drivers
3. Modem Pools, Digital Modems
3.1 Analog Modem Pools, Multiport Modem Cards
3.2 Digital Modems
4. Serial Port and Modem Basics
4.1 Modem Converts Digital to Analog (and conversely)
4.2 What is a Serial Port ?
4.2.1 Intro to Serial
4.2.2 Pins and Wires
4.2.3 Internal Modem Contains Serial Port
4.3 IO Address & IRQ
4.4 Names: ttyS0, ttyS1, etc.
4.5 Interrupts
4.6 Data Compression (by the Modem)
4.7 Error Correction
4.8 Data Flow (Speeds)
4.9 Flow Control
4.9.1 Example of Flow Control
4.9.2 Hardware vs. Software Flow Control
4.9.3 Symptoms of No Flow Control
4.9.4 Modem-to-Modem Flow Control
4.10 Data Flow Path; Buffers
4.11 Modem Commands
4.12 Serial Driver Module
5. Configuring Overview
6. Configuring the Serial Port Hardware and Driver (low-level)
6.1 PCI Bus Support Underway
6.2 Configuring Overview
6.3 Common mistakes made re low-level configuring
6.4 I/O Address & IRQ: Boot-time messages
6.5 What is the current IO address and IRQ of my Serial Port ?
6.5.1 What does the device driver think?
6.5.2 What is set in my serial port hardware ?
6.5.3 What is set in my PnP serial port hardware ?
6.6 Choosing Serial IRQs
6.6.1 IRQ 0 is not an IRQ
6.6.2 Interrupt sharing and Kernels 2.2+
6.6.3 What IRQs to choose?
6.7 Choosing Addresses --Video card conflict with ttyS3
6.8 Set IO Address & IRQ in the hardware (mostly for PnP)
6.8.1 Using a PnP BIOS to I0-IRQ Configure
6.9 Giving the IRQ and IO Address to Setserial
7. Configuring the Serial Driver (high-level) "stty"
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Hardware flow control (RTS/CTS)
7.3 Other Driver Settings (high level)
8. Modem Configuration (excluding serial port)
8.1 Finding Your Modem
8.2 AT Commands
8.3 Init Strings: Saving and Recalling
8.3.1 Where is my "init string" so I can modify it ?
8.4 Other AT Modem Commands
8.5 Blacklisting
8.6 What AT Commands are Now Set in my Modem?
8.7 Modem States (or Modes)
9. Serial Port Devices /dev/ttyS2, etc.
9.1 Devfs (The new Device File System)
9.2 Serial Port Device Names & Numbers
9.3 Universal Serial Bus Ports
9.4 Link ttySN to /dev/modem
9.5 cua Device Obsolete
10. Interesting Programs You Should Know About
10.1 What is setserial ?
10.1.1 Introduction
10.1.2 Probing
10.1.3 Boot-time Configuration
10.1.4 Configuration Scripts/Files
10.1.5 Edit a script (required prior to version 2.15)
10.1.6 New configuration method using /etc/serial.conf
10.1.7 IRQs
10.1.8 Laptops: PCMCIA
10.2 What is isapnp ?
10.3 What is wvdialconf ?
10.4 What is stty ?
11. Trying Out Your Modem (Dialing Out)
11.1 Are You Ready to Dial Out ?
11.2 Dialing Out with Minicom
11.3 Dialing Out with Kermit
12. Dial-In
12.1 Dial-In Overview
12.2 What Happens when Someone Dials In ?
12.3 56k doesn't work
12.4 Getty
12.4.1 Introduction to Getty
12.4.2 Getty "exits" after login (and can respawn)
12.4.3 About mgetty
12.4.4 About uugetty
12.4.5 About getty_em
12.4.6 About agetty
12.4.7 About mingetty, and fbgetty
12.5 Why "Manual" Answer is Best
12.6 Dialing Out while Waiting for an Incoming Call
12.7 Ending a Dial-in Call
12.7.1 Caller logs out
12.7.2 When DTR drops (is negated)
12.7.3 Caller hangs up
12.8 Dial-in Modem Configuration
12.9 Callback
12.10 Voice Mail
12.11 Simple Manual Dial-In
12.12 Complex GUI Dial-In, VNC
12.13 Interoperability with MS Windows
13. Uugetty for Dial-In (from the old Serial-HOWTO)
13.1 Installing getty_ps
13.2 Setting up uugetty
13.2.1 Modern Modems
13.2.2 Old slow modems
13.2.3 Login Banner
13.3 Customizing uugetty
14. What Speed Should I Use with My Modem?
14.1 Speed and Data Compression
14.2 Where do I Set Speed ?
14.3 Can't Set a High Enough Speed
14.3.1 Speeds over 115.2k
14.3.2 How speed is set in hardware: the divisor and baud_base
14.3.3 Work-arounds for setting speed
14.3.4 Crystal frequency is not baud_base
14.4 Speed Table
15. Communications Programs And Utilities
15.1 Minicom vs. Kermit
15.2 List of Communication Software
15.2.1 Least Popular Dialout
15.2.2 Most Popular Dialout
15.2.3 Fax
15.2.4 Voicemail Software
15.2.5 Dial-in (uses getty)
15.2.6 Other
15.3 SLiRP and term
15.4 MS Windows
16. Two Modems (Modem Doubling)
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Modem Bonding
16.2.1 EQL
16.2.2 Multilink
17. Troubleshooting
17.1 My Modem is Physically There but Can't be Found
17.1.1 No response to AT
17.2 "Modem is busy"
17.3 I can't get near 56k on my 56k modem
17.4 Uploading (downloading) files is broken/slow
17.5 For Dial-in I Keep Getting "line NNN of inittab invalid"
17.6 I Keep Getting: ``Id "S3" respawning too fast: disabled for 5 minutes''
17.7 My Modem is Hosed after Someone Hangs Up, or uugetty doesn't respawn
17.8 uugetty Still Doesn't Work
17.9 (The following subsections are in both the Serial and Modem HOWTOs)
17.10 My Serial Port is Physically There but Can't be Found
17.11 Extremely Slow: Text appears on the screen slowly after long delays
17.12 Somewhat Slow: I expected it to be a few times faster
17.13 The Startup Screen Show Wrong IRQs for the Serial Ports.
17.14 "Cannot open /dev/ttyS?: Permission denied"
17.15 "Operation not supported by device" for ttyS?
17.16 "Cannot create lockfile. Sorry"
17.17 "Device /dev/ttyS? is locked."
17.18 "/dev/tty? Device or resource busy"
17.19 "Input/output error" from setserial or stty
17.20 Overrun errors on serial port
17.21 Modem doesn't pick up incoming calls
17.22 Port get characters only sporadically
17.23 Troubleshooting Tools
18. Flash Upgrades
19. Other Sources of Information
19.1 Misc
19.2 Books
19.3 HOWTOs
19.4 Usenet newsgroups
19.5 Web Sites
20. Appendix A: How Analog Modems Work (technical) (unfinished)
20.1 Modulation Details
20.1.1 Intro to Modulation
20.1.2 Frequency Modulation
20.1.3 Amplitude Modulation
20.1.4 Phase Modulation
20.1.5 Combination Modulation
20.2 56k Modems (v.90)
20.3 Full Duplex on One Circuit
20.4 Echo Cancellation
21. Appendix B: Digital Modem Signal Processing (not done)
22. Appendix C: "baud" vs. "bps"
22.1 A simple example
22.2 Real examples
23. Appendix D: Terminal Server Connection
24. Appendix E: Other Types of Modems
24.1 Digital-to-Digital "Modems"
24.2 ISDN "Modems"
24.3 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
24.4 56k Digital-Modems
24.5 Leased Line Modems
25. Appendix F: Fax pixels (dots)
26. Appendix G: Antique Modems
26.1 Obsolete CCITT (ITU) and Bell Protocols
26.2 Overview
26.3 Autobauding
26.3.1 Various meanings
26.3.2 Modem-to-modem speed
26.3.3 Modem-to-serial_port speed
26.4 Before AT Commands
26.5 Data Compression and Error Correction
______________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
1.1. DSL, Cable, and ISDN Modems in other HOWTOs
This HOWTO covers conventional analog modems for PCs on either the ISA
or PCI bus. For other types of modems:
� DSL modems: see the mini-howto: ADSL
� Cable-Modems-HOWTO (was once a LDP mini-Howto)
<http://www.cs.unm.edu/~vuksan/linux/Cable-Modem.html>
� Cable-Modem-Providers-HOWTO
� ISDN Howto (not a LDP Howto)
<http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/isdn.html>: drivers for ISDN
"Modems". Much related info on this is in German. For a tutorial
on ISDN see <http://public.swbell.net/ISDN/overview.html>
See also ``Appendix D: Other Types of Modems''
1.2. Also not covered: PCMCIA Modems, PPP
For modems on the PCMCIA bus see the PCMCIA-HOWTO: PCMCIA serial and
modem devices. This HOWTO also doesn't cover PPP (used to connect to
the Internet via a modem) or communication programs. Except it does
show how to use communication programs to test that your modem works
OK and can make phone calls. If you want to use a modem to connect to
the Internet then you need to set up PPP. There's a lot of
documentation for PPP (including a PPP-HOWTO). More documentation
should be found in /usr/doc/ppp, /usr/share/doc/ppp or the like.
1.3. Copyright, Disclaimer, Trademarks, & Credits
1.3.1. Copyright
Copyright (c) 1998-2001 by David S. Lawyer <mailto:dave@lafn.org>
Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in
any format. Send any corrections and comments to the document
maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute it
provided that you:
1. If it's not a translation: Email a copy of your derivative work (in
a format LDP accepts) to the author(s) and maintainer (could be the
same person). If you don't get a response then email the LDP
(Linux Documentation Project): submit@linuxdoc.org.
2. License the derivative work in the spirit of this license or use
GPL. Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the
license used.
3. Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors.
If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation,
it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current
maintainer.
1.3.2. Disclaimer
While I haven't intentionally tried to mislead you, there are likely a
number of errors in this document. Please let me know about them.
Since this is free documentation, it should be obvious that I cannot
be held legally responsible for any errors.
1.3.3. Trademarks.
Any brand names (starts with a capital letter) should be assumed to be
a trademark). Such trademarks belong to their respective owners.
"Hayes" is a trademark of Microcomputer Products Inc. I use
"winmodem" to mean any modem which requires MS-Windows and not in the
trademark sense. All other trademarks belong to their respective
owners.
1.3.4. Credits
The following is only a rough approximation of how this this document
(as of 2000) was created: About 1/4 of the material here was lifted
directly from Serial-HOWTO v. 1.11 (1997) by Greg Hankins.
<mailto:gregh@twoguys.org> (with his permission). About another 1/4
was taken from that Serial-HOWTO and revised. The remaining 1/2 is
newly created by the new author: David S. Lawyer
<mailto:dave@lafn.org>.
1.4. Contacting the Author
Since I don't follow the many different brands/models of modems please
don't email me with questions about them (or suggestions of which one
to buy). If you are interested in a certain model (to find out if it
works under Linux, etc.) see the huge list at ``Web Sites''. Also,
please don't ask me how to configure a modem unless you've looked over
this HOWTO and still can't do it. I've no personal experience with
software-based modems.
Please let me know of any errors in facts, opinions, logic, spelling,
grammar, clarity, links, etc. But first, if the date is over a month
old, check to see that you have the latest version. Please send me
any other info that you think belongs in this document.
1.5. New Versions of this HOWTO
New versions of this Modem-HOWTO come out every month or two since
modem situation is rapidly changing (and since I'm still learning).
Your problem might be solved in the latest version. It will be
available to browse and/or download at LDP mirror sites. For a list
of such sites see: <http://www.linuxdoc.org/mirrors.html> If you only
want to quickly compare the date of this the version v0.20, August
2001 with the date of the latest version go to:
<http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Modem-HOWTO.html>
1.6. New in Recent Versions
v0.20 August 2001: fixed typo: done->down, more linmodems v0.19 July
2001: Dialing Out while Waiting for a Call. Antique modems using
"CONNECT" to set DTE speed. v0.18 June 2001 new section: modem
doubling (bonding, teaming, multilink)
v0.17 April 2001 isapnp to pnpdump (with "dumpregs" option)
v0.16 March 2001 New url for winmodem.html, more obsolete protocols
v0.15 March 2001 Revision of Dial-In section (incl. problems with
agetty, interoperability with MS, VNC), blacklist, AT-cmds on
Internet, broken links fixed
1.7. What is a Modem ?
A modem is a device that lets one send digital signals over an
ordinary telephone line not designed for digital signals. If
telephone lines were all digital then you wouldn't need a modem. It
permits your computer to connect to and communicate with the rest of
the world. When you use a modem, you normally use a communication
program or web browser to utilize the modem and dial-out on a
telephone line. Advanced modem users can set things up so that others
may phone in to them and use their computer. This is called "dial-
in".
There are three basic types of modems for a PC: external, internal,
and built-in. The external sets on your desk outside the PC while the
other two types are not visible since they're inside the PC. The
external modem plugs into a connector on the back of the PC known as a
"serial port". The internal modem is a card that is inserted inside
the computer. The built-in modem is part of the motherboard and is
thus built into the computer. It's is just like an internal modem
except it can't be removed or replaced. As of 2001, built-in modems
are primarily for laptops. What is said in this HOWTO regarding
internal modems will generally apply also to built-in modems.
For a more detailed comparison see ``External vs. Internal''. When
you get an internal (or built-in) modem, you also get a dedicated
serial port (which can only be used with the modem and not with
anything else such as another modem or a printer). In Linux, the
serial ports are named ttyS0, ttyS1, etc. (usually corresponding
respectively to COM1, COM2, etc. in Dos/Windows).
The serial port is not to be confused with the "Universal Serial Bus"
(USB) which uses a special modular connector and may be used to
connect an external modem. See ``Modem & Serial Port Basics'' for
more details on modems and serial ports.
Modems usually include the ability to send Faxes (Fax Modems). See
``Fax'' for a list of fax software. "Voice" modems can work like an
automatic answering machine and handle voicemail. See ``Voicemail''.
1.8. Quick Install
1.8.1. External Modem Install
With a straight-thru or modem cable, connect the modem to an unused
serial port on the PC. Make sure you know the name of the serial
port: in most cases COM1 is ttyS0, COM2 is ttyS1, etc. You may need
to check the BIOS setup menu to determine this. Plug in the power
cord to provide power to the modem. See ``All Modems'' for further
instructions.
1.8.2. Internal Modems (ISA, PCI and AMR)
The first thing to do is to make sure that the modem will work under
Linux since (as of 2001) many modems don't. See modem list
<http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html>. If the modem is both
PnP and directly supported by the serial driver (kernel 2.4 +) then
there is no configuring for you to do since the driver will configure
it.
To physically install a modem card, remove the cover of the PC by
removing some screws (perhaps screw size 6-32 in the U.S.). Find a
matching vacant slot for it next to the other adapter cards. Before
inserting the card in the slot, remove a small cover plate on the back
of the PC so that the telephone jacks on the card will be accessible
from the rear of the PC. Then carefully align the card with the slot
and push the card all the way down into the slot. Attach the card
with a mounting screw (usually 3mm, .5mm pitch --don't use the wrong
size).
If you have a modem that is not a winmodem (see ``Software-based
Modems (winmodems)'') the serial driver may configure it for you and
you have nothing to do. This should be noted in the boot-time
messages (use dmesg to see them or shift-page-up after they have
flashed by).
But if you are not so lucky you may need to configure it yourself.
You first need to decide which ttySx to assign it to. Pick a ttySx
that is not already in use by other serial ports. Then you have the
problem of setting an IRQ number and IO address. For PnP modems: If
the BIOS has already set these in the physical device (which a PnP
BIOS will do if it thinks you don't have a PnP OS) then you need to
determine the IRQ and IO address and then tell this to "setserial".
In other cases you may have some choice of IRQs and IO addresses
(including the case where you are able to change what the BIOS has
set). See ``Choosing Serial IRQs'' and ``Choosing Addresses''. For
ISA modems there are standard IO addresses to use (corresponding to
the ttySx). PCI modems seem to use different IO addresses so as not
to conflict with ISA modems. For example you may find it feasible to
use /dev/ttyS2 at IO address 0x3e8 and IRQ 11.
1.8.3. ISA Modems: What IOs and IRQs may be used?
For old modems with jumpers look at the manual (or jumpers if they
say). If the BIOS has already configured the ISA modem then "pnpdump
--dumpregs" should show it. If you need to set or change them use
"isapnp". Use the "pnpdump" to see what changes are possible.
1.8.4. PCI (and AMR) Modems: What IOs and IRQs have been set?
For PCI, the BIOS almost always sets the IRQ and may set the IO
address as well. To see how it's set use "lspci -v" (best) or look in
/proc/bus/pci. The modem's serial port is called a "Communication
controller". If more than one IO address is shown, the first one is
more likely to be it. You can't change the IRQ (at least not with
"setpci") If you must, change the IO address with "setpci" by
changing the BASE_ADDRESS_0 or the like. The _0 (or _1) after
BASE_ADDRESS must be the correct register.
1.8.5. Both PCI and ISA: Use setserial to tell the driver
You must find the file where "setserial" is run at boot-time and add a
line something like: "setserial /dev/ttyS2 irq 5 port 0x0b8". For
setserial v2.15 and later the results of running "setserial" on the
command line may (or may not) be saved to /etc/serial.conf so that it
runs each time you boot. See ``What is Setserial'' for more info.
See the next subsection ``All Modems'' for further instructions on
quick installation.
1.8.6. Use MS Windows to set the BIOS (A last resort method)
If you are using the BIOS to configure you may use MS Windows9x to
"force" the BIOS to set a certain IRQ and/or IO. It can set them into
the PnP BIOS's flash memory where they will be used to configure for
Linux as well as Windows. See "Plug-and-Play-HOWTO and search for
"forced" (occurs in several places). For Windows3.x you can do the
same thing using the ICU under Windows 3.x. A few modems have a way
to disable PnP in the modem hardware using software (under Windows)
that came with the modem.
1.8.7. All Modems
Plug the modem into a telephone line. Then configure a communication
program such as minicom or a ppp program (such as wvdial). Set the
serial port speed to a baud rate a few times higher than the bit rate
of your modem. See ``Speed Table'' for more details on the "best"
speeds to use. Tell it the full name of your serial port such as
/dev/ttyS1. Set hardware flow control (RTS/CTS).
Minicom is the easiest to set up and to use to test your modem. But
if you are lucky you may get ppp to work the first time and not need
to bother with minicom. With minicom you may check to see if your
modem is there (and ready to dial). Once you've set up minicom, type
the command: AT, hit enter and you should see an "OK" response which
comes direct from the modem.
2. Modems for a Linux PC
2.1. External vs. Internal
A modem for a PC may be either internal or external. The internal one
is installed inside of your PC (you must remove screws, etc. to
install it) and the external one just plugs into a serial port
connector on a PC. Internal modems are less expensive, are less
likely to to suffer data loss due to buffer overrun, usually use less
electricity, and use up no space on your desk.
External modems are usually easier to install and usually require less
configuration. They have lights which may give you a clue as to what
is happening and aid in troubleshooting. The fact that the serial
port and modem can be physically separated also aids in
troubleshooting. External modems are easy to move to another
computer.
Unfortunately most external modems have no switch to turn off the
power supply when not in use and thus are likely to consume a little
electricity even when turned off (unless you unplug the power supply
from the wall). Each watt they draw usually costs you over $1/yr.
Another possible disadvantage of an external is that you will be
forced to use an existing serial port which may not support a speed of
over 115,200 bps (although as of late 1998 and late 2000 most new
internal modems don't either --but some do). If a new internal modem
had say a 16650 UART it would put less load on the CPU.
Internal modems present a special problem for Linux, but will work
just as well as external modems provided you avoid the ones that will
work only for MS Windows. Configuring them ranges from very easy
(automatically) to difficult depending on both the modem, your skills,
and how easy it is to find info about your modem --info that is not
all in this HOWTO. Some of the modems which will work only under MS
Windows due to lack of Linux drivers (for software modems). If you
buy a new one that you're not sure will work under Linux, try to get
an agreement that you can return it for a refund if it doesn't work
out.
While most new modems are plug-and-play you have various ways to deal
with the PnP configuring:
� The serial driver does it all for you (more likely for a PCI modem)
� Use the "isapnp" program
� Let a PnP BIOS do the configuring
The last 2 items of the above have shortcomings. Isapnp
documentation is difficult to understand although reading the Plug-
and-Play-HOWTO (long) will aid in understanding it. If you want
the PnP BIOS to do the configuring, all you need to do is to make
sure that it knows that you don't have a PnP operating system. But
it may not do it correctly and you may need to find out what it's
done see ``What is set in my serial port hardware?''.
In the late 1990s many Linux users said that it's a lot simpler just
to get an external modem and plug it in. But if you get the right
internal modem it may be just as easy.
2.2. External Modems
2.2.1. PnP External Modems
Many external modems are labeled "Plug and Play" (PnP) but they should
all work fine as non-PnP modems. While the serial port itself may
need to be configured (IRQ number and IO address) unless the default
configuration is OK an external modem uses no such IRQ/IO
configuration. You just plug the modem into the serial port. Since
you usually plug the modem into a serial port (and connect it to
power).
How can an external modem be called PnP since it can't be configured
by PnP? Well, it has a special PnP identification built into it that
can be read (thru the serial port) by a PnP operating system. Such an
operating system would then know that you have a modem on a certain
port and would also know the id number. Then you might not need to
configure application programs by telling them what port the modem is
on (such as /dev/ttyS2 or COM3). But since you don't have such a PnP
operating system you may need to configure your application program
manually by giving it the /dev id (such as /dev/ttyS2). Some programs
can probe for a modem on various ports.
2.2.2. Cabling & Installation
Connecting an external modem is simple compared to connecting most
other devices to a serial port that require various types of "null
modem" cables (which will not work for modems). Modems use straight
through cable, with no pins crossed over. Most computer stores should
have this. Make sure you get the correct gender and number of pins.
Hook up your modem to one of your serial ports. If you are willing to
accept the default IRQ and IO address of the port you connect it to,
then you are ready to start your communication program and configure
the modem itself.
2.2.3. What the Lights (LED's) Mean (for some external modems)
� TM Test Modem
� AA Auto Answer (If on, your modem will answer an incoming call)
� RD Receive Data line = RxD
� SD Send Data line = TxD
� TR data Terminal Ready = DTR (set by your PC)
� RI Ring Indicator (If on, someone is "ringing" your modem)
� OH Off Hook (If off, your modem has hung up the phone line)
� MR Modem Ready = DSR ??
� EC Error Correction
� DC Data Compression
� HS High Speed (for this modem)
2.3. Internal Modems
An internal modem is installed in a PC by taking off the cover of the
PC and inserting the modem card into a vacant slot on the motherboard.
There are modems for the ISA slots and others for the PCI slots. Some
new PC don't have any ISA slots. While external modems plug into the
serial port (via a short cable) the internal modems have the serial
port built into the modem. In other words, the modem card is both a
serial port and a modem.
Setting the IO address and IRQ for a serial port was formerly done by
jumpers on the card. These are little black rectangular "cubes" about
5x4x2 mm in size which push in over pins on the card. Plug-and-Play
modems (actually the serial port part of the modems) don't use jumpers
for setting these but instead are configured by sending configuration
commands to them over the bus inside the computer. Such configuration
commands can be sent by a PnP BIOS, by the isapnp program (for the ISA
bus only), or by newer serial device drivers for certain modems.
Under Linux you may have a choice of how to configure the ones that
don't get io-irq configured by the serial driver.
1. ISA bus modems: Use "isapnp" which may be run automatically at
every boot-time
2. Let a PnP BIOS do it, and then maybe tell setserial the IO and IRQ
2.4.
Software-based Modems (winmodems, linmodems)
2.4.1. Introduction software modems (winmodems)
Software modems turn over some (or even almost all) of the work of the
modem to the main processor (CPU) chip of your computer (such as a
Pentium chip). This requires special software (a modem driver) to do
the job. Until late 1999, such software was released only for MS
Windows and wouldn't work with Linux. Even worse was that the maker
of the modem kept the interface to the modem secret so that no one
could write a Linux driver for it (even though a few volunteers were
willing to write Linux drivers). With few exceptions, this is still
true today (late 2000). Also, there is no standard interface so that
different brands/models of software-modems need different drivers
(unless the different brands/models happen to use the same chipset
internally).
A third name for a software modem (used by MS) is "driver-based
modem". The conventional hardware-based modem (that works with Linux)
doesn't need a modem driver (but does use the Linux serial driver)
After about mid-1998 most new internal modems were winmodems and would
work only for MS Windows. That situation is changing.
2.4.2. Linmodems
Finally in late 1999 two software-based modems appeared that could
work under Linux and were sometimes called "linmodems". Lucent
Technologies (LT) unofficially released a Linux binary-only code to
support most of its PCI modems. PC-TEL (includes "Zoltrix")
introduced a new software-based modem for Linux. There is a GPL'ed
driver for Intel's (Modem Silicon Operations) MD563x HaM chipset (nee
Ambient division of Cirrus Logic). Will other companies follow these
leads and thus create "linmodems"? Yes. As of mid-2001 there are
drivers for: Conexant HSF, Motorola SM56, ESS (ISA only), and IBM's
Mwave for Thinkpads 600+.
What percent of winmodems now (2001) work under Linux? Well, there's
a lot of modem chips not supported: Lucent/Agere ARM (Scorpio),
3COM/US Robotics, Conexant HCF, some SmartLink (3 different chipsets),
Ambient HSP, and possibly others. But there may be some support for
these by the time you read this. So over half the chips seem to be
supported. But what percentages of such chips sold will work with
Linux? I'm guessing it's somewhat over 50%. Let me know if you find
an estimate.
For a list of modems which work/don't_work under Linux see modem list
<http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html>. Links to "linmodem"
drivers may also be found there. A project to get winmodems to work
under Linux is at <http://linmodems.org>. They also have a mailing
list.
Be warned in advance that determining if your modem is a linmodem may
or may not be easy. You may need to first find out what chipset you
have and who makes it. Just knowing the brand and model number of
your modem may not be sufficient. There are complex ways to find this
out using say "lspci" (more than once) and then looking up chip maker
using the long modem number. This requires checking a database or
searching the Internet. It's not always simple. It could happen that
you will put a fair amount of effort into this only to get the bad
news that your modem isn't supported.
There is some effort underway at reverse-engineering with at least one
report of a winmodem that has been made to work under Linux (but not
yet with full functionality). So by the time you read this there may
be more linmodems.
For details of how to get some winmodems to work under Linux see the
Linmodem-HOWTO (and/or Winmodems-and-Linux-HOWTO which is not as well
written). If code is made available to operate a "winmodem" under
Linux, then one may call it a "linmodem". Is it still a "winmodem"?
Well, it's still a software-based modem. The term "Winmodem" is also
a trademark for a certain model of "winmodem".
2.4.3. Software-based modem types
There are two basic types of software modems. In one type the
software does almost all of the work. The other is where the software
only does the "control" operations (which is everything except
processing the digital waveshapes --to be explained later). Since the
hardware doesn't do the control it's called a "controllerless" modem.
The first type is an all-software modem (sometimes just called a
software modem).
For both of these types there must be analog hardware in the modem to
generate an electrical waveshape to send out the phone line. It's
generated from a digital signal (which is sort of a "digital
waveshape"). It's something like the digital electronics creates a
lot of discrete points on graph paper and then the modem draws a
smooth curve thru them. There must also be hardware to convert the
incoming waveshape to digital. Then this digital waveshape must be
converted to a data byte stream. The modem can't just send this data
byte stream to the PC but must first do decompression, error
correction, and convert from serial to the parallel bus of the
computer.
The difference between the two types of software-based modems is where
these digital waveshapes are processed (generated and interpreted).
In the all-software modem this waveshape processing is done in the CPU
using a Host Signal Processor (HSP). In the controllerless modem it's
done in the modem but all other digital work is done by the CPU (data
compression, AT-commands, etc.) For example the Rockwell HCF (Host
Controlled Family) does this. If the software that does these tasks
could be ported to Linux and then there wouldn't be a major problem.
2.4.4. Is this modem a software modem?
How do you determine if an internal modem will work under Linux?
First see if the name, description of it, or even the name of the MS
Windows driver for it indicates it's a software modem: HSP, HCF, HSF,
controllerless, host-controlled, host-based, and soft-... modem. If
it's one of these modem it will only work for the few cases (so far)
where a Linux driver is available.
If you don't know the model of the modem and you also have Windows on
your Linux PC, click on the "Modem" icon in the "Control Panel". Then
check out the modem list (see ``Web Sites''. If the above doesn't
work (or isn't feasible), you can look at the package it came in (or a
manual) find the section on the package that says something like
"Minimum System Requirements" or just "System Requirements". It may
be in fine print. Read it closely.
If it requires a Pentium CPU, then almost all of it's work is done by
software and it's not likely to work under Linux. If it requires a
486 CPU (or better) then it's likely a host-controlled modem that will
work only if there exists a Linux driver for it. Saying that it only
works with Windows is also bad news. However, even in this case there
may be a Linux driver for it.
Otherwise, it may work under Linux (without a driver) if it fails to
state explicitly that you must have Windows. By saying it's "designed
for Windows" it may only mean that it fully supports Microsoft's plug-
and-play which is OK since Linux uses the same plug-and-play specs
(but it's harder to configure under Linux). Being "designed for
Windows" thus gives no clue as to whether or not it will work under
Linux. You might check the Website of the manufacturer or inquire via
email. Some manufacturers are specifically stating that certain
models work under Linux.
2.4.5. Should I get a software modem?
Only if you know there is a Linux driver for it that works OK.
Besides the problems of getting a driver, what are the pros and cons
of software modems? Since the software modem uses the CPU to do some
(or all) of its work, the software modem requires less on-board
electronics and thus costs less. At the same time, the CPU work load
is increased by the modem which may result in slower operation.
The percentage of loading of the CPU by the modem depends on both what
CPU you have and whether or not it's an all-software modem. For a
modern CPU and a modem that only uses the CPU as a controller, there's
little loss of performance. In most other cases, you will not suffer
a loss of performance if there are no other CPU-intensive tasks are
running at the same time. Of course, when you're not using the
software modem there is no degradation in performance at all.
Is the cost savings worth it? In many cases yes, especially if you
don't use the modem much and/or are not running any other CPU
intensive tasks when the modem is in use. The savings in modem cost
could be used for a better CPU which would speed things up a little.
But the on-board electronics of a modem can do the job more
efficiently than a general purpose CPU (except that it's not efficient
when it's not in use). So if you use the modem a lot it's probably
better to avoid software modems (and then you can use a less powerful
CPU :-).
2.5. PCI Modems
A PCI modem card is one which inserts into a PCI-bus slot on the
motherboard of a PC. While many PCI winmodems will not work under
Linux (no driver available) other PCI modems will work under Linux.
The Linux serial driver is being modified to support certain PCI modem
cards (but not winmodems). If the Linux serial driver supports it
then the driver will set up the PnP configuration for you. See ``PCI
Bus Support Underway'' If no special support is in the Linux serial
driver it may still work OK but you have to do some work to configure
it.
2.6. AMR Modems
These are all winmodems that insert into a special AMR (Audio Modem
Riser) slot on the motherboard. Audio cards are sometimes used in
this slot. The slot's main use is for HSF type modems where the CPU
does almost all of the work. This results in a small modem card and
thus a short AMR slot. Such a "modem" is actually little more than a
codec which transforms digital signals representing an analog voltage
wave into the analog wave itself (and conversely). Linux supports at
least one of them.
2.7. Which Internal Modems might not work with Linux
� ``Software-based Modems (winmodems)'' Only roughly half have a
Linux driver available.
� ``MWave and DSP Modems'' might work, but only if you first start
Windows/Dos each time you power on your PC
� Modems with ``RPI (Rockwell)'' drivers work but with reduced
performance
2.7.1. MWave and DSP Modems
Note that there's now a Linux driver for the ACP (Mwave) modem used in
IBM Thinkpads 600+. See the mini-HOWTO: ACP-Modem.
Such modems use DSPs (Digital Signal Processors) which are programmed
by driver which must be downloaded from the hard disk to the DSPs
memory just before using the modem. Unfortunately, such downloading
is normally done by Dos/Windows programs (which doesn't work for
Linux). But there has been substantial success in getting some of
these modems to work with Linux. For example, there is a Linux driver
available to run a Lucent (DSP) modem.
Ordinary modems that work fine with Linux (without needing a driver
for the modem) often have a DSP too (and may mention this on the
packaging), but the program that runs the DSP is stored inside the
modem. This is not a "DSP modem" in the sense of this section. An
example of a DSP modem is the old IBM's Aptiva MWAVE.
If a DSP modem modem simulates a serial port, then it may be usable
with Linux provided you're willing/able to boot from DOS. You must
have Dos/Windows on the same PC. You first install the driver under
DOS (using DOS and not Window drivers). Then start Dos/Windows and
start the driver for the modem so as to program the DSP. Then without
turning off the computer, go into Linux.
One may write a "batch" file (actually a script) to do this. Here is
an example but you must modify it to suit your situation.
rem mwave is a batch file supplied by the modem maker
call c:\mww\dll\mwave start
rem loadlin.exe is a DOS program that will boot Linux from DOS (See
rem Config-HOWTO).
c:\linux\loadlin f:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 ro
One may create an icon for the Window's desktop which points to such a
batch file and set the icon properties to "Run in MSDOS Mode". Then
by clicking on this icon one sets up the modem and goes to Linux.
Another possible way to boot Linux from DOS is to press CTRL-ALT-DEL
and tell it to reboot (assuming that you have set things up so that
you can boot directly into Linux). The modem remains on the same com
port (same IO address) that it used under DOS.
The Newcom ifx modem needs a small kernel patch to work correctly
since its simulation of a serial port is non-standard. The patch and
other info for using this modem with Linux is at
<http://maalox.pharmacy.ohio-state.edu/~ejolson/linux/newcom.html>.
2.7.2. Rockwell (RPI) Drivers
Some older Rockwell chips need Rockwell RPI (Rockwell Protocol
Interface) drivers. They can still be used with Linux even though the
driver software works only under MS Windows. This is because the MS
Windows software which you don't have does only compression and error
correction. If you are willing to operate the modem without
compression and error correction then it's feasible to use it with
Linux. To do this you will need to disable RPI by sending the modem
(via the initialization string) a "RPI disable" command each time you
power on your modem. On my modem this command was +H0. Not having
data compression available makes it slower to get webpages but is just
as fast when downloading files that are already compressed.
3. Modem Pools, Digital Modems
A modem pool is a number of modems on the same card (such as a
multiport modem card) or many modems in an external chassis (something
like an external modem). The modems may be analog modems similar to
modems used for home/office PCs (can't send at 56k even if they are
"56k modems"). They also could be "digital modems" which can send at
nearly 56k (if you have a good line). The "digital modems" require a
digital connection to the telephone line and don't use any serial
ports at all. All of these modem pools will require that you install
special drivers for them.
3.1. Analog Modem Pools, Multiport Modem Cards
These are just many analog modems (the common home/office modem)
provided either on a plug-in card or in an external chassis. Each
modem comes with a built-in serial port. There is usually a system of
sharing interrupts or of handling interrupts by their own electronics,
thus removing much of this burden from the CPU. Note that these
modems are not "digital modems" and will thus not be able to use 56k
for people who dial-in.
Here is a list of some companies that make multiport modem cards. 8
modems/card is common. The cards listed claim to work with Linux and
the websites should point you to a driver for them.
Multiport Modem Cards:
� MultiModemISI by Multi-Tech Systems. 56k or 33.6k, PCI or ISA, 4
or 8 ports. ISDN/56k hybrids.
<http://www.multitech.com/products/>
� RAStel by Moreton Bay Products. 56k PCI or ISA, 4 or 8 ports. Also
2 modems + 2 vacant serial ports.
<http://www.moretonbay.com.au/MBWEB/product/rastel/rastel.htm>
� RocketModem by Comtrol. ISA 33.6k, 4 or 8 port.
<http://www.comtrol.com/SALES/SPECS/Rmodem.htm>
� AccelePort (RAS Family) by Digi.
<http:/www.dgii.com/digi.cfm?p=940564.pi.prd.00000046>
3.2. Digital Modems
"digital modems" are much different than the analog modems that most
people use in their PCs. They require a digital connection to the
telephone line and don't use serial ports for the interface to the
computer. Instead, they interface directly to the PC bus via a
special card (which may also contain the "digital modems"). They are
able to send at near 56k, something no analog modem can do. They are
often a component of "remote access servers" (RASs) or "digital modem
pools"
The cables from the phone company that carry digital signals have been
designed for high bandwidth so that the same cable carries multiple
telephone calls. It's done by "time-division multiplexing". So the
first task to be done is to separate the phone calls and send each
phone call to its own "digital modem". There is also the task in the
reverse direction of combining all of the calls onto a single line.
These tasks are done by what is sometimes called a "...
concentrator".
The digital modem gets the digital signal from the telephone company.
It converts the waveshape it represents back to the same data bytes
that were sent from the sending PC. It puts these bytes on its bus
(likely sending it to a buffer in memory). Likewise, it handles
sending digital signals in the opposite direction to a digital
telephone line. Thus it only makes digital-to-digital conversions and
doesn't deal in analog at all. It thus is not really a modem at all
since it doesn't modulate any analog carrier. So the name "digital
modem" is a misnomer but it does do the job formerly done by modems.
Thus some "digital modems" call themselves "digital signal
processors", or "remote access servers", etc. and may not even mention
the word "modem". This is technically correct terminology.
Such a system may be a stand-alone proprietary server, a chassis
containing digital modems that connects to a PC via a special
interface card, or just a card itself. Digi calls one such card a
"remote access server concentrator adapter". One incomplete
description of what is needed to become an ISP is: See What do I need
to be an ISP?. Cyclades promotes their own products here so please do
comparison shopping before buying anything.
4. Serial Port and Modem Basics
You don't have to understand the basics to use and install a modem.
But understanding it may help to determine what is wrong if you run
into problems. After reading this section, if you want to understand
it even better you may want to see ``How Modems Work'' in this
document (not yet complete). More details on the serial port
(including much of this section) will be found in Serial-HOWTO.
4.1. Modem Converts Digital to Analog (and conversely)
Most all telephone main lines are digital already but the lines
leading to your house (or business) are usually analog which means
that they were designed to transmit a voltage wave which is an exact
replica of the sound wave coming out of your mouth. Such a voltage
wave is called "analog". If viewed on an oscilloscope it looks like a
sine wave of varying frequency and amplitude. A digital signal is
like a square wave. For example 3 v (volts) might be a 1-bit and 0 v
could be a 0-bit. For most serial ports (used by external modems) +12
v is a 0-bit and -12 v is a 1-bit (some are + or - 5 v).
To send data from your computer over the phone line, the modem takes
the digital signal from your computer and converts it to "analog". It
does this by both creating an analog sine wave and then "MODulating"
it. Since the result still represents digital data, it could also be
called a digital signal instead of analog. But it looks something
like an analog signal and almost everyone calls it analog. At the
other end of the phone line another modem "DEModulates" this signal
and the pure digital signal is recovered. Put together the "mod" and
"dem" parts of the two words above and you get "modem" (if you drop
one of the two d's). A "modem" is thus a MODulator-DEModulator. Just
what modulation is may be found in the section ``Modulation Details''.
4.2. What is a Serial Port ?
4.2.1. Intro to Serial
The serial port is an I/O (Input/Output) device. Since modems have a
serial port between them and the computer, it's necessary to
understand the serial port as well as the modem.
Most PC's have one or two serial ports. Each has a 9-pin connector
(sometimes 25-pin) on the back of the computer. Computer programs can
send data (bytes) to the transmit pin (output) and receive bytes from
the receive pin (input). The other pins are for control purposes and
ground.
The serial port is much more than just a connector. It converts the
data from parallel to serial and changes the electrical representation
of the data. Inside the computer, data bits flow in parallel (using
many wires at the same time). Serial flow is a stream of bits over a
single wire (such as on the transmit or receive pin of the serial
connector). For the serial port to create such a flow, it must
convert data from parallel (inside the computer) to serial on the
transmit pin (and conversely).
Most of the electronics of the serial port is found in a computer chip
(or a part of a chip) known as a UART. For more details on UARTs see
the section "What are UARTS" in the Serial-HOWTO.
But you may want to finish this section first so that you will
hopefully understand how the UART fits into the overall scheme of
things.
4.2.2. Pins and Wires
Old PC's used 25 pin connectors but only about 9 pins were actually
used so today most connectors are only 9-pin. Each of the 9 pins
usually connects to a wire. Besides the two wires used for
transmitting and receiving data, another pin (wire) is signal ground.
The voltage on any wire is measured with respect to this ground. Thus
the minimum number of wires to use for 2-way transmission of data is
3. Except that it has been known to work with no signal ground wire
but with degraded performance and sometimes with errors.
There are still more wires which are for control purposes (signalling)
only and not for sending bytes. All of these signals could have been
shared on a single wire, but instead, there is a separate dedicated
wire for every type of signal. Some (or all) of these control wires
are called "modem control lines". Modem control wires are either in
the asserted state (on) of +12 volts or in the negated state (off) of
-12 volts. One of these wires is to signal the computer to stop
sending bytes out the serial port cable. Conversely, another wire
signals the device attached to the serial port to stop sending bytes
to the computer. If the attached device is a modem, other wires may
tell the modem to hang up the telephone line or tell the computer that
a connection has been made or that the telephone line is ringing
(someone is attempting to call in). See the Serial-HOWTO: Pinout and
Signals for more details.
4.2.3. Internal Modem Contains Serial Port
For an internal modem there is no 9-pin connector but the behavior is
almost exactly as if the above mentioned cable wires existed. Instead
of a a 12 volt signal in a wire giving the state of a modem control
line, the internal modem may just use a status bit in its own memory
(a register) to determine the state of this non-existent "wire". The
internal modem's serial port looks just like a real serial port to the
computer. It even includes the speed limits that one may set at
ordinary serial ports such as 115200 bits/sec. Unfortunately for
Linux, many internal modems today don't work exactly this way but
instead use software (running on the CPU) to do much of the modem's
work. Unfortunately, such software is often only available for the MS
Windows OS (it hasn't been ported to Linux). Thus you can't use most
of these modems with Linux See ``Software-based Modems (winmodems)''.
4.3. IO Address & IRQ
Since the computer needs to communicate with each serial port, the
operating system must know that each serial port exists and where it
is (its I/O address). It also needs to know which wire (IRQ number)
the serial port must use to request service from the computer's CPU.
It requests service by sending an interrupt on this wire. Thus every
serial port device must store in its non-volatile memory both its I/O
address and its Interrupt ReQuest number: IRQ. See ``Interrupts''.
For the PCI bus it doesn't work exactly this way since the PCI bus has
its own system of interrupts. But since the PCI-aware BIOS sets up
chips to map these PCI interrupts to IRQs, it seemingly behaves just
as described above except that sharing of interrupts is allowed (2 or
more devices may use the same IRQ number).
I/O addresses are not the same as memory addresses. When an I/O
addresses is put onto the computer's address bus, another wire is
energized. This both tells main memory to ignore the address and
tells all devices which have I/O addresses (such as the serial port)
to listen to the address to see if it matches the device's. If the
address matches, then the I/O device reads the data on the data bus.
4.4. Names: ttyS0, ttyS1, etc.
The serial ports are named ttyS0, ttyS1, etc. (and usually correspond
respectively to COM1, COM2, etc. in DOS/Windows). The /dev directory
has a special file for each port. Type "ls /dev/ttyS*" to see them.
Just because there may be (for example) a ttyS3 file, doesn't
necessarily mean that there exists a physical serial port there.
Which one of these names (ttyS0, ttyS1, etc.) refers to which physical
serial port is determined as follows. The serial driver (software)
maintains a table showing which I/O address corresponds to which ttyS.
This mapping of names (such as ttyS1) to I/O addresses (and IRQ's) may
be both set and viewed by the "setserial" command. See ``What is
Setserial''. This does not set the I/O address and IRQ in the
hardware itself (which is set by jumpers or by plug-and-play
software). Thus what physical port corresponds to say ttyS1 depends
both on what the serial driver thinks (per setserial) and what is set
in the hardware. If a mistake has been made, the physical port may
not correspond to any name (such as ttyS2) and thus it can't be used.
See ``Serial Port Devices /dev/ttyS2, etc.'' for more details>
4.5. Interrupts
Bytes come in over the phone line to the modem, are converted from
analog to digital by the modem and passed along to the serial port on
their way to their destination inside your computer. When the serial
port receives a number of bytes (may be set to 1, 4, 8, or 14) into
its FIFO buffer, it signals the CPU to fetch them by sending an
electrical signal known as an interrupt on a certain wire normally
used only by that port. Thus the FIFO waits for a number of bytes and
then issues an interrupt.
However, this interrupt will also be sent if there is an unexpected
delay while waiting for the next byte to arrive (known as a timeout).
Thus if the bytes are being received slowly (such as someone typing on
a terminal keyboard) there may be an interrupt issued for every byte
received. For some UART chips the rule is like this: If 4 bytes in a
row could have been received, but none of these 4 show up, then the
port gives up waiting for more bytes and issues an interrupt to fetch
the bytes currently in the FIFO. Of course, if the FIFO is empty, no
interrupt will be issued.
Each interrupt conductor (inside the computer) has a number (IRQ) and
the serial port must know which conductor to use to signal on. For
example, ttyS0 normally uses IRQ number 4 known as IRQ4 (or IRQ 4). A
list of them and more will be found in "man setserial" (search for
"Configuring Serial Ports"). Interrupts are issued whenever the
serial port needs to get the CPU's attention. It's important to do
this in a timely manner since the buffer inside the serial port can
hold only 16 (1 in old serial ports) incoming bytes. If the CPU fails
to remove such received bytes promptly, then there will not be any
space left for any more incoming bytes and the small buffer may
overflow (overrun) resulting in a loss of data bytes.
For an external modem, there is no way (such as flow control) to stop
the flow rapidly enough to prevent this. For an internal modem the
16-byte FIFO buffer is on the same card and a good modem will not
write to it if it's full. Thus a good internal modem will not overrun
the 16-byte buffers but it may need to use ``Modem-to-Modem Flow
Control'' to prevent the modem itself from being overrun. This is one
advantage of an internal modem over an external.
Interrupts are also issued when the serial port has just sent out all
16 of its bytes from its small transmit buffer out the external cable.
It then has space for 16 more outgoing bytes. The interrupt is to
notify the CPU of that fact so that it may put more bytes in the small
transmit buffer to be transmitted. Also, when a modem control line
changes state an interrupt is issued.
The buffers mentioned above are all hardware buffers. The serial port
also has large buffers in main memory. This will be explained later
Interrupts convey a lot of information but only indirectly. The
interrupt itself just tells a chip called the interrupt controller
that a certain serial port needs attention. The interrupt controller
then signals the CPU. The CPU runs a special program to service the
serial port. That program is called an interrupt service routine
(part of the serial driver software). It tries to find out what has
happened at the serial port and then deals with the problem such a
transferring bytes from (or to) the serial port's hardware buffer.
This program can easily find out what has happened since the serial
port has registers at IO addresses known to the the serial driver
software. These registers contain status information about the serial
port. The software reads these registers and by inspecting the
contents, finds out what has happened and takes appropriate action.
4.6. Data Compression (by the Modem)
Before continuing with the basics of the serial port, one needs to
understand about something done by the modem: data compression. In
some cases this task is actually done by software run on the
computer's CPU but unfortunately at present, such software only works
for MS Windows. The discussion here will be for the case where the
modem itself does the compression since this is what must happen in
order for the modem to work under Linux.
In order to send data faster over the phone line, one may compress
(encode it) using a custom encoding scheme which itself depends on the
data. The encoded data is smaller than the original (less bytes) and
can be sent over the Internet in less time. This process is called
"data compression".
If you download files from the Internet, they are likely already
compressed and it is not feasible for the modem to try to compress
them further. Your modem may sense that what is passing thru has
already been compressed and refrain from trying a compress it any
more. If you are receiving data which has been compressed by the
other modem, your modem will decompress it and create many more bytes
than were sent over the phone line. Thus the flow of data from your
modem into your computer will be higher than the flow over the phone
line to you. The ratio of this flow is called the compression ratio.
Compression ratios as high as 4 are possible, but not very likely.
4.7. Error Correction
Similar to data compression, modems may be set to do error correction.
While there is some overhead cost involved which slows down the
byte/sec flow rate, the fact that error correction strips off start
and stop bits actually increases the data byte/sec flow rate.
For the serial port's interface with the external world, each 8-bit
byte has 2 extra bits added to it: a start-bit and a stop-bit.
Without error correction, these extra start and stop bits usually go
right thru the modem and out over the phone lines. But when error
correction is enabled, these extra bits are stripped off and the 8-bit
bytes are put into packets. This is more efficient and results in
higher byte/sec flow in spite of the fact that there are a few more
bytes added for packet headers and error correction purposes.
4.8. Data Flow (Speeds)
Data (bytes representing letters, pictures, etc.) flows from your
computer to your modem and then out on the telephone line (and
conversely). Flow rates (such as 56k (56000) bits/sec) are
(incorrectly) called "speed". But almost everyone says "speed"
instead of "flow rate". If there were no data compression the flow
rate from the computer to the modem would be about the same as the
flow rate over the telephone line.
Actually there are two different speeds to consider at your end of the
phone line:
� The speed on the phone line itself (DCE speed) modem-to-modem
� The speed from your computer's serial port to your modem (DTE
speed)
When you dial out and connect to another modem on the other end of the
phone line, your modem often sends you a message like "CONNECT 28800"
or "CONNECT 115200". What do these mean? Well, its either the DCE
speed or the DTE speed. If it's higher than the advertised modem speed
it must be the DTE modem-to-computer speed. This is the case for the
115200 speed shown above. The 28800 must be a DCE (modem-to-modem)
speed since the serial port has no such speed. One may configure the
modem to report either speed. Some modems report both speeds and
report the modem-to-modem speed as (for example): CARRIER 28800.
If you have an internal modem you would not expect that there would be
any speed limit on the DTE speed from your modem to your computer
since you modem is inside your computer and is almost part of your
computer. But there is since the modem contains a dedicated serial
port within it.
It's important to understand that the average speed is often less than
the specified speed, especially on the short DTE computer-to-modem
line. Waits (or idle time) result in a lower average speed. These
waits may include long waits of perhaps a second due to ``Flow
Control''. At the other extreme there may be very short waits (idle
time) of several micro-seconds separating the end of one byte and the
start of the next byte. In addition, modems will fallback to lower
speeds if the telephone line conditions are less than pristine.
For a discussion of what DTE speed is best to use see section ``What
Speed Should I Use''.
4.9. Flow Control
Flow control means the ability to slow down the flow of bytes in a
wire. For serial ports this means the ability to stop and then
restart the flow without any loss of bytes. Flow control is needed
for modems to allow a jump in instantaneous flow rates.
4.9.1. Example of Flow Control
For example, consider the case where you connect a 36.6k external
modem via a short cable to your serial port. The modem sends and
receives bytes over the phone line at 36.6k bits per second (bps).
Assume it's not doing any data compression or error correction. You
have set the serial port speed to 115,200 bits/sec (bps), and you are
sending data from your computer to the phone line. Then the flow from
the your computer to your modem over the short cable is at 115.2k bps.
However the flow from your modem out the phone line is only 33.6k bps.
Since a faster flow (115.2k) is going into your modem than is coming
out of it, the modem is storing the excess flow (115.2k -33.6k = 81.6k
bps) in one of its buffers. This buffer would soon overrun (run out
of free storage space) unless the high 115.2k flow is stopped.
But now flow control comes to the rescue. When the modem's buffer is
almost full, the modem sends a stop signal to the serial port. The
serial port passes on the stop signal on to the device driver and the
115.2k bps flow is halted. Then the modem continues to send out data
at 33.6k bps drawing on the data it previous accumulated in its
buffer. Since nothing is coming into the buffer, the level of bytes
in it starts to drop. When almost no bytes are left in the buffer,
the modem sends a start signal to the serial port and the 115.2k flow
from the computer to the modem resumes. In effect, flow control
creates an average flow rate in the short cable (in this case 33.6k)
which is significantly less than the "on" flow rate of 115.2k bps.
This is "start-stop" flow control.
In the above simple example it was assumed that the modem did no data
compression. This would be true when the modem is sending a file
which is already compressed and can't be compressed further. Now
let's consider the opposite extreme where the modem is compressing the
data with a high compression ratio. In such a case the modem might
need an input flow rate of say 115.2k bps to provide an output (to the
phone line) of 33.6k bps (compressed data). The compression ratio is
3.43 (115.2/33.6) which is much higher than average. In this case the
modem is able to compress and the 115.2 bps PC-to-modem flow and send
the same data out on the phone line at 33.6bps. There's no need for
flow control here. But such a high compression ratio rarely happens
so that most of the time flow control is needed to slow down the flow
on the 115.2 bps PC-to-modem cable. The flow is stopped and started
so that the average flow is usually well under the "on" flow of 115.2
bps.
In the above example the modem was an external modem. But the same
situation exists (as of late 2000) for most internal modems. There is
still a speed limit on the PC-to-modem speed even though this flow
doesn't take place over an external cable. This makes the internal
modems compatible with the external modems.
In the above example of flow control the flow was from the computer to
a modem. But there is also flow control which is used for the
opposite direction of flow: from a modem (or other device) to a
computer. Each direction of flow involve 3 buffers: 1. in the modem
2. in the UART chip (called FIFOs) 3. in main memory managed by the
serial driver. Flow control protects certain buffers from
overflowing. The small UART FIFO buffers are not protected in this
way but rely instead on a fast response to the interrupts they issue.
FIFO stand for "First In, First Out" which is the way it handles
bytes. All the 3 buffers use the FIFO rule but only one of them also
uses it as a name. This is the essence of flow control but there are
still some more details.
You don't often need flow control in the direction from the modem to a
PC. For complex example of a case where it's needed see "Complex Flow
Control Example" in the Serial-HOWTO. But if you don't have a high
enough speed set between the modem and the computer (serial port
speed) then you do need to slow down the flow coming into the modem
from the telephone line. To do this your modem must tell the other
modem to stop sending. See ``Modem-to-Modem Flow Control''.
4.9.2. Hardware vs. Software Flow Control
If feasible it's best to use "hardware" flow control that uses two
dedicated "modem control" wires to send the "stop" and "start"
signals. Modern modems almost always use hardware flow control
between the modem and the serial port.
Software flow control uses the main receive and transmit wires to send
the start and stop signals. It uses the ASCII control characters DC1
(start) and DC3 (stop) for this purpose. They are just inserted into
the regular stream of data. Software flow control is not only slower
in reacting but also does not allow the sending of binary data unless
special precautions are taken. Since binary data will likely contain
DC1 and DC3, special means must be taken to distinguish between a DC3
that means a flow control stop and a DC3 that is part of the binary
code. Likewise for DC1. To get software flow control to work for
binary data requires both modem (hardware) and software support
4.9.3. Symptoms of No Flow Control
Understanding flow-control theory can be of practical use. For
example I used my modem to access the Internet and it seemed to work
fine. But after a few months I tried to send long files from my PC to
an ISP and a huge amount of retries and errors resulted (but
eventually Kermit could send a long file after many retries).
Receiving in the other direction (from my ISP to me) worked fine. The
problem turned out to be a modem with broken flow control. My modem's
buffer was overflowing (overrunning) on long outgoing files since no
"stop" signal was ever sent to the computer to halt sending to the
modem. There was no problem in the direction from the modem to my
computer since the capacity (say 115.2k) was always higher than the
flow over the telephone line. The fix was to enable flow control by
putting into the init string an enable-flow-control command for the
modem. (It should have been enabled by default but something was
wrong).
4.9.4. Modem-to-Modem Flow Control
This is the flow control of the data sent over the telephone lines
between two modems. Practically speaking, it only exists when you
have error correction enabled. Actually, even without error
correction it's possible to enable software flow control between
modems but it may interfere with sending binary data so it's not often
used.
4.10. Data Flow Path; Buffers
Much has been explained about this including flow control, a pair of
16-byte FIFO buffers (in the UART), and a pair of larger buffers
inside a device connected to the serial port (such as a modem. But
there is still another pair of buffers. These are large buffers
(perhaps 8k) in main memory also known as serial port buffers. When
an application program sends bytes to the serial port (and modem) they
first get stashed in the the transmit serial port buffer in main
memory. The pair consists of both this transmit buffer and a receive
buffer for the opposite direction of byte-flow. Here's an example
diagram for the case of browsing the Internet with a browser.
Transmit data flow is left to right while receive flow is right to
left.
application 8k-byte 16-byte 1k-byte tele-
BROWSER ------- MEMORY -------- UART --------- MODEM -------- phone
program buffer buffer buffer line
The serial device driver takes out say 16 bytes from this transmit
buffer, one byte at a time and puts them into the 16-byte transmit
buffer in the serial UART for transmission. Once in that transmit
buffer, there is no way to stop them from being transmitted. They are
then transmitted to the modem which also has a fair sized (say 1k)
buffer. When the device driver (on orders from flow control) stops
the flow of outgoing bytes from the computer, what it actually stops
is the flow of outgoing bytes from the large transmit buffer in main
memory. Even after this has happened and the flow to the modem has
stopped, an application program may keep sending bytes to the 8k
transmit buffer until it becomes fill.
When it gets fill, the application program can't send any more bytes
to it (a "write" statement in a C_program blocks) and the application
program temporarily stops running and waits until some buffer space
becomes available. Thus a flow control "stop" is ultimately able to
stop the program that is sending the bytes. Even though this program
stops, the computer does not necessarily stop computing. It may
switch to running other processes while it's waiting at a flow control
stop. The above was a little oversimplified since there is another
alternative of having the application program itself do something else
while it is waiting to "write".
4.11. Modem Commands
Commands to the modem are sent to it from the communication software
over the same conductor as used to send data. The commands are short
ASCII strings. Examples are "AT&K3" for enabling hardware flow
control (RTS/CTS) between your computer and modem; and "ATDT5393401
for Dialing the number 5393401. Note all commands are prefaced by
"AT". Some commands such as enabling flow control help configure the
modem. Other commands such as dialing a number actually do something.
There are about a hundred or so different possible commands. When
your communication software starts running, it first sends an "init"
string of commands to the modem to configure it. All commands are
sent on the ordinary data line before the modem dials (or receives a
call).
Once the modem is connected to another modem (on-line mode),
everything that is sent from your computer to your modem goes directly
to the other modem and is not interpreted by the modem as a command.
There is a way to "escape" from this mode of operation and go back to
command mode where everything sent to the modem will be interpreted as
a command. The computer just sends "+++" with a specified time
spacing before and after it. If this time spacing is correct, the
modem reverts to command mode. Another way to do this is by a signal
on a certain modem control line.
There are a number of lists of modem commands on the Internet. The
section ``Web Sites'' has links to a couple of such web-sites.
Different models and brands of modems do not use exactly the same set
of such commands. So what works for one modem might not work for
another. Some common command (not guaranteed to work on all modems)
are listed in this HOWTO in the section ``Modem Configuration''
4.12. Serial Driver Module
The device driver for the serial port is the software that operates
the serial port. It is now provided as a serial module. From kernel
2.2 on, this module will normally get loaded automatically if it's
needed. In earlier kernels, you had to have kerneld running in order
to do auto-load modules on demand. Otherwise the serial module needed
to be explicitly listed in /etc/modules. Before modules became
popular with Linux, the serial driver was usually built into the
kernel (and sometimes still is). If it's built-in don't let the
serial module load or else you will have two serial drivers running at
the same time. With 2 drivers there are all sorts of errors including
a possible "I/O error" when attempting to open a serial port. Use
"lsmod" to see if the module is loaded.
When the serial module is loaded it displays a message on the screen
about the existing serial ports (often showing a wrong IRQ). But once
the module is used by setserial to tell the device driver the
(hopefully) correct IRQ then you should see a second display similar
to the first but with the correct IRQ, etc. See "Serial Module" in
the Serial-HOWTO. See ``What is Setserial'' for more info on
setserial.
5. Configuring Overview
If you want to use a modem only for MS Windows/Dos, then you can just
install almost any modem and it will work OK. With a Linux PC it's
not always this easy unless you use an external modem. All external
modems should work OK (even if they are labeled "Plug and Play") But
most new internal modems are Plug-and-Play (PnP) and have PnP serial
ports. In some cases (depending both on the modem and your version of
Linux) The PnP configuring is built into the serial driver so you
don't need to do anything. If it's an ISA modem you may need to use
the Linux "isapnp" program to configure it (but this is planned to be
built into future drivers ??). See the Plug-and-Play-HOWTO and the
isapnp docs for more information.
Since each modem has an associated serial port and the port has both
hardware and software, there are four parts to configuring a modem:
� Configure the serial port PnP hardware: Done by PnP methods
� Configure the serial port driver (low-level): Done by "setserial"
� Configure the serial port driver (high-level): Done by the
communication program (stty-like)
� Configure the modem itself: Done by the communication program
Communication programs include aminicom, seyon, or wvdial (for PPP)
and mgetty) for dial-in. Such communication programs require that you
configure them although the default configuration they come with may
only need a little tweaking.
Unfortunately the communication program doesn't do the low-level PnP
configuring of the serial port: setting its IO address and IRQ in both
the hardware and the driver. If you are lucky, this will happen
automatically when you boot Linux. Setting these in the hardware was
formerly done by jumpers but today it's done by "Plug-and-Play"
software.
But there's a serious problem: Linux (as of early 2001) is not a true
Plug-and-Play operating system but the latest serial drivers handle
Plug-and-Play for some serial posts (built-into internal modems). In
other case you may need to use Plug-and-Play tools to set up the
configuration although they are not always very user friendly. This
may create a difficult problem for you. The next section will go into
this in much more detail.
6. Configuring the Serial Port Hardware and Driver (low-level)
6.1. PCI Bus Support Underway
Although most PCI modems are "winmodems" without a Linux driver (and
will not work under Linux), other PCI serial cards (usually modem
cards) will often work OK under Linux. Some need no special support
in the serial driver and work fine under Linux once setserial is used
to configure them. Other PCI cards need special support in the
kernel. Some of these cards are supported by kernel 2.4 (and in later
versions of the 2.3 series). Kernel 2.2 has no such support. If your
modem (or serial port) happens to be supported, then you shouldn't
need to do anything to PnP configure it. The new serial driver will
read the id number digitally stored on the card to determine how to
support the card. It should assign the I/O address to it, determine
it's IRQ, etc. So you don't need to use "setserial" for it.
If you have a PCI internal modem which you are convinced is not a
winmodem but it will not work because the latest serial driver doesn't
support it, you can help in attempting to create a driver for it. To
do this you'll need to contact the maintainer of the serial driver,
Theodore (Ted) Y. Ts'o. But first check out the modem list site
<http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html> for the latest info on
PCI modems and related topic. You will need to email Ted Ts'o a copy
of the output of "lspci -vv" with full information about the model and
manufacturer of the PCI modem (or serial port). Then he will try to
point you to a test driver which might work for it. You will then
need to get it, compile it and possibly recompile your kernel. Then
you will test the driver to see if it works OK for you and report the
results to Ted Ts'o. If you are willing to do all the above (and this
is the latest version of this HOWTO) then email the needed info to him
at: <mailto:tytso@mit.edu>.
PCI modems are not well standardized. Some use main memory for
communication with the PC. It you see 8-digit hexadecimal addresses
it's not likely to work with Linux. Some require special enabling of
the IRQ. The output of "lspci" can help determine if one can be
supported. If you see a 4-digit IO port and no long memory address,
the modem might work by just telling "setserial" the IO port and the
IRQ. Some people have gotten a 3COM 3CP5610 PCI Modem to work that
way.
6.2. Configuring Overview
In many cases, configuring will happen automatically and you have
nothing to do. But sometimes you need to configure (or just want to
check out the configuration). If so, first you need to know about the
two parts to configuring the serial port under Linux:
The first part (low-level configuring) is assigning it an IO address,
IRQ, and name (such as ttyS2). This IO-IRQ pair must be set in both
the hardware and told to the serial driver. We might just call this
"io-irq" configuring for short. The setserial is used to tell the
driver. PnP methods, jumpers, etc, are used to set the hardware.
Details will be supplied later. If you need to configure but don't
understand certain details it's easy to get into trouble.
The second part (high-level configuring) is assigning it a speed (such
as 38.4k bits/sec), selecting flow control, etc. This is often done
by communication programs such as PPP, minicom, or by getty (which you
may run on the port so that others may log into your computer).
However you will need to tell these programs what speed you want, etc.
by using a menu or a configuration file. This high-level configuring
may also be done with the stty program. stty is also useful to view
the current status if you're having problems. See also the Serial-
HOWTO section: "Stty". When Linux starts, some effort is made to
detect and configure (low-level) a few serial ports. Exactly what
happens depends on your BIOS, hardware, Linux distribution, etc. If
the serial ports work OK, there may be no need for you to do any
configuring. Application programs often do the high-level configuring
but you may need to supply them with the required information. With
Plug-and-Play serial ports (often built into an internal modem), the
situation has become more complex. Here are cases when you need to do
low-level configuring (set IRQ and IO addresses):
� Plan to use more than 2 serial ports
� Installing a new serial port (such as an internal modem)
� Having problems with serial port(s)
For kernel 2.2+ you may be able to use more that 2 serial ports
without low-level configuring by sharing interrupts. This only works
if the serial hardware supports it and may be no easier than low-level
configuring. See ``Interrupt sharing and Kernels 2.2+''
The low-level configuring (setting the IRQ and IO address) seems to
cause people more trouble (than high-level), although for many it's
fully automatic and there is no configuring to be done. Thus most all
of this section is on that topic. Until the serial driver knows the
correct IRQ and IO address the port will not work at all. It may not
even be found by Linux. Even if it can be found, it may work
extremely slow if the IRQ is wrong. See ``Extremely Slow: Text
appears on the screen slowly after long delays''.
In the Wintel world, the IO address and IRQ are called "resources" and
we are thus configuring certain resources. But there are many other
types of "resources" so the term has many other meanings. In review,
the low-level configuring consists of putting two values (an IRQ
number and IO address) into two places:
1. the device driver (often by running "setserial" at boot-time)
2. memory registers of the serial port hardware itself
You may watch the start-up (= boot-time) messages. They are usually
correct. But if you're having problems, there's a good chance that
some of these messages don't show the true configuration of the
hardware (and they are not supposed to). See ``I/O Address & IRQ:
Boot-time messages''.
6.3. Common mistakes made re low-level configuring
Here are some common mistakes people make:
� setserial command: They run it (without the "autoconfig" and
auto_irq options) and think it has checked out the hardware (it
hasn't).
� setserial messages: They see them displayed on the screen at boot-
time (or by giving the setserial command) and erroneously think
that the result always shows how their hardware is actually
configured.
� /proc/interrupts: When their serial device isn't in use they don't
see its interrupt there, and erroneously conclude that their serial
port can't be found (or doesn't have an interrupt set).
� /proc/ioports and /proc/tty/driver/serial: People think this shows
the actual hardware configuration when it only shows about the same
info (possibly erroneous) as setserial.
6.4. I/O Address & IRQ: Boot-time messages
In many cases your ports will automatically get low-level configured
at boot-time (but not always correctly). To see what is happening,
look at the start-up messages on the screen. Don't neglect to check
the messages from the BIOS before Linux is loaded (no examples shown
here). These BIOS messages may be frozen by pressing the Pause key.
Use Shift-PageUp to scroll back to the messages after they have
flashed by. Shift-PageDown will scroll in the opposite direction.
The dmesg command may be used at any time to view some of the messages
but it often misses important ones. Here's an example of the start-up
messages (as of mid 1999). Note that ttyS00 is the same as
/dev/ttyS0.
At first you see what was detected (but the irq is only a wild guess):
Serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
ttyS02 at 0x03e8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
Later you see what was saved, but it's not necessarily correct either:
Loading the saved-state of the serial devices...
/dev/ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
/dev/ttyS1 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
/dev/ttyS2 at 0x03e8 (irq = 5) is a 16550A
Note that there is a slight disagreement: The first message shows
ttyS2 at irq=4 while the second shows it at irq=5. Your may only have
the first message. In most cases the last message is the correct one.
But if your having trouble it may be misleading. Before reading the
explanation of all of this complexity in the rest of this section, you
might just try using your serial port and see if it works OK. If so
it may not be essential to read further.
The second message is from the setserial program being run at boot-
time. It shows what the device driver thinks is the correct
configuration. But this too could be wrong. For example, the irq
could actually be set to irq=8 in the hardware (both messages wrong).
The irq=5 could be there because someone incorrectly put this into a
configuration file (or the like). The fact that Linux sometimes gets
IRQs wrong is because it doesn't by default probe for IRQs. It just
assumes the "standard" ones (first message) or accepts what you told
it when you configured it (second message). Neither of these is
necessarily correct. If the serial driver has the wrong IRQ the
serial port is very slow or doesn't seem to work at all.
The first message is a result of Linux probing the serial ports but it
doesn't probe for IRQs. If a port shows up here it exists but the IRQ
may be wrong. Linux doesn't check IRQs because doing so is not
foolproof. It just assumes the IRQs are as shown because they are the
"standard" values. Your may check them manually with setserial using
the autoconfig and auto_irq options but this isn't guaranteed to be
correct either.
The data shown by the BIOS messages (which you see at first) is what
is set in the hardware. If your serial port is Plug-and-Play PnP then
it's possible that the isapnp will run and change these settings.
Look for messages about this after Linux starts. The last serial port
message shown in the example above should agree with the BIOS messages
(as possibly modified by isapnp). If they don't agree then you either
need to change the setting in the port hardware or use setserial to
tell the driver what is actually set in the hardware.
Also, if you have Plug-and-Play (PnP) serial ports, Linux will not
find them unless the IRQ and IO has been set inside the hardware by
Plug-and-Play software. Prior to kernel 2.4 this was a common reason
why the start-up messages did not show a serial port that physically
exists. The PC hardware (a PnP BIOS) may automatically low-level
configure this. PnP configuring will be explained later.
6.5. What is the current IO address and IRQ of my Serial Port ?
If your serial port seems to work OK, then you may type "setserial -g
/dev/ttyS*", look at /proc/tty/driver/serial, or inspect the start-up
messages. If you serial port doesn't work (or is very slow) then you
need to read further.
There are really two answers to the question "What is my IO and IRQ?"
1. What the device driver thinks has been set (This is what setserial
usually sets and shows). 2. What is actually set in the hardware.
They both should be the same. If they're not it spells trouble since
the driver has incorrect info on the physical serial port. If the
driver has the wrong IO address it will try to send data to a non-
existing serial port --or even worse, to some other device. If it has
the wrong IRQ the driver will not get interrupt service requests from
the serial port, resulting in a very slow or no response. See
``Extremely Slow: Text appears on the screen slowly after long
delays''. If it has the wrong model of UART there is also apt to be
trouble. To determine if both I0-IRQ pairs are identical you must
find out how they are set in both the driver and the hardware.
6.5.1. What does the device driver think?
This is easy to find out. Just look at the start-up messages or type
"setserial -g /dev/ttyS*". If everything works OK then what it tells
you is likely also set in the hardware. There are some other ways to
find this info by looking at "files" in the /proc directory. Be
warned that there is no guarantee that the same is set in the
hardware.
/proc/ioports will show the IO addresses that the drivers are using.
/proc/interrupts shows the IRQs that are used by drivers of currently
running processes (that have devices open). It shows how many
interrupts have actually be issued. /proc/tty/driver/serial shows
most of the above, plus the number of bytes that have been received
and sent (even if the device is not now open).
Note that for the IO addresses and IRQ assignments, you are only
seeing what the driver thinks and not necessarily what is actually set
in the hardware. The data on the actual number of interrupts issued
and bytes processed is real however. If you see a large number of
interrupts and/or bytes then it probably means that the device is (or
was in the case of bytes) working. If there are no bytes received
(rx:0) but bytes were transmitted (tx:3749 for example), then only one
direction of flow is working (or being utilized).
Sometimes a showing of just a few interrupts doesn't mean that the
interrupt is actually being physically generated by any serial port.
Thus if you see almost no interrupts for a port that you're trying to
use, that interrupt might not be set in the hardware and it implies
that the driver is using the wrong interrupt. To view
/proc/interrupts to check on a program that you're currently running
(such as "minicom") you need to keep the program running while you
view it.
6.5.2. What is set in my serial port hardware ?
How do you find out what IO address and IRQ are actually set in the
device hardware? Perhaps the BIOS messages will tell you some info
before Linux starts booting. Use the shift-PageUp key to step back
thru the boot-time messages and look at the very first ones which are
from the BIOS. This is how it was before Linux started. Setserial
can't change it but isapnp or pciutils can and starting with kernel
2.4, these will be built into the serial driver.
Using "scanport" will probe all I/O ports and will indicate what it
thinks may be serial port. After this you could try probing with
setserial using the "autoconfig" option. You'll need to guess the
addresses to probe at (using clues from "scanport"). See ``What is
Setserial''. If your serial port is is ISA Plug-and-Play or PCI see
the next two subsections.
For a port set with jumpers, its how the jumpers were set. If the
port is not Plug-and-Play (PnP) but has been setup by using a DOS
program then it's set at whatever the person who ran that program set
it to.
6.5.3. What is set in my PnP serial port hardware ?
PnP ports don't store their configuration in the hardware when the
power is turned off. This is in contrast to Jumpers (non-PnP) which
remain the same with the power off. If you have an ISA PnP port, it
can reach a state where it doesn't have any IO address or IRQ and is
in effect disabled. It should still be possible to find the port
using the pnpdump program.
For a PCI serial port, use the "lspci" command (for kernels <2.2 look
at /proc/pci).
For an ISA Plug-and-Play (PnP) port one may try the pnpdump program
(part of isapnptools). If you use the --dumpregs option then it
should tell you the actual IO address and IRQ set in the port. The
address it "trys" is not the device's IO address, but a special
For PnP ports, checking on how it's configured under DOS/Windows may
(or may not) imply how it's under Linux. Windows stores its
configuration info in its Registry which is not used by Linux so they
are not necessarily configured the same. If you let a PnP BIOS
automatically do the configuring when you start Linux (and have told
the BIOS that you don't have a PnP operating system when starting
Linux) then Linux should use whatever configuration is in the BIOS's
non-volatile memory. Windows also makes use of the same non-volatile
memory but doesn't necessarily configure it that way.
6.6. Choosing Serial IRQs
If you have Plug-and-Play ports then either a PnP BIOS or the serial
driver may configure all your devices for you and then you may not
need to choose any IRQs. PnP determines what it thinks is best and
assigns them. But if you use the tools in Linux for Plug-and-Play
(isapnp and pcitools) or jumpers then you have to choose. If you
already know what IRQ you want to use you could skip this section
except that you may want to know that IRQ 0 has a special use (see the
following paragraph).
6.6.1. IRQ 0 is not an IRQ
While IRQ 0 is actually the timer (in hardware) it has a special
meaning for setting a serial port with setserial. It tells the driver
that there is no interrupt for the port and the driver then will use
polling methods. This is quite inefficient but can be tried if there
is an interrupt conflict or mis-set interrupt. The advantage of
assigning this is that you don't need to know what interrupt is set in
the hardware. It should be used only as a temporary expedient until
you are able to find a real interrupt to use.
6.6.2. Interrupt sharing and Kernels 2.2+
The general rule is that every device should use a unique IRQ and not
share them. But there are situations where sharing is permitted such
as with most multi-port boards. Even when it is permitted, it may not
be as efficient since every time a shared interrupt is given a check
must be made to determine where it came from. Thus if it's feasible,
it's nice to allocate every device its own interrupt.
Prior to kernel 2.2, serial IRQs could be shared with each other only
for most multiport boards. Starting with kernel 2.2 serial IRQs may
be sometimes shared between all serial ports. In order for sharing to
work in 2.2 the kernel must have been compiled with
CONFIG_SERIAL_SHARE_IRQ, and the serial port hardware must support
sharing (so that if two serial cards put different voltages on the
same interrupt wire, only the voltage that means "this is an
interrupt" will prevail). Thus even if you have 2.2, it may be best
to avoid sharing.
6.6.3. What IRQs to choose?
The serial hardware often has only a limited number of IRQs it can be
set at. Also you don't want IRQ conflicts. So there may not be much
of a choice. Your PC may normally come with ttyS0 and ttyS2 at IRQ 4,
and ttyS1 and ttyS3 at IRQ 3. Looking at /proc/interrupts will show
which IRQs are being used by programs currently running. You likely
don't want to use one of these. Before IRQ 5 was used for sound
cards, it was often used for a serial port.
Here is how Greg (original author of Serial-HOWTO) set his up in
/etc/rc.d/rc.serial. rc.serial is a file (shell script) which runs at
start-up (it may have a different name of location). For versions of
"setserial" after 2.15 it's not always done this way anymore but this
example does show the choice of IRQs.
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 irq 3 # my serial mouse
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS1 irq 4 # my Wyse dumb terminal
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS2 irq 5 # my Zoom modem
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS3 irq 9 # my USR modem
Standard IRQ assignments:
IRQ 0 Timer channel 0 (May mean "no interrupt". See below.)
IRQ 1 Keyboard
IRQ 2 Cascade for controller 2
IRQ 3 Serial port 2
IRQ 4 Serial port 1
IRQ 5 Parallel port 2, Sound card
IRQ 6 Floppy diskette
IRQ 7 Parallel port 1
IRQ 8 Real-time clock
IRQ 9 Redirected to IRQ2
IRQ 10 not assigned
IRQ 11 not assigned
IRQ 12 not assigned
IRQ 13 Math coprocessor
IRQ 14 Hard disk controller 1
IRQ 15 Hard disk controller 2
There is really no Right Thing to do when choosing interrupts. Just
make sure it isn't being used by the motherboard, or any other boards.
2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12 or 15 are possible choices. Note that IRQ 2
is the same as IRQ 9. You can call it either 2 or 9, the serial
driver is very understanding. If you have a very old serial board it
may not be able to use IRQs 8 and above.
Make sure you don't use IRQs 1, 6, 8, 13 or 14! These are used by
your motherboard. You will make her very unhappy by taking her IRQs.
When you are done, double-check /proc/interrupts when programs that
use interrupts are being run and make sure there are no conflicts.
6.7. Choosing Addresses --Video card conflict with ttyS3
The IO address of the IBM 8514 video board (and others like it) is
allegedly 0x?2e8 where ? is 2, 4, 8, or 9. This may conflict with the
IO address of ttyS3 at 0x02e8. Your may think that this shouldn't
happen since the addresses are different in the high order digit (the
leading 0 in 02e8). You're right, but a poorly designed serial port
may ignore the high order digit and respond to any address that ends
in 2e8. That is bad news if you try to use ttyS3 (ISA bus) at this IO
address.
For the ISA bus you should try to use the default addresses shown
below. Addresses shown represent the first address of an 8-byte
range. For example 3f8 is really the range 3f8-3ff. Each serial
device (as well as other types of devices that use IO addresses) needs
its own unique address range. There should be no overlaps
(conflicts). Here are the default addresses for commonly used serial
ports on the ISA bus:
ttyS0 address 0x3f8
ttyS1 address 0x2f8
ttyS2 address 0x3e8
ttyS3 address 0x2e8
Suppose there is an address conflict (as reported by setserial -g
/dev/ttyS*) between a real serial port and another port which does not
physically exist (and shows UART: unknown). Such a conflict shouldn't
cause problems but it sometimes does in older kernels. To avoid this
problem don't permit such address conflicts or delete /dev/ttySx if it
doesn't physically exist.
6.8. Set IO Address & IRQ in the hardware (mostly for PnP)
After it's set in the hardware don't forget to insure that it also
gets set in the driver by using setserial. For non-PnP serial ports
they are either set in hardware by jumpers or by running a DOS program
("jumperless") to set them (it may disable PnP). The rest of this
subsection is only for PnP serial ports. Here's a list of the
possible methods of configuring PnP serial ports:
� Using a PnP BIOS CMOS setup menu (usually only for external modems
on ttyS0 (Com1) and ttyS1 (Com2))
� Letting a PnP BIOS automatically configure a PnP serial port See
``Using a PnP BIOS to I0-IRQ Configure''
� Doing nothing if you have both a PnP serial port and a PnP Linux
operating system (see Plug-and-Play-HOWTO).
� Using isapnp for a PnP serial port non-PCI)
� Using pciutils (pcitools) for the PCI bus
The IO address and IRQ must be set (by PnP) in their registers each
time the system is powered on since PnP hardware doesn't remember how
it was set when the power is shut off. A simple way to do this is to
let a PnP BIOS know that you don't have a PnP OS and the BIOS will
automatically do this each time you start. This might cause problems
in Windows (which is a PnP OS) if you start Windows with the BIOS
thinking that Windows is not a PnP OS. See Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.
Plug-and-Play was designed to automate this io-irq configuring, but
for Linux at present, it has made life more complicated. The standard
kernels for Linux don't support plug-and-play very well. If you use a
patch to the Linux kernel to covert it to a plug-and-play operating
system, then all of the above should be handled automatically by the
OS. But when you want to use this to automate configuring devices
other that the serial port, you may find that you'll still have to
configure the drivers manually since many Linux drivers are not
written to support a Linux PnP OS. If you use isapnptools or the BIOS
for configuring plug-and-play this will only put the two values into
the registers of the serial port section of the modem card and you
will likely still need to set up setserial. None of this is easy or
very well documented as of early 1999. See Plug-and-Play-HOWTO and
the isapnptools FAQ.
6.8.1. Using a PnP BIOS to I0-IRQ Configure
While the explanation of how to use a PnP OS or isapnp for io-irq
configuring should come with such software, this is not the case if
you want to let a PnP BIOS do such configuring. Not all PnP BIOS can
do this. The BIOS usually has a CMOS menu for setting up the first
two serial ports. This menu may be hard to find and for an "Award"
BIOS it was found under "chipset features setup" There is often
little to choose from. Unless otherwise indicated in a menu, these
first two ports normally get set at the standard IO addresses and
IRQs. See ``Serial Port Device Names & Numbers''
Whether you like it or not, when you start up a PC a PnP BIOS starts
to do PnP (io-irq) configuring of hardware devices. It may do the job
partially and turn the rest over to a PnP OS (which you probably don't
have) or if thinks you don't have a PnP OS it may fully configure all
the PnP devices but not configure the device drivers. This is what
you want but it's not always easy to figure out exactly what the PnP
BIOS has done.
If you tell the BIOS that you don't have a PnP OS, then the PnP BIOS
should do the configuring of all PnP serial ports --not just the first
two. An indirect way to control what the BIOS does (if you have
Windows 9x on the same PC) is to "force" a configuration under
Windows. See Plug-and-Play-HOWTO and search for "forced". It's
easier to use the CMOS BIOS menu which may override what you "forced"
under Windows. There could be a BIOS option that can set or disable
this "override" capability.
If you add a new PnP device, the BIOS should change its PnP
configuration to accommodate it. It could even change the io-irq of
existing devices if required to avoid any conflicts. For this
purpose, it keeps a list of non-PnP devices provided that you have
told the BIOS how these non-PnP devices are io-irq configured. One
way to tell the BIOS this is by running a program called ICU under
DOS/Windows.
But how do you find out what the BIOS has done so that you set up the
device drivers with this info? The BIOS itself may provide some info,
either in its setup menus of via messages on the screen when you turn
on your computer. See ``What is set in my serial port hardware?''
6.9. Giving the IRQ and IO Address to Setserial
Once you've set the IRQ and IO address in the hardware (or arranged
for it to be done by PnP) you also need to insure that the "setserial"
command is run each time you start Linux. See the subsection ``Boot-
time Configuration''
7. Configuring the Serial Driver (high-level) "stty"
7.1. Introduction
This configuring is normally done by your communications program such
as wvdial and it may do much of it without even letting you know what
it's done. In olden days it was done with the stty utility. If you
set something with stty, the communications program may change the
setting so it's usually best to just let the communications program
handle it. See ``What is stty ?''
7.2. Hardware flow control (RTS/CTS)
See ``Flow Control'' for an explanation of it. You should always use
hardware flow control if possible. Your communication program or
"getty" should have an option for setting it (and if you're in luck it
might be enabled by default). It needs to be set both inside your
modem (by an init string or default) and in the device driver. Your
communication program should set both of these (if you configure it
right).
If none of the above will fully enable hardware flow control. Then
you must do it yourself. For the modem, make sure that it's either
done by the init string or is on by default. If you need to tell the
device driver to do it is best done on startup by putting it in a file
that runs at boot-time. See the subsection ``Boot-time
Configuration'' You need to add the following to such a file for each
serial port (example is ttyS2) you want to enable hardware flow
control on:
stty crtscts < /dev/ttyS2
or
stty -F /dev/ttyS2 crtscts
If you want to see if flow control is enabled do the following: In
minicom (or the like) type AT&V to see how the modem is configured and
look for &K3 which means hardware flow control. Then see if the
device driver knows about it by typing: stty -F /dev/ttyS2 -a Look for
"crtscts" (without a disabling minus sign).
7.3. Other Driver Settings (high level)
Besides flow control and speed, there is speed. See ``What Speed
Should I Use with My Modem''. There's also are parity and bits-per-
byte settings. Normally the port is set by the communications program
at 8N1 (8-bits per byte, No parity, and 1 stop bit). If you're
running PPP then you must use 8N1. So if you get a complaint that
it's not 8-bit clean then it's likely not 8N1 as it should be.
8. Modem Configuration (excluding serial port)
8.1. Finding Your Modem
Before spending a lot of time deciding how to configure your modem,
you first need to make sure it can be found and that AT-commands and
the like can be sent to it. So I suggest you first give it a very
simple configuration using the communication program you will be using
on the port and see it it works. If this works you may then want to
improve on the configuration, If not then see ``My Modem is Physically
There but Can't be Found''. A winmodem may be hard to find and will
not work under Linux.
8.2. AT Commands
While the serial port on which a modem resides requires configuring,
so does the modem itself. The modem is configured by sending AT
commands (or the like) to it on the same serial line that is used to
send data.
Most modems use an AT command set. These are cryptic and short ASCII
commands where all command strings must be prefaced by the letters AT.
AT means: ATtention, expect a command to follow. For example:
ATZ&K3<return> This is an AT-command string with two commands here: Z
and &K3. Z is short for Z0 and a few modems require that you use Z0
instead of just Z. It's like this for other commands ending in 0.
The command string is terminated by a return character (use the
<enter> key if you are manually typing it). A string that's too long
(40 or more characters) may not work on older modems. You may use
either uppercase or lowercase letters.
Unfortunately there are many different variations of the AT command
set so that what works for one modem may or may not work for another
modem. Thus there is no guarantee that the AT commands given in this
section will work on your modem.
Such command strings are either automatically sent to the modem by
communication programs or are manually typed in by you. Most
communication programs provide a screen where you may change (edit)
and save the init string that the communication program will use. The
modem itself has a stored configuration (profile) which is like a long
init string. It represents the configuration of the modem when it's
first tuned on. You may change it to suit your taste. In most cases
there are a few different such configurations (profiles) and there are
ways to designate one of them to be active.
If you have a manual for your modem (either on paper or on floppy
disk) you might find AT-commands there. 3Com modems (and others ??)
have AT-Command help files built into the modem so if you type say
"AT$" to the modem it will display some "online help".
You can also find info on AT commands on the Internet. You should
first try a site for your modem manufacturer. If this doesn't work
out then you can search the Internet using terms that are from AT
commands such as &C1, &D3, etc. This will tend to find sites that
actually list AT-Commands instead of sites that just talk about them
in general. You might also try a few of the sites listed in the
subsection ``Web Sites''. Be warned that the AT-commands for a
different brand of modem may be somewhat different.
8.3. Init Strings: Saving and Recalling
The examples given in this subsection are from the Hayes AT modem
command set. All command strings must be prefaced by the two letters
AT. For example: AT&C1&D3^M (^M is the return character). When a
modem is powered on, it automatically configures itself with one of
the configurations it has stored in its non-volatile memory. If this
configuration is satisfactory there is nothing further to do.
If it's not satisfactory, then one may either alter the stored
configuration or configure the modem each time you use it by sending
it a string of commands known as an "init string" (= initialization
string). Normally, a communication program does this. What it sends
will depend on how you configured the communications program. Your
communication program should allow you to edit the init string and
change it to whatever you want. Sometimes the communications program
will let you select the model of your modem and then it will use an
init string that it thinks is best for that modem.
The configuration of the modem when it's first powered on may be
expressed by an init string. You might think of this as the default
"string" (called a profile). If your communications program sends the
modem another string (the init string), then this string will modify
the default configuration. For example, if the init string only
contains two commands, then only those two items will be changed.
However, some commands will recall a stored profile from inside the
modem so a single such command in the init string can thereby change
everything in the configuration.
Modern modems have a few different stored profiles to choose from that
are stored in the modem's non-volatile memory (it's still there when
you turn it off). In my modem there are two factory profiles (0 and
1, neither of which you can change) and two user defined profiles (0
and 1) that the user may set and store. Your modem may have more. To
view some of these profiles send the command &V. At power-up one of
the user-defined profiles is loaded. For example, if you type the
command &Y0 (just Y0 for a 3Com modem) then in the future profile 0
will be used at power-on.
There are also commands to load (activate) any of the stored profiles.
Such a load command may be put in an init string. Of course if it
loads the same profile that was automatically loaded at power-up,
nothing is changed (unless the active profile has been modified since
power-up). Since your profile could have thus been modified it's a
good idea to use some kind of an init string even if it does nothing
more than load a stored profile.
Examples of loading saved profiles:
Z0 loads user-defined profile 0 and resets (hangs up, etc.)
&F1 loads factory profile 1
Once you have sent commands to the modem to configure it the way you
want (such as loading a factory profile and modifying it a little) you
may save this as a user-defined profile:
&W0 saves the current configuration to user-profile 0.
Many people don't bother saving a good configuration in their modem,
but instead, send the modem a longer init string each time the modem
is used. Another method is to restore the factory default by &F1 at
the start of the init string and then modify it a little by adding a
few other commands to the end of the init string. Since there is no
way to modify the factory default this prevents anyone from changing
the configuration by modifying (and saving) the user-defined profile.
You may choose an init string supplied by someone else that they think
is right for your modem. Some communication programs have a library
of init strings to select from. The most difficult method (and one
which will teach you the most about modems) is to study the modem
manual and write one yourself. You could save this configuration
inside the modem so that you don't need an init string. A third
alternative is to start with an init string that someone else wrote,
but modify it to suit your purposes.
If you look at init strings used by communication programs you may see
symbols which are not valid modem commands. These symbols are
commands to the communication program itself and will not be sent to
the modem. For example, may mean to pause briefly.
8.3.1. Where is my "init string" so I can modify it ?
This depends on your communication program (often a PPP program). If
this is the latest version of Modem-HOWTO send me info for other
cases.
� Gnome: run pppsetup
� wvdial: edit /etc/wvdial.conf
� minicom: hit ^Ao (or possibly ALT-o), then select "Modem and
Dialing"
8.4. Other AT Modem Commands
For dial-in see ``Dial-in Modem Configuration''. The rest of this
section is mostly what was in the old Serial-HOWTO. All strings must
start with AT. Here's a few Hayes AT codes that should be in the
string (if they are not set by using a factory default or by a saved
configuration).
� E1 command echo ON
� Q0 result codes are reported
� V1 result codes are verbose
� S0=0 never answer (uugetty does this with the WAITFOR option)
Here's some more AT commands for special purposes:
� &C1 CD is only on when you're connected
� &S0 DSR is always on
� &X3 Dial even if there is no dialtone (Use where dial-tones
don't exist).
Greg Hankins had a collection of setups for different types of modems.
It's not currently maintained and covers modems prior to 1998.
ftp://ftp.cc.gatech.edu/pub/people/gregh/modem-configs.
Note: to get his USR Courier V.34 modem to reset correctly when DTR
drops, Greg Hankins had to set &D2 and S13=1 (this sets bit 0 of
register S13). This has been confirmed to work on USR Sportster V.34
modems as well.
Note: some Supra modems treat CD differently than other modems. If
you are using a Supra, try setting &C0 and not &C1. You must also set
&D2 to handle DTR correctly.
8.5. Blacklisting
If phone number is dialed a few times with no success, some modems may
blacklist a phone number. After a certain time you may try again.
Some countries require this to reduce needless repeated dialing. To
view the blacklist try %B. To delete the blacklist use these AT
commands:
� SR Robotics o 3COM: s40=2 or if NG try s40=7
� Lucent: %t21,18,0
� Rockwell: %tcb
� Cirrus Logic: *nc9
8.6. What AT Commands are Now Set in my Modem?
You may try to use minicom for viewing your modem profile. It's best
not to have any other process running on the modem port when you do
this. If you have set up minicom for your modem, then you may type on
the command line: minicom -o to start minicom without restoring the
saved modem profile. Then type at&v to display the profile. To exit
minicom without disturbing this profile, use the q (quit) command for
exiting without resetting.
The above may not work for various reasons. If the modem has been set
not to echo result codes it may not even display any profile. If
there is another process running on the modem port at the same time,
some of what the modem sends to you is likely to be read by the other
process so you will see only part of the profile. Is there some way
to temporarily stop the other process on the port so it will not
interfere? I tried the "stop" signal using the "kill" command but it
didn't work. If this is the latest version of this HOWTO, let me know
if you find a way to do it.
If you have at least one process running on the modem port and kill
them, the modem's profile may be reset so you will not observe what
the original profile was. This will happen if you kill getty (or it's
replacements: login or bash) and have &D3 set. The killing of getty
(or the like) will drop DTR and reset the modem's profile to the
power-on state. To keep getty from respawning when killed, comment
it out in /etc/inittab and do an "init q".
8.7. Modem States (or Modes)
Since the channel for sending AT commands to the modem is the same
channel that is used for the flow of data (files, packets, etc.) then
it's important to cleanly separate the AT commands from the data.
When the modem is first turned on it's in the command mode (also
called terminal mode, idle state or AT-command mode). Anything sent
to it from the PC is assumed to be an AT command and not data. Then
if a dial command is sent to it (ATD...), it dials and connects to
another modem. It's now in the on-line data mode (connected) and
sends and receives data (such as Internet pages). In this mode AT
command one trys to send it will not work but will be transmitted to
the other modem instead. Except for the escape command. This is +++
with a minimum time delay both at the start and end. The time delay
allows the modem to determine that it is likely a real escape and not
just +++ in a file being transmitted.
So we have two states so far: AT-command and on-line data. But there
is a third important state which is sort of a combination of these
two. It's the on-line command mode. This is when the modem maintains
a connection (without sending/receiving data) but anything sent from
the PC is interpreted as an AT command. This is the state reached
with a +++ escape signal or by a DTR drop from the PC provided the &D1
has been set. Then one can send AT commands to the modem including
commands which will leave this state and go to one of the other two
states.
There are other states also: dialing state and handshaking state but
they normally lead to the connected (on-line) state. If they don't
then the modem should hang up, thereby returning to the initial AT-
command (or idle) state.
9. Serial Port Devices /dev/ttyS2, etc.
For creating devices in the device directory see: the Serial-HOWTO:
"Creating Devices In the /dev directory".
9.1. Devfs (The new Device File System)
This is a new type of device interface to Linux. It's optional
starting with kernel 2.4. It's more efficient than the conventional
interface and makes it easy to deal with a huge number of devices.
The device names have all changed as well. But there's an option to
continue using the old names. For a detailed description of it see:
<http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/devfs.html>
The name changes (if used) are: ttyS2 becomes tts/2 (Serial port),
tty3 becomes vc/3 (Virtual Console), ptyp1 becomes pty/m1 (PTY
master), ttyp2 becomes pty/s2 (PTY slave). "tts" looks like a
directory which contains devices "files": 0, 1, 2, etc. All of these
new names should still be in the /dev directory although optionally
one may put them elsewhere.
9.2. Serial Port Device Names & Numbers
Devices in Linux have major and minor numbers (unless you use the new
devfs). The serial port ttySx (x=0,1,2, etc.) has major number 4.
You may see this (and the minor numbers too) by typing: "ls -l ttyS*"
in the /dev directory.
There formerly was an alternate name for each serial port. For
example, ttyS2 would have cua2 as an alternate name. You may still
have the cua devices in your /dev directory but they are now
deprecated. Their drivers behave slightly different than for the ttyS
ones. Device Obsolete">."')
Dos/Windows use the COM name while the setserial program uses tty00,
tty01, etc. Don't confuse these with dev/tty0, dev/tty1, etc. which
are used for the console (your PC monitor) but are not serial ports.
The table below is for the "standard" case (but yours could be
different).
IO devfs
dos major minor major minor address name
COM1 /dev/ttyS0 4, 64; /dev/cua0 5, 64 3F8 /dev/tts/0
COM2 /dev/ttyS1 4, 65; /dev/cua1 5, 65 2F8 /dev/tts/1
COM3 /dev/ttyS2 4, 66; /dev/cua2 5, 66 3E8 /dev/tts/2
COM4 /dev/ttyS3 4, 67; /dev/cua3 5, 67 2E8 /dev/tts/3
9.3. Universal Serial Bus Ports
Although the USB is not covered in this HOWTO, the serial ports on the
USB are: /dev/ttyUSB0 /dev/ttyUSB1, etc.
9.4. Link ttySN to /dev/modem
On some installations, two extra devices will be created, /dev/modem
for your modem and /dev/mouse for a mouse. Both of these are symbolic
links to the appropriate serial device in /dev which you specified
during the installation Except if you have a bus mouse, then
/dev/mouse will point to the bus mouse device).
Formerly (in the 1990s) the use of /dev/modem was discouraged since
lock files might not realize that it was really say /dev/ttyS2. The
newer lock file system doesn't fall into this trap so it's now OK to
use such links.
9.5. cua Device Obsolete
Each ttyS device has a corresponding cua device. But the cua device
is deprecated so it's best to use ttyS (unless cua is required).
There is a difference between cua and ttyS but a savvy programmer can
make a ttyS port behave just like a cua port so there is no real need
for the cua anymore. Except that some older programs may need to use
the cua.
What's the difference? The main difference between cua and ttyS has
to do with what happens in a C-program when an ordinary "open" command
tries to open the port. If a cua port has been set to check modem
control signals, the port can be opened even if the CD modem control
signal says not to. Astute programming (by adding additional lines to
the program) can force a ttyS port to behave this way also. But a cua
port can be more easily programmed to open for dialing out on a modem
even when the modem fails to assert CD (since no one has called into
it and there's no carrier). That's why cua was once used for dial-out
and ttyS used for dial-in.
Starting with Linux kernel 2.2, a warning message is put in the kernel
log when one uses cua. This is an omen that cua is defunct and should
be avoided if possible.
10. Interesting Programs You Should Know About
10.1. What is setserial ?
This part is in 3 HOWTOs: Modem, Serial, and Text-Terminal. There are
some minor differences, depending on which HOWTO it appears in.
10.1.1. Introduction
If you have a Laptop (PCMCIA) don't use setserial until you read
``Laptops: PCMCIA''. setserial is a program which allows you to tell
the device driver software the I/O address of the serial port, which
interrupt (IRQ) is set in the port's hardware, what type of UART you
have, etc. Since theres a good chance that the serial ports will be
automatically detected and set, many people never need to use
setserial. In any case setserial will not work without either serial
support built into the kernel or loaded as a module. The module may
get loaded automatically if you (or a script) tries to use setserial.
Setserial can also show how the driver is currently set. In addition,
it can be made to probe the hardware and try to determine the UART
type and IRQ, but this has severe limitations. See ``Probing''. Note
that it can't set the IRQ or the port address in the hardware of PnP
serial ports (but the plug-and-play features of the serial driver may
do this).
If you only have one or two built-in serial ports, they will usually
get set up correctly without using setserial. Otherwise, if you add
more serial ports (such as a modem card) you will likely need to deal
with setserial. Besides the man page for setserial, check out info in
/usr/doc/setserial.../ or /usr/share/doc/setserial. It should tell
you how setserial is handled in your distribution of Linux.
Setserial is often run automatically at boot-time by a start-up shell-
script for the purpose of assigning IRQs, etc. to the driver.
Setserial will only work if the serial module is loaded (or if the
equivalent was compiled into your kernel). If the serial module gets
unloaded later on, the changes previously made by setserial will be
forgotten by the kernel. But recent (2000) distributions may contain
scripts that save and restore this. If not, then setserial must be
run again to reestablish them. In addition to running via a start-up
script, something akin to setserial also runs earlier when the serial
module is loaded (or the like). Thus when you watch the start-up
messages on the screen it may look like it ran twice, and in fact it
has.
Setserial does not set either IRQ's nor I/O addresses in the serial
port hardware itself. That is done either by jumpers or by plug-and-
play. You must tell setserial the identical values that have been set
in the hardware. Do not just invent some values that you think would
be nice to use and then tell them to setserial. However, if you know
the I/O address but don't know the IRQ you may command setserial to
attempt to determine the IRQ.
You can see a list of possible commands by just typing setserial with
no arguments. This fails to show you the one-letter options such as
-v for verbose which you should normally use when troubleshooting.
Note that setserial calls an IO address a "port". If you type:
setserial -g /dev/ttyS*
you'll see some info about how that device driver is configured for
your ports. Note that where it says "UART: unknown" it probably means
that no uart exists. In other words you probably have no such serial
port and the other info shown about the port is meaningless and should
be ignored. If you really do have such a serial port, setserial
doesn't recognize it and that needs to be fixed.
If you add -a to the option -g you will see more info although few
people need to deal with (or understand) this additional info since
the default settings you see usually work fine. In normal cases the
hardware is set up the same way as "setserial" reports, but if you are
having problems there is a good chance that "setserial" has it wrong.
In fact, you can run "setserial" and assign a purely fictitious I/O
port address, any IRQ, and whatever uart type you would like to have.
Then the next time you type "setserial ..." it will display these
bogus values without complaint. They will also be officially
registered with the kernel as displayed (at the top of the screen) by
the "scanport" command. Of course the serial port driver will not
work correctly (if at all) if you attempt to use such a port. Thus
when giving parameters to "setserial" anything goes. Well almost. If
you assign one port a base address that is already assigned (such as
3e8) it will not accept it. But if you use 3e9 it will accept it.
Unfortunately 3e9 is already assigned since it is within the range
starting at base address 3e8. Thus the moral of the story is to make
sure your data is correct before assigning resources with setserial.
While assignments made by setserial are lost when the PC is powered
off, a configuration file may restore them (or a previous
configuration) when the PC is started up again. In newer versions,
what you change by setserial may get automatically saved to a
configuration file. In older versions, the configuration file only
changes if you edit it manually so the configuration always remains
the same from boot to boot. See ``Configuration Scripts/Files''
10.1.2. Probing
Prior to probing with "setserial", one may run the "scanport" command
to check all possible ports in one scan. It makes crude guesses as to
what is on some ports but doesn't determine the IRQ. But it's a fast
first start. It may hang your PC but so far it's worked fine for me.
With appropriate options, setserial can probe (at a given I/O address)
for a serial port but you must guess the I/O address. If you ask it
to probe for /dev/ttyS2 for example, it will only probe at the address
it thinks ttyS2 is at (2F8). If you tell setserial that ttyS2 is at a
different address, then it will probe at that address, etc. See
``Probing''
The purpose of this is to see if there is a uart there, and if so,
what its IRQ is. Use "setserial" mainly as a last resort as there are
faster ways to attempt it such as wvdialconf to detect modems, looking
at very early boot-time messages, or using pnpdump --dumpregs. To try
to detect the physical hardware use for example :
setserial /dev/ttyS2 -v autoconfig
If the resulting message shows a uart type such as 16550A, then you're
OK. If instead it shows "unknown" for the uart type, then there is
supposedly no serial port at all at that I/O address. Some cheap
serial ports don't identify themselves correctly so if you see
"unknown" you still might have a serial port there.
Besides auto-probing for a uart type, setserial can auto-probe for
IRQ's but this doesn't always work right either. In one case it first
gave the wrong irq but when the command was repeated it found the
correct irq. In versions of setserial >= 2.15, the results of your
last probe test could be automatically saved and put into the
configuration file /etc/serial.conf which will be used next time you
start Linux. At boot-time when the serial module loads (or the like),
a probe for UARTs is made automatically and reported on the screen.
But the IRQs shown may be wrong. The second report of the same is the
result of a script which usually does no probing and thus provides no
reliable information as to how the hardware is actually set. It only
shows configuration data someone wrote into the script or data that
got saved in /etc/serial.conf.
It may be that two serial ports both have the same IO address set in
the hardware. Of course this is not permitted but it sometimes
happens anyway. Probing detects one serial port when actually there
are two. However if they have different IRQs, then the probe for IRQs
may show IRQ = 0. For me it only did this if I first used setserial
to give the IRQ a ficticious value.
10.1.3. Boot-time Configuration
When the kernel loads the serial module (or if the "module equivalent"
is built into the kernel) then only ttyS{0-3} are auto-detected and
the driver is set to use only IRQs 4 and 3 (regardless of what IRQs
are actually set in the hardware). You see this as a boot-time
message just like as if setserial had been run.
To correct possible errors in IRQs (or for other reasons) there may be
a file somewhere that runs setserial again. Unfortunately, if this
file has some IRQs wrong, the kernel will still have incorrect info
about the IRQs. This file should run early at boot-time before any
process uses the serial port. In fact, your distribution may have set
things up so that the setserial program runs automatically from a
start-up script at boot-time. More info about how to handle this
situation for your particular distribution might be found in file
named "setserial..." or the like located in directory /usr/doc/ or
/usr/share/doc/.
Before modifying a configuration file, you can test out a "proposed"
setserial command by just typing it on the command line. In some
cases the results of this use of setserial will automatically get
saved in /etc/serial.conf when you shutdown. So if it worked OK (and
solved your problem) then there's no need to modify any configuration
file. See ``New configuration method using /etc/serial.conf''.
10.1.4. Configuration Scripts/Files
Your objective is to modify (or create) a script file in the /etc tree
that runs setserial at boot-time. Most distributions provide such a
file (but it may not initially reside in the /etc tree). In addition,
setserial 2.15 and higher often have an /etc/serial.conf file that is
used by the above script so that you don't need to directly edit the
script that runs setserial. In addition just using setserial on the
command line (2.15+) may ultimately alter this configuration file.
So prior to version 2.15 all you do is edit a script. After 2.15 you
may need to either do one of three things: 1. edit a script. 2. edit
/etc/serial.conf or 3. run "setserial" on the command line which may
result in /etc/serial.conf automatically being edited. Which one of
these you need to do depends on both your particular distribution, and
how you have set it up.
10.1.5. Edit a script (required prior to version 2.15)
Prior to setserial 2.15 (1999) there was no /etc/serial.conf file to
configure setserial. Thus you need to find the file that runs
"setserial" at boot time and edit it. If it doesn't exist, you need
to create one (or place the commands in a file that runs early at
boot-time). If such a file is currently being used it's likely
somewhere in the /etc directory-tree. But Redhat <6.0 has supplied it
in /usr/doc/setserial/ but you need to move it to the /etc tree before
using it. You might use "locate" to try to find such a file. For
example, you could type: locate "*serial*".
The script /etc/rc.d/rc.serial was commonly used in the past. The
Debian distribution used /etc/rc.boot/0setserial. Another file once
used was /etc/rc.d/rc.local but it's not a good idea to use this since
it may not be run early enough. It's been reported that other
processes may try to open the serial port before rc.local runs
resulting in serial communication failure. Today it's most likely in
/etc/init.d/ but it isn't normally intended to be edited.
If such a file is supplied, it should contain a number of commented-
out examples. By uncommenting some of these and/or modifying them,
you should be able to set things up correctly. Make sure that you are
using a valid path for setserial, and a valid device name. You could
do a test by executing this file manually (just type its name as the
super-user) to see if it works right. Testing like this is a lot
faster than doing repeated reboots to get it right.
For versions >= 2.15 (provided your distribution implemented the
change, Redhat didn't) it may be more tricky to do since the file that
runs setserial on startup, /etc/init.d/setserial or the like was not
intended to be edited by the user. See ``New configuration method
using /etc/serial.conf''.
If you want setserial to automatically determine the uart and the IRQ
for ttyS3 you would add something like:
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS3 auto_irq skip_test autoconfig
Do this for every serial port you want to auto configure. Be sure to
give a device name that really does exist on your machine. In some
cases this will not work right due to the hardware. If you know what
the uart and irq actually are, you may want to assign them explicitly
with "setserial". For example:
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS3 irq 5 uart 16550A skip_test
10.1.6. New configuration method using /etc/serial.conf
Prior to setserial version 2.15, the way to configure setserial was to
manually edit the shell-script that ran setserial at boot-time. See
``Edit a script (after version 2.15: perhaps not)''. Starting with
version 2.15 (1999) of setserial this shell-script is not edited but
instead gets its data from a configuration file: /etc/serial.conf.
Furthermore you may not even need to edit serial.conf because using
the "setserial" command on the command line may automatically cause
serial.conf to be edited appropriately.
This was intended so that you don't need to edit any file in order to
set up (or change) what setserial does each time that Linux is booted.
But there are serious pitfalls because it's not really "setserial"
that edits serial.conf. Confusion is compounded because different
distributions handle this differently. In addition, you may modify it
so that it works differently.
What often happens is this: When you shut down your PC the script
that runs "setserial" at boot-time is run again, but this time it only
does what the part for the "stop" case says to do: It uses
"setserial" to find out what the current state of "setserial" is, and
it puts that info into the serial.conf file. Thus when you run
"setserial" to change the serial.conf file, it doesn't get changed
immediately but only when and if you shut down normally.
Now you can perhaps guess what problems might occur. Suppose you
don't shut down normally (someone turns the power off, etc.) and the
changes don't get saved. Suppose you experiment with "setserial" and
forget to run it a final time to restore the original state (or make a
mistake in restoring the original state). Then your "experimental"
settings are saved.
If you manually edit serial.conf, then your editing is destroyed when
you shut down because it gets changed back to the state of setserial
at shutdown. There is a way to disable the changing of serial.conf at
shutdown and that is to remove "###AUTOSAVE###" or the like from first
line of serial.conf. In at least one distribution, the removal of
"###AUTOSAVE###" from the first line is automatically done after the
first time you shutdown just after installation. The serial.conf file
should contain some comments to explain this.
The file most commonly used to run setserial at boot-time (in
conformance with the configuration file) is now /etc/init.d/setserial
(Debian) or /etc/init.d/serial (Redhat), or etc., but it should not
normally be edited. For 2.15, Redhat 6.0 just had a file
/usr/doc/setserial-2.15/rc.serial which you have to move to
/etc/init.d/ if you want setserial to run at boot-time.
To disable a port, use setserial to set it to "uart none". The format
of /etc/serial.conf appears to be just like that of the parameters
placed after "setserial" on the command line with one line for each
port. If you don't use autosave, you may edit /etc/serial.conf
manually.
BUG: As of July 1999 there is a bug/problem since with ###AUTOSAVE###
only the setserial parameters displayed by "setserial -Gg /dev/ttyS*"
get saved but the other parameters don't get saved. Use the -a flag
to "setserial" to see all parameters. This will only affect a small
minority of users since the defaults for the parameters not saved are
usually OK for most situations. It's been reported as a bug and may
be fixed by now.
In order to force the current settings set by setserial to be saved to
the configuration file (serial.conf) without shutting down, do what
normally happens when you shutdown: Run the shell-script
/etc/init.d/{set}serial stop. The "stop" command will save the
current configuration but the serial ports still keep working OK.
In some cases you may wind up with both the old and new configuration
methods installed but hopefully only one of them runs at boot-time.
Debian labeled obsolete files with "...pre-2.15".
10.1.7. IRQs
By default, both ttyS0 and ttyS2 will share IRQ 4, while ttyS1 and
ttyS3 share IRQ 3. But actually sharing serial interrupts (using them
in running programs) is not permitted unless you: 1. have kernel 2.2
or better, and 2. you've complied in support for this, and 3. your
serial hardware supports it. See
``Interrupt sharing and Kernels 2.2+'' If you only have two serial
ports, ttyS0 and ttyS1, you're still OK since IRQ sharing conflicts
don't exist for non-existent devices.
If you add an internal modem and retain ttyS0 and ttyS1, then you
should attempt to find an unused IRQ and set it both on your serial
port (or modem card) and then use setserial to assign it to your
device driver. If IRQ 5 is not being used for a sound card, this may
be one you can use for a modem. To set the IRQ in hardware you may
need to use isapnp, a PnP BIOS, or patch Linux to make it PnP. To
help you determine which spare IRQ's you might have, type "man
setserial" and search for say: "IRQ 11".
10.1.8. Laptops: PCMCIA
If you have a Laptop, read PCMCIA-HOWTO for info on the serial
configuration. For serial ports on the motherboard, setserial is used
just like it is for a desktop. But for PCMCIA cards (such as a modem)
it's a different story. The configuring of the PCMCIA system should
automatically run setserial so you shouldn't need to run it. If you
you do run it (by a script file or by /etc/serial.conf) it might be
different and cause trouble. The autosave feature for serial.conf
shouldn't save anything for PCMCIA cards (but Debian did until
2.15-7). Of course, it's always OK to use setserial to find out how
the driver is configured for PCMCIA cards.
10.2. What is isapnp ?
isapnp is a program to configure Plug-and-Play (PnP) devices on the
ISA bus including internal modems. It comes in a package called
"isapnptools" and includes another program, "pnpdump" which finds all
your ISA PnP devices and shows you options for configuring them in a
format which may be added to the PnP configuration file:
/etc/isapnp.conf. It may also be used with the --dumpregs option to
show the current IO address and IRQ of the modem's serial port. The
isapnp command may be put into a startup file so that it runs each
time you start the computer and thus will configure ISA PnP devices.
It is able to do this even if your BIOS doesn't support PnP. See
Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.
10.3. What is wvdialconf ?
wvdialconf will try to find which serial port (ttyS?) has a modem on
it. It also creates a configuration program for the wvdial program.
wvdial is used for simplified dialing out using the PPP protocol to an
ISP. But you don't need to install PPP in order to use wvdialconf.
It will only find modems which are not in use. It will also
automatically devise a "suitable" init strings but sometimes gets it
wrong. Since this command has no options, it's simple to use but you
must give it the name of a file to put the init string (and other
data) into. For example type: wvdialconf my_config_file_name.
10.4. What is stty ?
stty is like setserial but it sets the baud rate, hardware flow
control, and other parameters of a serial port. Typing "stty -a <
/dev/ttyS2" should show you how ttyS2 is configured. Most of the
settings are for things that you never need to use with modems (such
as some used only for old terminals of the 1970s). Your communication
package should automatically set up all these settings correctly for
modems. For this reason you normally don't need to use stty so it's
not covered much in this Modem-HOWTO. But stty is sometimes useful
for trouble-shooting. More is said about stty in the Serial-HOWTO or
Text-Terminal-HOWTO..
Two items set by stty are: 1. Hardware flow control by "crtscts" and
2. Ignore the CD signal from the modem: "clocal". If the modem is not
sending a CD signal and clocal is disabled (stty shows -clocal) then a
program may not be able to open the serial port. If the port can't
open, the program may just hang, waiting (often in vain) for a CD
signal from the modem.
Minicom sets clocal automatically when it starts up so there is no
problem. But version 6.0.192 of Kermit hung when I set -clocal and
tried to "set line ..." If -clocal is set and there is no CD signal
then even the "stty" command will hang and there is seemingly no way
to set clocal (except by running minicom). But minicom will restore
-clocal when it exits. One way to get out of this is to use minicom
to send the "AT&C" to the modem (to get the CD signal) and then exit
minicom with no reset so that the CD signal always remains on. Then
you may use stty again. CD always-on is fine for dial-out but dial-in
may not work right.
11. Trying Out Your Modem (Dialing Out)
11.1. Are You Ready to Dial Out ?
Once you've plugged in your modem and know which serial port it's on
you're ready to try using it. Before you try to get the Internet on
it or have people call in to you, you could first try something
simpler like dialing out to some number to see if your modem is
working OK. Find a phone number that is connected to a modem. If you
don't know what number to call, find out if a local library has a
phone number for an on-line catalog.
Then make sure you are ready to phone. Do you know what serial port
(such as ttyS2) your modem is on? You should have found this out when
you io-irq configured your serial ports. Have you decided what speed
you are going to use for this port? See ``Speed Table'' for a quick
selection or ``What Speed Should I Use with My Modem'' for more
details. If you have no clue of what speed to set, try setting it a
few times faster than the advertised speed of your modem. Also
remember that if you see a menu where an option is "hardware flow
control" and/or "RTS/CTS" or the like, select it. Is a live telephone
cable plugged in to your modem? You may want to connect the cable to
a real telephone to make sure that it can produce a dial tone.
Now you need to select a communication (dialing) program to use to
dial out. Dialing programs include: minicom, seyon (X-windows), and
kermit. See section ``Communications Programs'' about some
communications programs. Two examples are presented next: ``Dialing
Out with Minicom'' and ``Dialing Out with Kermit''
11.2. Dialing Out with Minicom
Minicom comes with most Linux distributions. To configure it you
should be the root user. Type "minicom -s" to configure. This will
take you directly to the configuration (set-up) menus. Alternatively
you could just run "minicom" and then type ^A to see the bottom status
line. This shows to type ^A Z for help (you've already typed the ^A
so just type z). From the help menu go to the Configuration menu.
Most of the options don't need to be set for just simply dialing out.
To configure you have to supply a few basic items: the name of the
serial port your modem is on such as /dev/ttyS2 and the speed such as
115200. These are set at the serial port menu. Go to it and set
them. Also (if possible) set hardware flow control (RTS/CTS). Then
save them. When typing in the speed, you should also see something
like "8N1" which you should leave alone. It means: 8-bit bytes, No
parity, 1 stop-bit appended to each byte. If you can't find the speed
you want, a lower speed will always work for a test. Exit (hit
return) when done and save the configuration as default (dfl) using
the menu. You may want to exit minicom and start it again so it can
now find the serial port and initialize the modem, or you could go to
help and tell minicom to initialize the modem.
Now you are ready to dial. But first at the main screen you get after
you first type "minicom" make sure there's a modem there by typing AT
and then hit the <enter> key. It should display OK. If it doesn't
something is wrong and there is no point of trying to dial.
If you got the "OK" go back to help and select the dialing directory.
You may edit it and type in a phone number, etc. into the directory
and then select "dial" to dial it. Alternatively, you may just dial
manually (by selecting "manual" and then type the number at the
keyboard). If it doesn't work, carefully note any error messages and
try to figure out what went wrong.
11.3. Dialing Out with Kermit
You can find the latest version of kermit at
http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/. For example, say your modem was on
ttyS3, and its speed was 115200 bps. You would do the following:
linux# kermit
C-Kermit 6.0.192, 6 Sep 96, for Linux
Copyright (C) 1985, 1996,
Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
Default file-transfer mode is BINARY
Type ? or HELP for help.
C-Kermit>set line /dev/ttyS3
C-Kermit>set carrier-watch off
C-Kermit>set speed 115200
/dev/ttyS3, 115200 bps
C-Kermit>c
Connecting to /dev/ttyS3, speed 115200.
The escape character is Ctrl-\ (ASCII 28, FS)
Type the escape character followed by C to get back,
or followed by ? to see other options.
ATE1Q0V1 ; you type this and then the Enter key
OK ; modem should respond with this
If your modem responds to AT commands, you can assume your modem is
working correctly on the Linux side. Now try calling another modem by
typing:
ATDT7654321
where 7654321 is a phone number. Use ATDP instead of ATDT if you have
a pulse line. If the call goes through, your modem is working.
To get back to the kermit prompt, hold down the Ctrl key, press the
backslash key, then let go of the Ctrl key, then press the C key:
Ctrl-\-C
(Back at linux)
C-Kermit>quit
linux#
This was just a test using the primitive "by-hand" dialing method.
The normal method is to let kermit do the dialing for you with its
built-in modem database and automatic dialing features, for example
using a US Robotics (USR) modem:
linux# kermit
C-Kermit 6.0.192, 6 Sep 1997, for Linux
Copyright (C) 1985, 1996,
Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.
Default file-transfer mode is BINARY
Type ? or HELP for help
C-Kermit>set modem type usr ; Select modem type
C-Kermit>set line /dev/ttyS3 ; Select communication device
C-Kermit>set speed 115200 ; Set the dialing speed
C-Kermit>dial 7654321 ; Dial
Number: 7654321
Device=/dev/ttyS3, modem=usr, speed=115200
Call completed.<BEEP>
Connecting to /dev/ttyS3, speed 115200
The escape character is Ctrl-\ (ASCII 28, FS).
Type the escape character followed by C to get back,
or followed by ? to see other options.
Welcome to ...
login:
12. Dial-In
12.1. Dial-In Overview
Dial-in is where you set up your PC so that others may dial in to your
PC (at your phone number) and use your PC. Unfortunately some use the
term "dial-in" when what they actually mean is just the opposite:
dial-out. Dial-in works like this. Someone with a modem dials your
telephone number. Your modem answers the phone ring and connects.
Once the caller is connected the getty program is notified and starts
the login process for the caller. After the caller has logged in, the
caller then may use your PC. It could be almost as if they were
sitting at the monitor-console.
The caller may use a script to automatically log in. This script will
be of the expect-send type. For example it expects "login:" and then
(after it detects "login:") will send the users login name. It next
expects the password and then sends the password, etc. Then once the
user has been automatically logged in, the /etc/passwd (password file)
might specify that a shell (such as bash) will be started for the
user. Or it might specify that PPP is to start so that the user may
be connected to the Internet. See the PPP-HOWTO for more details.
The program that you use at your PC to handle dialin is called getty
or mgetty. See ``Getty''
An advanced getty program such as mgetty can watch to see if PPP is
started by the PC on the other end. If so, the login prompt would be
skipped, a PPP connection would be made, and login would take place
automatically over the PPP connection.
12.2. What Happens when Someone Dials In ?
Here's a more detailed description of dialin. This all assumes that
you are using either mgetty or uugetty. Agetty is inferior and
doesn't work exactly as described below (see ``About agetty'')
For dialin to work, the modem must be listening for a ring and getty
must be running and ready to respond to the call. Your modem is
normally listening for incoming calls, but what it does when it gets a
ring depends on how it's configured. The modem can either
automatically answer the phone or not directly answer it. In the
latter case the modem sends a "RING" message to getty and then getty
tells the modem to answer the ring. In either case, it may be set up
to answer on say the 4th ring. This means that if the call is not for
the modem, one must walk/run to the phone and pick it up manually
before the 4th ring. Then they can talk to the other person. If they
get to the phone too late they will hear the screeching noise of the
modem which has answered the call.
Once the modem answers the call it sends tones to the other modem (and
conversely). The two modems negotiate how they will communicate and
when this is completed your modem sends a "CONNECT" message (or the
like) to getty. When getty gets this message, it sends a login prompt
out the serial port. Once a user name is given to this prompt getty
may just call on a program named login to handle the logging in from
there on. While getty usually starts running at boot-time it should
wait until a connection is made before sending out a "login" prompt.
Now for more details on the two methods of answering the call. For
the first method where the modem automatically answers the call, the
number of times it will ring before answering is controlled by the S0
register of the modem. If S0 is set to 3, the modem will
automatically answer on the 3rd ring. If it's set to 0 then the modem
will only answer the call if getty sends it an "A" (= Answer) AT
command to the modem while the phone is ringing. (Actually an "ATA"
is sent since all modem commands are prefixed by "AT".) This is known
as "manual" answering since the modem itself doesn't do it
automatically (but getty does). You might think it best to utilize
the ability of the modem hardware to automatically answer the call,
but it's actually better if getty answers it "manually".
For the "manual" answer case, getty opens the port at boot-time and
listens. When the phone rings, a "RING" message is sent to the
listening getty. Then if getty wants to answer this ring, it sends
the modem an "A" command. Note that getty may be set to answer only
after say 4 "RING" messages (the 4th ring) similar to the automatic
answer method. The modem then makes a connection and sends a "CONNECT
..." message to getty which then sends a login prompt to the caller.
It's not all quite this simple as are some special tricks used to
allow dial-out when waiting for a call. See ``Dialing Out while
Waiting for an Incoming Call''
The automatic answer case uses the CD (Carrier Detect aka DCD) wire
from the modem to the serial port to tell when a connection is made.
It works like this. At boot-time getty tries to open the serial port
but the attempt fails since the modem has negated CD (the modem is
idle). Then the getty program waits at the open statement in the
program until a CD signal is asserted. When a CD signal arrives
(perhaps hours later) then the port is opened and getty sends the
login prompt. While getty is waiting (sleeping) at the open
statement, other processes can run so it doesn't degrade computer
perfomance. What actually wakes getty up is an interrupt which is
issued when the CD line from the modem changes its state to on.
You may wonder how getty is able to open the serial port in the
"manual"-answer case since CD may be negated. Well, there's a way to
write a program to force the port to open even if there is no CD
signal asserted.
12.3. 56k doesn't work
If you expect that people will be able to dial-in to you at 56k, it
can't be done unless you have all the following:
1. You have a digital connection to the telephone company such as a
trunkside-T1 or ISDN line
2. You use special digital modems (see ``Digital Modems'')
3. You have a "... concentrator", or the like to interface your
digital-modems to the digital lines of the telephone company.
A "... concentrator" may be called a "modem concentrator" or a
"remote access concentrator" or it could be included in a "remote
access server" (RAS) which includes the digital modems, etc. This
type of setup is used by ISPs (Internet Service Providers).
12.4. Getty
12.4.1. Introduction to Getty
getty is the program you run for dialin. You don't need it for
dialout. In addition to presenting a login prompt, it also may help
answer the telephone. Originally getty was used for logging in to a
computer from a dumb terminal. A major use of it today is for logging
in to a Linux console. There are several different getty programs but
a few of these work OK with modems for dialin. The getty program is
usually started at boot-time. It must be called from the /etc/inittab
file. In this file you may find some examples which you will likely
need to edit a bit. Hopefully these examples will be for the flavor
of getty installed on your PC.
There are four different getty programs to choose from that may be
used with modems for dial-in: mgetty, uugetty, getty_em, and agetty.
A brief overview is given in the following subsections. agetty is the
weakest of the four and it's mainly for use with directly connected
text-terminals. mgetty has support for fax and voice mail but Uugetty
doesn't. mgetty allegedly lacks a few of the features of uugetty.
getty_em is a simplified version of uugetty. Thus mgetty is likely
your best choice unless you are already familiar with uugetty (or find
it difficult to get mgetty). The syntax for these getty programs
differs, so be sure to check that you are using the correct syntax in
/etc/inittab for whichever getty you use.
In order to see what documentation exists about the various gettys on
your computer, use the "locate" command. Type: locate "*getty*"
(including the quotes may help). Note that many distributions just
call the program getty even though it may actually be agetty, uugetty,
etc. But if you read the man page (type: man getty), it might
disclose which getty it is. This should be the getty program with
path /sbin/getty.
12.4.2. Getty "exits" after login (and can respawn)
After you log in you will notice (by using "top" or "ps -ax") that the
getty process is no longer running. What happened to it? Why does
getty restart again if your shell is killed? Here's why.
After you type in your user name, getty takes it and calls the login
program telling it your user name. The getty process is replaced by
the login process. The login process asks for your password, checks
it and starts whatever process is specified in your password file.
This process is often the bash shell. If so, bash starts and replaces
the login process. Note that one process replaces another and that
the bash shell process originally started as the getty process. The
implications of this will be explained below.
Now in the /etc/inittab file getty is supposed to respawn (restart) if
killed. It says so on the line that calls getty. But if the bash
shell (or the login process) is killed, getty respawns (restarts).
Why? Well, both the login process and bash are replacements for getty
and inherit the signal connections establish by their predecessors.
In fact if you observe the details you will notice that the
replacement process will have the same process ID as the original
process. Thus bash is sort of getty in disguise with the same process
ID number. If bash is killed it is just like getty was killed (even
though getty isn't running anymore). This results in getty
respawning.
When one logs out, all the processes on that serial port are killed
including the bash shell. This may also happen (if enabled) if a
hangup signal is sent to the serial port by a drop of DCD voltage by
the modem. Either the logout or drop in DCD will result in getty
respawning. One may force getty to respawn by manually killing bash
(or login) either by hitting the k key, etc. while in "top" or with
the "kill" command. You will likely need to kill it with signal 9
(which can't be ignored).
12.4.3. About mgetty
mgetty was written as a replacement for uugetty which was in existence
long before mgetty. Both are for use with modems but mgetty is best
(unless you already are committed to uugetty). mgetty may be also
used for directly connected terminals. In addition to allowing dialup
logins, mgetty also provides FAX support and auto PPP detection. It
permits dialing out when mgetty is waiting for an incoming phone call.
There is a supplemental program called vgetty which handles voicemail
for some modems. mgetty documentation is fair (except for voice
mail), and is not supplemented in this HOWTO. To automatically start
PPP one must edit /etc/mgetty/login.conf to enable "AutoPPP" You can
find the latest information on mgetty at
http://www.leo.org/~doering/mgetty/ and
<http://alpha.greenie.net/mgetty>
12.4.4. About uugetty
getty_ps contains two programs: getty is used for console and
terminal devices, and uugetty for modems. Greg Hankins (former author
of Serial-HOWTO) used uugetty so his writings about it are included
here. See ``Uugetty''.
12.4.5. About getty_em
This is a simplified version of ``uugetty''. It was written by Vern
Hoxie after he became fully confused with complex support files needed
for getty_ps and uugetty.
It is part of the collection of serial port utilities and information
by Vern Hoxie available via ftp from <scicom.alphacdc.com/pub/linux>.
The name of the collection is ``serial_suite.tgz''.
12.4.6. About agetty
This subsection is long since the author tried using agetty for
dialin. agetty is seemingly simple since there are no initialization
files. But when I tried it, it opened the serial port even when there
was no CD signal present. It then sent both a login prompt and the
/etc/issue file to the modem in the AT-command state before a
connection was made. The modem thinks all this an AT command and if
it does contain any "at" strings (by accident) it is likely to
adversely modify your modem profile. Echo wars can start where getty
and the modem send the same string back and forth over and over. You
may see a "respawning too rapidly" error message if this happens. To
prevent this you need to disable all echoing and result codes from the
modem (E0 and Q1). Also use the -i option with agetty to prevent any
/etc/issue file from being sent.
If you start getty on the modem port and a few seconds later find that
you have the login process running on that port instead of getty, it
means that a bogus user name has been sent to agetty from the modem.
To keep this from happening, I had to save my dial-in profile in the
modem so that it become effective at power-on. The other saved
profile is for dial-out. Then any dial-out programs which use the
modem must use a Z, Z0, or Z1 in their init string to initialize the
modem for dial-out (by loading the saved dial-out profile). If the
1-profile is for dial-in you use Z1 to load it, etc. If you want to
listen for dial-in later on, then the modem needs to be reset to the
dial-in profile. Not all dial-out programs can do this reset upon
exit from them.
Thus while agetty may work OK if you set up a dial-in profile
correctly in the modem hardware, it's probably best suited for virtual
consoles or terminals rather than modems. If agetty is running for
dialin, there's no easy way to dial out. When someone first dials in
to agetty, they should hit the return key to get the login prompt.
agetty in the Debian distribution is just named getty.
12.4.7. About mingetty, and fbgetty
mingetty is a small getty that will work only for monitors (the usual
console) so you can't use it with modems for dialin. fbgetty is as
above but supports framebuffers.
12.5. Why "Manual" Answer is Best
The difference between the two ways of answering is exhibited when the
computer happens to be down but the modem is still working. For the
manual case, the "RING" message is sent to getty but since the
computer is down, getty isn't there and the phone never gets answered.
There are no telephone charges when there is no answer. For the
automatic answer case, the modem (which is still on) answers the phone
but no login message is ever sent since the computer is down. The
phone bill runs up as the waiting continues. If the phone call is
toll-free, it doesn't make much difference, although it may be
frustrating waiting for a login prompt that never arrives. mgetty
uses manual answer. Uugetty can do this too using a configuration
script.
12.6. Dialing Out while Waiting for an Incoming Call
Here's what could go wrong with a simple-minded manual-answer
situation. Suppose another process dials out while getty is listening
for a "RING" message from its modem on the serial wire. Then incoming
bytes for the dial-out process flow from the modem to the serial port.
For example, your modem may send a "CONNECT" message to your serial
port when the dial-out process connects. If getty reads this there's
trouble since reads are destructive reads. Once getty reads it, then
the dial-out process that is expecting "CONNECT" (or something else)
can't read it. Thus the dial-out process is likely to fail.
There's a way to avoid this and here's how mgetty does it. When
mgetty is listing for an incoming call, it doesn't read anything from
the port until it thinks that the characters are for mgetty. Mgetty
monitors the port and if characters arrive, it doesn't read them right
away. Instead, it first checks to see if another process is using the
port. If so, mgetty backs off and closes the port (but the port
remains open for the other process). Thus if another process dials
out, mgetty doesn't interfere with it. When the other process finally
closes the port, then mgetty resumes "listening". It's a special type
of "listening" that refrains from reading until mgetty believes that
what it will read is for mgetty (hopefully a "RING" message).
When mgetty checks to see if another process is using the port, it
actually checks for valid lockfiles on the port. If the other process
failed to use lockfiles, too bad for it. For more details see the
mgetty documentation: "How mgetty works". For programmers only:
"listening" is actually using the system calls "poll" or "select" to
monitor the port. They are likely also used to monitor the port when
a non-mgetty process is using the port.
With auto-answer, getty is waiting for CD to be asserted so that it
can open the port. One may dial out, but once a connection is made
the modem's CD is asserted. If getty were to then read the port it
would eat the characters intended to be read by the dial-out
connection. While agetty will have this problem, it's claimed that
uugetty will check lockfiles before reading (similar to mgetty).
12.7. Ending a Dial-in Call
There are two major ways to end a dial-in call. The caller may either
logout or just hang up. For the hangup case see ``Caller hangs up''
12.7.1. Caller logs out
When the call is over the normal way to end the connection is for the
user to log out. This will kill the remote user's shell on your PC.
Now since there is nothing running on this port, the port is closed
and sends a hangup signal to the modem by negating DTR. This will
only happen if stty -a shows hupcl (hang up on close) but this should
be the default.
The modem getting this hangup (negated DTR signal) will then hang up
the phone line (provided the modem has been configured to do this
--see below). The modem should then be ready to answer any new
incoming calls. Killing the user's shell also causes getty to respawn
and wait for the next call.
As an alternative to using DTR to tell the modem to hang up the phone
line, a script used after getty respawns may send the unique escape
code sequence +++ to the modem to put it into AT command mode. The
+++ must have both an initial and final time delay. Once in AT
command mode, a hangup command (H0) may be sent to the modem as well
as other AT commands. If the PC fails to successfully signal the
modem when a logout happens (or to use the +++ escape when restarting
getty), then the modem is apt to remain in on-line mode and no more
incoming calls can be received.
12.7.2. When DTR drops (is negated)
When DTR (the "hang-up" signal) is negated, what the modem does
depends on the value of the &D option in the modem's profile. If it's
&D0 nothing at all happens (the modem ignores the negation of DTR).
&D2: The modem will hang up and go into AT command mode (off-line) to
wait for the next call. Except that it will not automatically answer
the phone (if it should) until DTR is asserted again. But since getty
is set to respawn (in /etc/inittab) then getty will immediately
restart after a logout and this will assert DTR. So what happens when
someone logs out is that DTR only is negated for a fraction of a
second (winks) before it gets asserted again. For the above to
happen, the DTR must be negated for at least the time specified by
register S25.
&D3: In this case the modem does a hard reset: It hangs up and
restores the saved profile as specified by &Y. It should now be in
the same state it was in when first powered on and it's ready for
incoming calls. The S25 limit may have no effect so even a very short
"wink" is detected. Another brand of modem says the S25 limit is
still valid. Thus &D3 is a stronger "reset" than &D2 which doesn't
restore the saved profile and could require a longer wink to work.
If you don't know which of the above two to use try using &D3 first.
Under favorable conditions, either one should work OK. It's reported
that some modems require &D2.
12.7.3. Caller hangs up
Instead of logging out the normal way, a caller may just hang up.
This results in a lost connection and of course a loss of carrier.
Other problems could also cause a loss of carrier. The "NO CARRIER"
result code is displayed. The modem hangs up and waits for the next
call. Except that there is no getty running yet to start the login
process.
Here's how getty gets started again: The loss of carrier should
negate the CD signal sent by the modem to the serial port (provided
&C1 has been set). When the the PC's serial port gets the negated CD
signal it should kill the shell and then getty should respawn.
This paragraph is about other things that happen but do nothing. Only
the curious need read it. When the shell is killed a DTR wink is sent
to the modem but since the modem is not on-line anymore and has
already hung up, the modem ignores the negation of DTR (hang up). The
loss of carrier also negates the DSR signal sent by the modem to the
serial port (provided &S1 or &S2 is set) but this signal is ignored
(by Linux).
12.8. Dial-in Modem Configuration
The getty programs have a provision for sending an init string to the
modem to configure it. But you may need to edit it. Another method
is to save a suitable init string inside the modem (see ``Init
Strings: Saving and Recalling'' for how to save it in the modem).
The configuration for dial-in depends both on the getty you use and
perhaps on your modem. If you can't find suggested configurations in
other documentation here are some hints using Hayes AT commands:
� &C1 Make the CD line to the serial port track the actual state of
the carrier (CD asserted only when there's carrier). Getty_em
requires &C0 (CD always asserted)
� &D3 Do a hard reset of the modem when someone logs out (or hangs
up). For some modems it's reported that &D2 is required since they
can't tolerate a hard reset ??
� E0 Don't echo AT commands back to the serial port. This is a must
for agetty. Some suggest E1 (echo AT commands) for mgetty. For
dial-out you want E1 so you can see what was sent.
� &K3 Use hardware flow control
� Q0 Echo results words (such as CONNECT). Most gettys use them.
But it's reported an AT&T version of uugetty and agetty require Q2
(no result words for dial-in).
� S0=? mgetty suggests S0=0 (manual answer). If you set S0=3 the
modem will auto-answer on the 3rd ring, etc. Agetty uses auto-
answer. So does uugetty (usually).
� V1 Display results (such as CONNECT) in words (and not in code)
� X4 Check for dialtone and busy signal
12.9. Callback
Callback is where someone first dials in to your modem. Then, you get
a little info from the caller and then call it right back. Why would
you want to do this? One reason is to save on telephone bills if you
can call the caller cheaper than the caller can call you. Another is
to make sure that the caller really is who it claims to be. If a
caller calls you and claims to be calling from its usual phone number,
then one way to verify this is to actually place a new call to that
number.
There's a program for Linux called "callback" that works with mgetty.
It's at <ftp://ftp.icce.rug.nl/pub/unix/>. Step-by-step instructions
on how someone installed it (and PPP) is at
<http://www.stokely.com/unix.serial.port.resources/callback.html>
12.10. Voice Mail
Voice mail is like an answering machine run by a computer. To do this
you must have a modem that supports "voice" and supporting software.
Instead of storing the messages on tape, they are stored in digital
format on a disk. When a person phones you, they hear a "greeting"
message and can then leave a message for you. More advanced systems
would have caller-selectable mail boxes and caller-selectable messages
to listen to. Free software is available in Linux for simple
answering, but doesn't seem to be available yet for the more advanced
stuff.
I know of two different voicemail packages for Linux. One is a very
minimal package (see ``Voicemail Software''). The other, more
advanced, but currently poorly documented, is vgetty. It's an
optional addition to the well documented and widely distributed mgetty
program. It supports ZyXEL-like voice modem commands. In the Debian
distribution, you must get the mgetty-voice package in addition to the
mgetty package and mgetty-doc package. Obsolete documentation has
been removed from mgetty but replacement documentation is lacking
(except if you use the -h (help) option when running certain programs,
etc.). But one sees postings about using it on the mgetty newsgroup.
See ``About mgetty''. It seems that vgetty is currently not very
stable but it's successfully being used and development of it
continues. If this is the latest version of this HOWTO can someone
who is familiar with vgetty please let me know its current status.
12.11. Simple Manual Dial-In
This is really doing it manually! There's a way to answer a call
without bothering to edit any configuration files for dial-in or
enabling getty but the caller can't login. To do this you run a
terminal program such as minicom. Make sure it's connected to your
modem by typing "AT <enter>" and expect "OK". Then wait for the call.
Then you really answer the call manually by typing "ATA" when the
phone is ringing. This doesn't run getty and the caller can't login.
But if the caller is calling in with a terminal program they may type
a message to your screen (and conversely). You both may send files
back and forth by using the commands built into the terminal programs
(such as minicoms). Another way to answer such a call would be to
type say "ATS0=3" just before the call comes in to enable the modem to
auto-answer on the third ring.
This is one way to crudely transfer files with someone on a MS Windows
PC who uses HyperTerminal or Terminal (for Windows 3.x or DOS). These
two MS programs are something like minicom. Using this simple manual
method (for Linux-to-Linux or MS-to-Linux) requires two people to be
present, one one each end of the phone line connection running a
terminal communications program. Be warned that if both people type
at the same time it's chaos. It's a "last resort" way to transfer
files between any two people that have PCs (either Linux or MS
Windows). It could also be used for testing your modem or as a
preliminary test before setting up dial-in.
12.12. Complex GUI Dial-In, VNC
At the opposite extreme to the simple (but labor intensive) manual
dial-in is one that results in GUI graphical interface to the Linux
PC. This generally requires that a network running TCP/IP protocol
exist between the two computers. One way to get such a "network" is
to dial-out to a PC set for dial-in and then run PPP on the phone
line. PPP will use TCP/IP protocol encapsulated inside the PPP
packets. Both sides must run PPP and mgetty can be configured to
start PPP as soon as the caller does. The caller may use a PPP-dialer
program just like they were dialing an ISP. Programs such as wvdial,
eznet, or chat scripts should do it.
Instead of this tiny network over a phone connection a much larger
network (the entire world) is reached via an ISP. For their lowest-
rate service many of them use proxy servers that will not give you
access to the ports you need to use. Even if they don't use proxy
servers, the IP address they give you is only temporary for the
session, so you'll need to email this IP to whomever wants to reach
you. If you get a more expensive ISP service, then you can avoid
these problems.
One way to get a GUI interface from the remote PC is to run the GPLed
program: Virtual Network Computer (VNC) from AT&T. It has a server
part which you run on your Linux PC for dial-in and a viewer (client)
part used for dial-out. Neither of these actually does any dialing or
login but assumes that you have a network already set up. The VNC
server has an X-server built in and may use Linux's twm window
manager. See the article on VNC in Linux Magazine:
<http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-11/desktop_03.html>. The AT&T site for
VNC is: <http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/>.
With VNC one can also connect to remote Windows PCs, get the Windows
GUI on a Linux PC, and run Windows programs on the remote Windows PC.
Of course the Windows PC must be running VNC (as a server).
Obviously, a GUI connection over a modem will be slower than a text-
only connection especially if you run KDE or GNOME or want 16-bit
color.
12.13. Interoperability with MS Windows
Once you have dial-in set up, others may call in to you using minicom
(or the like) from Unix-like systems. From MS Windows one may call
you using "HyperTerminal (or just "Terminal" in Windows 3.1 or DOS).
If in Windows one wants to use dial-up with a network protocol over
the phone line it's called "Dial-up Networking". But it probably will
not be able to communicate with Linux. For setting up such dial-in in
Windows one clicks on "server" while dial-out is the "client. Such
dial-in is often called "remote control" meaning that the caller can
use your PC, run programs on it, and thus control it remotely.
While it's easy to call in to a text-based Linux system from MS
Windows, it's not so easy the other way around (partly because Windows
is not text-based and would need to put the caller into DOS where
files wouldn't be protected like they are in Linux.
However Windows "Dial-up Networking" can establish a dial-in provided
the caller uses certain network protocols over the phone line: MS's or
Novel's (two protocols not liked by Linux). So if someone with
Windows enables their Dial-up networking server in Windows 98, you
can't just dial in directly to it from Linux. This type of dial-in
doesn't permit the caller to run most of the programs on the host like
Linux does. It's called "remote access" and one may transfer files,
use the hosts printer, access databases, etc. Is there some way to
interface to Dial-up Networking from Linux??
It is possible for two people to crudely chat and send files using
Minicom on the Linux end and HyperTerminal on the Windows end. It's
all done manually by two live persons, one on each end of the phone
connection. See ``Simple Manual Dial-In''.
At the opposite extreme, one would like to run a dial-in so that the
person calling would get a GUI interface. For that a network protocol
is normally used. It's possible using PC Anywhere for Windows or VNC
for both Linux and Windows. But PC Anywhere doesn't seem to talk to
Linux ?? Other Window programs for "remote control" include Laplink,
Co-Session, and Microcom. Do any such programs support Linux besides
VNC ??
13. Uugetty for Dial-In (from the old Serial-HOWTO)
Be aware that you could use mgetty as a (better?) alternative to
uugetty. mgetty is newer and more popular than uugetty. See
``Getty'' for a brief comparison of these 2 gettys.
13.1. Installing getty_ps
Since uugetty is part of getty_ps you'll first have to install
getty_ps. If you don't have it, get the latest version from
metalab.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/system/serial. In particular, if you want
to use high speeds (57600 and 115200 bps), you must get version 2.0.7j
or later. You must also have libc 5.x or greater.
By default, getty_ps will be configured to be Linux FSSTND (File
System Standard) compliant, which means that the binaries will be in
/sbin, and the config files will be named /etc/conf.{uu}getty.ttySN.
This is not apparent from the documentation! It will also expect lock
files to go in /var/lock. Make sure you have the /var/lock directory.
If you don't want FSSTND compliance, binaries will go in /etc, config
files will go in /etc/default/{uu}getty.ttySN, and lock files will go
in /usr/spool/uucp. I recommend doing things this way if you are
using UUCP, because UUCP will have problems if you move the lock files
to where it isn't looking for them.
getty_ps can also use syslogd to log messages. See the man pages for
syslogd(1) and syslog.conf(5) for setting up syslogd, if you don't
have it running already. Messages are logged with priority LOG_AUTH,
errors use LOG_ERR, and debugging uses LOG_DEBUG. If you don't want
to use syslogd you can edit tune.h in the getty_ps source files to use
a log file for messages instead, namely /var/adm/getty.log by default.
Decide on if you want FSSTND compliance and syslog capability. You
can also choose a combination of the two. Edit the Makefile, tune.h
and config.h to reflect your decisions. Then compile and install
according to the instructions included with the package.
13.2. Setting up uugetty
With uugetty you may dial out with your modem while uugetty is
watching the port for logins. uugetty does important lock file
checking. Update /etc/gettydefs to include an entry for your modem.
For help with the meaning of the entries that you put into
/etc/gettydefs, see the "serial_suite" collected by Vern Hoxie. How
to get it is in section See``About getty_em''. When you are done
editing /etc/gettydefs, you can verify that the syntax is correct by
doing:
linux# getty -c /etc/gettydefs
13.2.1. Modern Modems
If you have a 9600 bps or faster modem with data compression, you can
lock your serial port to one speed. For example:
# 115200 fixed speed
F115200# B115200 CS8 # B115200 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #F115200
If you have your modem set up to do RTS/CTS hardware flow control, you
can add CRTSCTS to the entries:
# 115200 fixed speed with hardware flow control
F115200# B115200 CS8 CRTSCTS # B115200 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL CRTSCTS #@S @L @B login: #F115200
13.2.2. Old slow modems
If you have a slow modem (under 9600 bps) Then, instead of one line
for a single speed, your need several lines to try a number of speeds.
Note the these lines are linked to each other by the last "word" in
the line such as #4800. Blank lines are needed between each entry.
Are the higher modem-to-serial_port speeds in this example really
needed for a slow modem ?? The uugetty documentation shows them so
I'm not yet deleting them.
# Modem entries
115200# B115200 CS8 # B115200 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #57600
57600# B57600 CS8 # B57600 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #38400
38400# B38400 CS8 # B38400 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #19200
19200# B19200 CS8 # B19200 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #9600
9600# B9600 CS8 # B9600 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #4800
4800# B4800 CS8 # B4800 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #2400
2400# B2400 CS8 # B2400 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #1200
1200# B1200 CS8 # B1200 SANE -ISTRIP HUPCL #@S @L @B login: #115200
13.2.3. Login Banner
If you want, you can make uugetty print interesting things in the
login banner. In Greg's examples, he has the system name, the serial
line, and the current bps rate. You can add other things:
@B The current (evaluated at the time the @B is seen) bps rate.
@D The current date, in MM/DD/YY.
@L The serial line to which uugetty is attached.
@S The system name.
@T The current time, in HH:MM:SS (24-hour).
@U The number of currently signed-on users. This is a
count of the number of entries in the /etc/utmp file
that have a non-null ut_name field.
@V The value of VERSION, as given in the defaults file.
To display a single '@' character, use either '\@' or '@@'.
13.3. Customizing uugetty
There are lots of parameters you can tweak for each port you have.
These are implemented in separate config files for each port. The
file /etc/conf.uugetty will be used by all instances of uugetty, and
/etc/conf.uugetty.ttySN will only be used by that one port. Sample
default config files can be found with the getty_ps source files,
which come with most Linux distributions. Due to space concerns, they
are not listed here. Note that if you are using older versions of
uugetty (older than 2.0.7e), or aren't using FSSTND, then the default
file will be /etc/default/uugetty.ttySN. Greg's
/etc/conf.uugetty.ttyS3 looked like this:
# sample uugetty configuration file for a Hayes compatible modem to allow
# incoming modem connections
#
# line to initialize
INITLINE=ttyS3
# timeout to disconnect if idle...
TIMEOUT=60
# modem initialization string...
# format: <expect> <send> ... (chat sequence)
INIT="" AT\r OK\r\n
WAITFOR=RING
CONNECT="" ATA\r CONNECT\s\A
# this line sets the time to delay before sending the login banner
DELAY=1
#DEBUG=010
Add the following line to your /etc/inittab, so that uugetty is run on
your serial port, substituting in the correct information for your
environment - run-levels (2345 or 345, etc.) config file location,
port, speed, and default terminal type:
S3:2345:respawn:/sbin/uugetty -d /etc/default/uugetty.ttyS3 ttyS3 F115200 vt100
Restart init:
linux# init q
For the speed parameter in your /etc/inittab, you want to use the
highest bps rate that your modem supports.
Now Linux will be watching your serial port for connections. Dial in
from another machine and login to you Linux system.
uugetty has a lot more options, see the man page for uugetty) (often
just called getty) for a full description. Among other things there
is a scheduling feature, and a ringback feature.
14. What Speed Should I Use with My Modem?
By "speed" we really mean the "data flow rate" but almost everybody
incorrectly calls it speed. For all modern modems you have no choice
of the speed that the modem uses on the telephone line since it will
automatically choose the highest possible speed that is feasible under
the circumstances. If one modem is slower than the other, then the
faster modem will operate at the slower modem's speed. On a noisy
line, the speed will drop still lower.
While the above speeds are selected automatically by the modems you do
have a choice as to what speed will be used between your modem and
your computer (PC-to-modem speed). This is sometimes called "DTE
speed" where "DTE" stands for Data Terminal Equipment (Your computer
is a DTE.) You need to set this speed high enough so this part of the
signal path will not be a bottleneck. The setting for the DTE speed
is the maximum speed of this link. Most of the time it should
actually operate at lower speeds.
For an external modem, DTE speed is the speed (in bits/sec) of the
flow over the cable between you modem and PC. For an internal modem,
it's the same idea since the modem also emulates a serial port. It
may seem ridiculous having a speed limit on communication between a
computer and a modem card that is directly connected inside the
computer to a much higher speed bus. But it's that way since the
modem card probably includes a dedicated serial port which does have
speed limits (and settable speeds).
14.1. Speed and Data Compression
What speed do you choose? If it were not for "data compression" one
might try to choose a DTE speed exactly the same as the modem speed.
Data compression takes the bytes sent to the modem from your computer
and encodes them into a fewer number of bytes. For example, if the
flow (speed) from the PC to the modem was 20,000 bytes/sec (bps) and
the compression ratio was 2 to 1, then only 10,000 bytes/sec would
flow over the telephone line. Thus for a 2:1 compression ratio you
need to set the DTE speed to double the maximum modem speed on the
phone line. If the compression ratio were 3 to 1 you need to set it 3
times faster, etc.
14.2. Where do I Set Speed ?
This DTE (PC-to-modem) speed is normally set by a menu in your
communications program or by an option given to the getty command if
someone is dialing in. You can't set the DCE modem-to-modem speed
since this is set automatically by the modem to the highest feasible
speed after negotiation with the other modem. Well, actually you can
set the modem-to-modem speed with the S37 register but you shouldn't
do it. If the two modems on a connection were to be set this way to
different speeds, then they couldn't communicate with each other.
14.3. Can't Set a High Enough Speed
14.3.1. Speeds over 115.2k
The top speed of 115.2k has been the standard speed since the mid
1990's. By the year 2000, many serial ports supported higher speeds
but Linux seldom used them due to lack of drivers. These high-speed
ports by default only support 115.2k and must have special software to
enable the higher speeds. Today (2001) almost all new serial ports
support speeds of 230.4k and 460.8k. Some also support 921.6k.
Unfortunately, to get these speeds you need to compile the kernel with
a special patch and it seems the patch doesn't support the 2.4 kernels
yet.
For internal modems, only a minority of them advertise that they
support speeds of over 115.2k for their built-in serial ports. Will
shsmod support these ??
The patch to support high-speed is called shsmod (Super High Speed).
There are both Windows and Linux versions of this patch. See
<http://www.devdrv.com/shsmod>. For Linux, much of the documentation
is only in Japanese. There is also a module for the VIA VT82C686
chip <www.kati.fi/viahss/>.
14.3.2. How speed is set in hardware: the divisor and baud_base
Here's a list of commonly used divisors and their corresponding speeds
(assuming a maximum speed of 115,200): 1 (115.2k), 2 (57.6k), 3
(38.4k), 6 (19.2k), 12 (9.6k), 24 (4.8k), 48 (2.4k), 96 (1.2k), etc.
The serial driver sets the speed in the hardware by sending the
hardware only a "divisor" (a positive integer). This "divisor"
divides the maximum speed of the hardware resulting in a slower speed
(except a divisor of 1 obviously tells the hardware to run at maximum
speed).
Normally, if you specify a speed of 115.2k (in your communication
program or by stty) then the serial driver sets the port hardware to
divisor 1 which obviously sets the highest speed. If you happen to
have hardware with a maximum speed of say 230.4k, then specifying
115.2k will result in divisor 1 and will actually give you 230.4k.
This is double the speed that you set. In fact, for any speed you
set, the actual speed will be double. If you had hardware that could
run at 460.8k then the actual speed would be quadruple what you set.
14.3.3. Work-arounds for setting speed
To correct this accounting (but not always fix the problem) you may
use "setserial" to change the baud_base to the actual maximal speed of
your port such as 230.4k. Then if you set the speed (by your
application or by stty) to 230.4k, a divisor of 1 will be used and
you'll get the same speed as you set. PROBLEM: stty and many
communication programs (as of mid 1999) still have 115.2k as their
maximum speed setting and will not let you set 230.4k, etc. So in
these cases one solution is not to change anything with setserial but
mentally keep in mind that the actual speed is always double what you
set.
There's another work-around which is not much better. To use it you
set the baud_base (with setserial) to the maximal speed of your
hardware. This corrects the accounting so that if you set say 115.2k
you actually get 115.2k. Now you still have to figure out how to set
the highest speed if your communication program (or the like) will not
let you do it. Fortunately, setserial has a way to do this: use the
"spd_cust" parameter with "divisor 1". Then when you set the speed to
38400 in a communication program, the divisor will be set to 1 in the
port and it will operate at maximum speed. For example:
setserial /dev/ttyS2 spd_cust baud_base 230400 divisor 1
Don't try using "divisor" for any other purpose other than the special
use illustrated above (with spd_cust).
If there are two or more high speeds that you want to use that your
communication program can't set, then it's not quite as easy as above.
But the same principles apply. You could just keep the default
baud_base and understand that when you set a speed you are really only
setting a divisor. So your actual speed will always be your maximum
speed divided by whatever divisor is set by the serial driver. See
``How speed is set in hardware: the divisor and baud_base''
14.3.4. Crystal frequency is not baud_base
Note that the baud_base setting is usually much lower than the
frequency of the crystal oscillator in the hardware since the crystal
frequency is often divided by 16 in the hardware to get the actual top
speed. The reason the crystal frequency needs to be higher is so that
this high crystal speed can be used to take a number of samples of
each bit to determine if it's a 1 or a 0.
14.4. Speed Table
It's best to have at least a 16650 UART for a 56k modem but few modems
or serial ports provide it. Second best is a 16550 that has been
tweaked to give 230,400 bps (230.4 kbps). Most people still use a
16550 that is only 115.2 kbps but it's claimed to only slow down
thruput by a few percent (on average). This is because a typical
compression ratio is 2 to 1 and for downloading compressed files
(packages) it's 1 to 1. There's no degradation for these cases. Here
are some suggested speeds to set your serial line if your modem speed
is:
� 56k (v.90): use 115.2 kbps or 230.4 kbps (best)
� 33.6k (v.34bis): use 115.2 kbps
� 28.8k (v.34): use 115.2 kbps
� 14.4k (v.32bis): use 57600 bps
� 9.6k (v.32): use 38400 bps
� slower than a 9600 bps (v.32) modem: Set the speed to the same
speed as the modem (unless you have data compression).
All the above speeds may use v.42bis data compression and v.42 error
correction. If data compression is not used then the speed may be set
lower so long as it's above the modem speed.
15. Communications Programs And Utilities
While PPP is used for Internet access you also need a dialer program
(or script) that will work with PPP. Such a dialer program will dial
a phone number. When the other side answers the phone then three
things happen: PPP is started at both ends and you get logged in
automatically. The exact sequence of these 3 events may vary. Dialer
programs for ppp include wvdial, chap scripts, kppp, and gnome-ppp.
There are also other dialer programs which can dial out directly (thru
a modem) to local libraries, etc. This isn't the Internet. minicom
is the most popular followed by Seyon (X-Windows only) and Kermit.
People have likely also used these programs for dialing out with ppp
for the Internet but it's not what they were originally designed for.
15.1. Minicom vs. Kermit
Minicom is only a communications program while Kermit is both a
communications program and a file transfer protocol. But one may use
the Kermit protocol from within Minicom (provided one has Kermit
installed on one's PC). Minicom is menu based while Kermit is command
line based (interactive at the special Kermit prompt). While the
Kermit program is free software, the documentation is not all free.
There is no detailed manual supplied and it is suggested that you
purchase a book as the manual. However Kermit has interactive online
help which tells all but lacks tutorial explanations for the beginner.
Commands may be put in a script file so you don't have to type them
over again each time. Kermit (as a communications program) is more
powerful than Minicom.
Although all Minicom documentation is free, it's not as extensive as
Kermit's. Since permission is required to include Kermit in a
commercial distribution, and since the documentation is not entirely
free, some distributions don't include Kermit. In my opinion it's
easier to set up Minicom, there is less to learn, and you can still
use kermit from within Minicom.
15.2. List of Communication Software
Here is a list of some communication software you can choose from, If
they didn't come with your distribution they should be available via
FTP. I would like comparative comments on the dialout programs. Are
the least popular ones obsolete?
15.2.1. Least Popular Dialout
� ecu - a communications program
� pcomm - procomm-like communications program with zmodem
� xc - xcomm communication package
15.2.2. Most Popular Dialout
� PPP dialers for getting on the internet: wvdial, eznet, chat, pon
(uses chat),
� minicom - telix-like communications program. Can work with
scripts, zmodem, kermit
� C-Kermit <http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/> - portable, scriptable,
serial and TCP/IP communications including file transfer,
character-set translation, and zmodem support
� seyon - X based communication program
15.2.3. Fax
By using a fax program, you may use most modems to send faxes. In
this case you dial out directly and not via ppp and an ISP. You also
pay any long-distance telephone charges. email is more efficient.
� efax a small fax program
� hylafax a large fax program based on the client-server model.
� mgetty+fax handles fax stuff and login for dial-ins
� A fax protocol tutorial
<http://www.iec.org/tutorials/vfoip/topic08.html>
15.2.4. Voicemail Software
� mvm < http://www-internal.alphabet.ch/~schaefer/mvm/> is a Minimal
VoiceMail for Linux
� vgetty is an extension to mgetty that handles voicemail for some
modems. It should come with recent releases of mgetty.
15.2.5. Dial-in (uses getty)
� mgetty+fax is for modems and is well documented (except for
voicemail as of early 1999). It also handles fax stuff and
provides an alternative to uugetty. It's incorporating voicemail
(using vgetty) features. See ``About mgetty''
� uugetty is also for modems. It comes as a part of the ps_getty
package. See ``About getty_ps''
15.2.6. Other
� callback is where you dial out to a remote modem and then that
modem hangs up and calls you back (to save on phone bills).
� SLiRP and term provide a PPP-like service that you can run in user
space on a remote computer with a shell account. See ``term and
SLiRP'' for more details
� ZyXEL is a control program for ZyXEL U-1496 modems. It handles
dialin, dialout, dial back security, FAXing, and voice mailbox
functions.
� SLIP and PPP software can be found at
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/network/serial.
� Other things can be found on
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/serial and
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/serialcomm or one of the many
mirrors. These are the directories where serial programs are kept.
15.3. SLiRP and term
SLiRP and term are programs which are of use if you only have a dial-
up shell account on a Unix-like machine and want to get the equivalent
of a PPP account (or the like) without being authorized to have it
(possibly because you don't want to pay extra for it, etc.). SLiRP is
more popular than term which is almost obsolete.
To use SLiRP you install it in your shell account on the remote
computer. Then you dial up the account and run SLiRP on the remote
and PPP on your local PC. You now have a PPP connection over which
you may run a web browser on your local PC such as Netscape, etc.
There may be some problems as SLiRP is not as good as a real PPP
account. Some accounts may provide SLiRP since it saves on IP
addresses (You have no IP address while using SLiRP).
term is something like SLiRP only you need to run term on both the
local and remote computer. There is no PPP on the phone line since
term uses its own protocol. To use term from your PC you need to use
a term-aware version of ftp to do ftp, etc. Thus it's easier to use
SLiRP since the ordinary version of ftp works fine with SLiRP. There
is an unmaintained Term HOWTO.
15.4. MS Windows
If you want someone who uses MS Windows to dial in to your Linux PC
then if they use:
� Windows 3.x: use Terminal
� Windows 95/98/2000: use HyperTerminal
Third party dial-out programs include HyperTerminal Private Edition.
16. Two Modems (Modem Doubling)
16.1. Introduction
By using two modems at the same time, the flow of data can be doubled.
It takes two modems and two phone lines. There are two methods of
doing this. One is "modem bonding" where software at both ends of the
modem-to-modem connection enables the paired modems to work like a
single channel.
The second method is called "modem teaming. Only one end of the
connection uses software to make 2 different connections to the
internet. Then when a file is to be downloaded, one modem gets the
first half of the file while the second modems simultaneously gets the
last half of the same file. Is there any modem teaming support in
Linux ??
16.2. Modem Bonding
There are two ways to do this in Linux: EQL and multilink. These are
provided as part of the Linux kernel (provided they've been selected
when the kernel was compiled). For multilink the kernel must be at
least v.2.4. Both ends of the connection must run them. Few (if any)
ISPs provide EQL but many provide Multilink.
The way it works is something like multiplexing only it's the other
way around. Thus it's called inverse-multiplexing. For the multilink
case, suppose you're sending some packets. The first packet goes out
on modem1 while the second packet is going out on modem2. Then the
third packet follows the first packet on modem1. The forth packet
goes on modem2, etc. To keep each modem busy, it may be necessary to
send out more packets on one modem than the other. Since EQL is not
packet based, it doesn't split up the flow on packet boundaries.
16.2.1. EQL
EQL is "serial line load balancing" which has been available for Linux
since at least 1995. An old (1995) howto on it is in the kernel
documentation (in the networking subdirectory). Unfortunately, ISPs
don't seem to provide EQL.
16.2.2. Multilink
Staring with kernel 2.4 in 2000, experimental support is provided for
multilink. It must be selected when compiling the kernel and it only
works with PPP.
17. Troubleshooting
17.1. My Modem is Physically There but Can't be Found
The error messages could be something like "No modem detected", "Modem
not responding", or (strange) "You are already online" (from Minicom).
If you have installed an internal modem (serial port is builtin) or
are using an external one and don't know what serial port it's
connected to then the problem is to find the serial port. See ``My
Serial Port is Physically There but Can't be Found''. This section is
about finding out which serial port has the modem on it.
There's a program that looks for modems on commonly used serial ports
called "wvdialconf". Just type "wvdialconf <a-new-file-name>". It
will create the new file as a configuration file but you don't need
this file unless you are going to use "wvdial" for dialing. See
``What is wvdialconf ?'' Unfortunately, if your modem is in "online
data" mode, wvdialconf will report "No modem detected" See ``No
response to AT''
Your problem could be due to a winmodem (or the like) which usually
can't be used with Linux. See ``Software-based Modems (winmodems)''.
The "setserial program may be used to detect serial ports but will not
detect modems on them. Thus "wvdialconf" is best to try first.
Another way try to find out if there's a modem on a port is to start
"minicom" on the port (after first setting up minicom for the correct
serial port --you will need to save the setup and then exit minicom
and start it again). Then type "AT" and you should see OK (or 0 if
it's set for "digit result codes"). The results may be:
� No response. See ``No response to AT''
� It takes many seconds to get an expected truncated response
(including only the cursor moving down one line). See ``Extremely
Slow: Text appears on the screen slowly after long delays''
� Some strange characters appear but they are not in response to AT.
This likely means that your modem is still connected to something
at the other end of the phone line which is sending some cryptic
packets or the like.
17.1.1. No response to AT
The modem should send you "OK" in response to your "AT" which you type
to the modem (using minicom or the like). If you don't see "OK" (and
in most cases don't even see the "AT" you typed either) then the modem
is not responding (often because what you type doesn't even get to the
modem).
A common cause is that there is no modem on the serial port you are
typing to. For the case of an internal modem, that serial port likely
doesn't exist either. That's because the PnP modem card (which has a
built-in serial port) has either not been configured (by isapnp or the
like) or has been configured incorrectly. See ``My Serial Port is
Physically There but Can't be Found''.
If what you type is really getting thru to a modem, then the lack of
response could be due to the modem being in "online data" mode where
it can't accept any AT commands. You may have been using the modem
and then abruptly disconnected (such as killing the process with
signal 9). In that case your modem did not get reset to "command
mode" where it can interact to AT commands. Thus the message from
minicom "You are already online. Hangup first." Well, you are sort
of online but you are may not be connected to anything over the phone
line. Wvdial will report "modem not responding" for the same
situation.
To fix this as a last resort you could reboot the computer. Another
way to try to fix this is to send +++ to the modem to tell it to
escape back to "command mode" from "online data mode". On both sides
of the +++ sequence there must be about 1 second of delay (nothing
sent during "guard time"). This may not work if another process is
using the modem since the +++ sequence could wind up with other
characters inserted in between them or after the +++ (during the guard
time). Ironically, even if the modem line is idle, typing an
unexpected +++ is likely to set off an exchange of control packets
(that you never see) that will violate the required guard time so that
the +++ doesn't do what you wanted. +++ is usually in the string that
is named "hangup string" so if you command minicom (or the like) to
hangup it might work. Another way to do this is to just exit minicom
and then run minicom again.
17.2. "Modem is busy"
What this means depends on what program sent it. The modem could
actually be in use (busy). Another cause reported for the SuSE
distribution is that there may be two serial drivers present instead
of one. One driver was built into the kernel and the second was a
module.
In kppp, this message is sent when an attempt to get/set the serial
port "stty" parameters fails. (It's similar to the "Input/output
error" one may get when trying to use "stty -F /dev/ttySx"). To get a
few of these stty parameters, the true address of the port must be
known to the driver. So the driver may have the wrong address. The
setserial" command will display what the driver thinks but it's likely
wrong in this case. So what the "modem busy" really means is that the
serial port (and the modem) can't be found.
If you have a pci modem, then use one of these commands: lspci, or cat
/proc/pci, or dmesg to find the correct address and irq of the modem's
serial port. Then check to see if "setserial" shows the same thing.
If not, you need to run a script at boot-time which contains a
setserial command that will tell the driver the correct address and
irq. The reason that the driver has it wrong may be due to failure of
the kernel to understand the lspci data correctly. You might notice
this in a boot-time message.
17.3. I can't get near 56k on my 56k modem
There must be very low noise on the line for it to work at even close
to 56k. Some phone lines are so bad that the speeds obtainable are
much slower than 56k (like 28.8k or even slower). Sometimes extension
phones connected to the same line can cause problems. To test this
you might connect your modem directly at the point where the telephone
line enters the building with the feeds for everything else on that
line disconnected (if others can tolerate such a test).
17.4. Uploading (downloading) files is broken/slow
Flow control (both at your PC and/or modem-to-modem) may not be
enabled. For the uploading case: If you have set a high DTE speed
(like 115.2k) then flow from your modem to your PC may work OK but
uploading flow in the other direction will not all get thru due to the
telephone line bottleneck. This will result in many errors and the
resending of packets. It may thus take far too long to send a file.
In some cases, files don't make it thru at all.
For the downloading case: If you're downloading long uncompressed
files or web pages (and your modem uses data compression) or if you've
set a low DTE speed, then downloading may also be broken due to no
flow control.
17.5. For Dial-in I Keep Getting "line NNN of inittab invalid"
Make sure you are using the correct syntax for your version of init.
The different init's that are out there use different syntax in the
/etc/inittab file. Make sure you are using the correct syntax for
your version of getty.
17.6. I Keep Getting: ``Id "S3" respawning too fast: disabled for 5
minutes''
Id "S3" is just an example. In this case look on the line which
starts with "S3" in /etc/inittab and calls getty. This line causes
the problem. Make sure the syntax for this line is correct and that
the device (ttyS3) exists and can be found. If the modem has negated
CD and getty opens the port, you'll get this error message since
negated CD will kill getty. Then getty will respawn only to be killed
again, etc. Thus it respawns over and over (too fast). It seems that
if the cable to the modem is disconnected or you have the wrong serial
port, it's just like CD is negated. All this can occur when your
modem is chatting with getty. Make sure your modem is configured
correctly. Look at AT commands E and Q.
If you use uugetty, verify that your /etc/gettydefs syntax is correct
by doing the following:
linux# getty -c /etc/gettydefs
This can also happen when the uugetty initialization is failing. See
section ``uugetty Still Doesn't Work''.
17.7. My Modem is Hosed after Someone Hangs Up, or uugetty doesn't
respawn
This can happen when your modem doesn't reset when DTR is dropped.
Greg Hankins saw his RD and SD LEDs go crazy when this happened. You
need to have your modem reset. Most Hayes compatible modems do this
with &D3, but for USR Courier, SupraFax, and other modems, you must
set &D2 (and S13=1 for USR Courier). Check your modem manual (if you
have one).
17.8. uugetty Still Doesn't Work
There is a DEBUG option that comes with getty_ps. Edit your config
file /etc/conf.{uu}getty.ttySN and add DEBUG=NNN. Where NNN is one of
the following combination of numbers according to what you are trying
to debug:
D_OPT 001 option settings
D_DEF 002 defaults file processing
D_UTMP 004 utmp/wtmp processing
D_INIT 010 line initialization (INIT)
D_GTAB 020 gettytab file processing
D_RUN 040 other runtime diagnostics
D_RB 100 ringback debugging
D_LOCK 200 uugetty lockfile processing
D_SCH 400 schedule processing
D_ALL 777 everything
Setting DEBUG=010 is a good place to start.
If you are running syslogd, debugging info will appear in your log
files. If you aren't running syslogd info will appear in
/tmp/getty:ttySN for debugging getty and /tmp/uugetty:ttySN for
uugetty, and in /var/adm/getty.log. Look at the debugging info and
see what is going on. Most likely, you will need to tune some of the
parameters in your config file, and reconfigure your modem.
You could also try mgetty. Some people have better luck with it.
17.9. (The following subsections are in both the Serial and Modem
HOWTOs)
17.10. My Serial Port is Physically There but Can't be Found
If a physical device (such as a modem) doesn't work at all it may mean
that the device is not at the I/O address that setserial thinks it's
at. It could also mean (for a PnP card) that is doesn't yet have an
address. Thus it can't be found.
Check the BIOS menus and BIOS messages. For the PCI bus use lspci or
scanpci. If it's an ISA bus PnP serial port, try "pnpdump --dumpregs"
and/or see Plug-and-Play-HOWTO. Using "scanport" will scan all ISA
bus ports and may discover an unknown port that could be a serial port
(but it doesn't probe the port). It could hang your PC. You may try
probing with setserial. See ``Probing''. If nothing seems to get
thru the port it may be accessible but have a bad interrupt. See
``Extremely Slow: Text appears on the screen slowly after long
delays''. Use setserial -g to see what the serial driver thinks and
check for IRQ and I0 address conflicts. Even if you see no conflicts
the driver may have incorrect information (view it by "setserial" and
conflicts may still exist.
If two ports have the same IO address then probing it will erroneously
indicate only one port. Plug-and-play detection will find both ports
so this should only be a problem if at least one port is not plug-and-
play. All sorts of errors may be reported/observed for devices
illegally "sharing" a port but the fact that there are two devices on
the same a port doesn't seem to get detected (except hopefully by
you). In the above case, if the IRQs are different then probing for
IRQs with setserial might "detect" this situation by failing to detect
any IRQ. See ``Probing''.
17.11. Extremely Slow: Text appears on the screen slowly after long
delays
It's likely mis-set/conflicting interrupts. Here are some of the
symptoms which will happen the first time you try to use a modem,
terminal, or serial printer. In some cases you type something but
nothing appears on the screen until many seconds later. Only the last
character typed may show up. It may be just an invisible <return>
character so all you notice is that the cursor jumps down one line.
In other cases where a lot of data should appear on the screen, only a
batch of about 16 characters appear. Then there is a long wait of
many seconds for the next batch of characters. You might also get
"input overrun" error messages (or find them in logs).
For more details on the symptoms and why this happens see the Serial-
HOWTO section: "Interrupt Problem Details".
If it involves Plug-and-Play devices, see also Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.
As a quick check to see if it really is an interrupt problem, set the
IRQ to 0 with "setserial". This will tell the driver to use polling
instead of interrupts. If this seems to fix the "slow" problem then
you had an interrupt problem. You should still try to solve the
problem since polling uses excessive computer resources.
Checking to find the interrupt conflict may not be easy since Linux
supposedly doesn't permit any interrupt conflicts and will send you a
``/dev/ttyS?: Device or resource busy'' error message if it thinks you
are attempting to create a conflict. But a real conflict can be
created if "setserial" has told the kernel incorrect info. The kernel
has been lied to and thus doesn't think there is any conflict. Thus
using "setserial" will not reveal the conflict (nor will looking at
/proc/interrupts which bases its info on "setserial"). You still need
to know what "setserial" thinks so that you can pinpoint where it's
wrong and change it when you determine what's really set in the
hardware.
What you need to do is to check how the hardware is set by checking
jumpers or using PnP software to check how the hardware is actually
set. For PnP run either "pnpdump --dumpregs" (if ISA bus) or run
"lspci" (if PCI bus). Compare this to how Linux (e.g. "setserial")
thinks the hardware is set.
17.12. Somewhat Slow: I expected it to be a few times faster
One reason may be that whatever is on the serial port (such as a
modem, terminal, printer) doesn't work as fast as you thought it did.
A 56k Modem seldom works at 56k and the Internet often has congestion
and bottlenecks that slow things down. If the modem on the other end
does not have a digital connection to the phone line (and uses a
special "digital modem" not sold in most computer stores), then speeds
above 33.6k are not possible.
Another possible reason is that you have an obsolete serial port: UART
8250, 16450 or early 16550 (or the serial driver thinks you do). See
"What are UARTS" in the Serial-HOWTO.
Use "setserial -g /dev/ttyS*". If it shows anything less than a
16550A, this may be your problem. If you think that "setserial" has
it wrong check it out. See ``What is Setserial'' for more info. If
you really do have an obsolete serial port, lying about it to
setserial will only make things worse.
17.13. The Startup Screen Show Wrong IRQs for the Serial Ports.
Linux does not do any IRQ detection on startup. When the serial
module loads it only does serial device detection. Thus, disregard
what it says about the IRQ, because it's just assuming the standard
IRQs. This is done, because IRQ detection is unreliable, and can be
fooled. But if and when setserial runs from a start-up script, it
changes the IRQ's and displays the new (and hopefully correct) state
on on the startup screen. If the wrong IRQ is not corrected by a
later display on the screen, then you've got a problem.
So, even though I have my ttyS2 set at IRQ 5, I still see
ttyS02 at 0x03e8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
at first when Linux boots. (Older kernels may show "ttyS02" as
"tty02" which is the same as ttyS2). You may need to use setserial to
tell Linux the IRQ you are using.
17.14. "Cannot open /dev/ttyS?: Permission denied"
Check the file permissions on this port with "ls -l /dev/ttyS?"_ If
you own the ttyS? then you need read and write permissions: crw with
the c (Character device) in col. 1. It you don't own it then it
should show rw- in cols. 8 & 9 which means that everyone has read and
write permission on it. Use "chmod" to change permissions. There are
more complicated ways to get access like belonging to a "group" that
has group permission.
17.15. "Operation not supported by device" for ttyS?
This means that an operation requested by setserial, stty, etc.
couldn't be done because the kernel doesn't support doing it.
Formerly this was often due to the "serial" module not being loaded.
But with the advent of PnP, it may likely mean that there is no modem
(or other serial device) at the address where the driver (and
setserial) thinks it is. If there is no modem there, commands (for
operations) sent to that address obviously don't get done. See ``What
is set in my serial port hardware?''
If the "serial" module wasn't loaded but "lsmod" shows you it's now
loaded it might be the case that it's loaded now but wasn't loaded
when you got the error message. In many cases the module will
automatically loaded when needed (if it can be found). To force
loading of the "serial" module it may be listed in the file:
/etc/modules.conf or /etc/modules. The actual module should reside
in: /lib/modules/.../misc/serial.o.
17.16. "Cannot create lockfile. Sorry"
When a port is "opened" by a program a lockfile is created in
/var/lock/. Wrong permissions for the lock directory will not allow a
lockfile to be created there. Use "ls -ld /var/lock" to see if the
permissions are OK: usually rwx for everyone (repeated 3 times). If
it's wrong, use "chmod" to fix it. Of course, if there is no "lock"
directory no lockfile can be created there. For more info on
lockfiles see the Serial-HOWTO subsection: "What Are Lock Files".
17.17. "Device /dev/ttyS? is locked."
This means that someone else (or some other process) is supposedly
using the serial port. There are various ways to try to find out what
process is "using" it. One way is to look at the contents of the
lockfile (/var/lock/LCK...). It should be the process id. If the
process id is say 100 type "ps 100" to find out what it is. Then if
the process is no longer needed, it may be gracefully killed by "kill
100". If it refuses to be killed use "kill -9 100" to force it to be
killed, but then the lockfile will not be removed and you'll need to
delete it manually. Of course if there is no such process as 100 then
you may just remove the lockfile but in most cases the lockfile should
have been automatically removed if it contained a stale process id
(such as 100).
17.18. "/dev/tty? Device or resource busy"
This means that the device you are trying to access (or use) is
supposedly busy (in use) or that a resource it needs (such as an IRQ)
is supposedly being used by another device (the resource is "busy").
This message is easy to understand if it only means that the device is
busy (in use). But it often means that a resource is in use. What
makes it even more confusing is that in some cases neither the device
not the resources that it needs are actually "busy".
The ``resource busy'' part often means (example for ttyS2) ``You can't
use ttyS2 since another device is using ttyS2's interrupt.'' The
potential interrupt conflict is inferred from what "setserial" thinks.
A more accurate error message would be ``Can't use ttyS2 since the
setserial data (and kernel data) indicates that another device is
using ttyS2's interrupt''. If two devices use the same IRQ and you
start up only one of the devices, everything is OK because there is no
conflict yet. But when you next try to start the second device
(without quitting the first device) you get a "... busy" error
message. This is because the kernel only keeps track of what IRQs are
actually in use and actual conflicts don't happen unless the devices
are in use (open). The situation for I/O address (such as 0x3f8)
conflict is similar.
This error is sometimes due to having two serial drivers: one a module
and the other compiled into the kernel. Both drivers try to grab the
same resources and one driver finds them "busy".
There are two possible cases when you see this message:
1. There may be a real resource conflict that is being avoided.
2. Setserial has it wrong and the only reason ttyS2 can't be used is
that setserial erroneously predicts a conflict.
What you need to do is to find the interrupt setserial thinks ttyS2 is
using. Look at /proc/tty/driver/serial (if you have it). You should
also be able to find it with the "setserial" command for ttyS2. But
due to a bug (reported by me in Nov. 2000) you get the same "... busy"
error message when you try this with "setserial".
To try to resolve this problem reboot or: exit or gracefully kill all
likely conflicting processes. If you reboot: 1. Watch the boot-time
messages for the serial ports. 2. Hope that the file that runs
"setserial" at boot-time doesn't (by itself) create the same conflict
again.
If you think you know what IRQ say ttyS2 is using then you may look at
/proc/interrupts to find what else (besides another serial port) is
currently using this IRQ. You might also want to double check that
any suspicious IRQs shown here (and by "setserial") are correct (the
same as set in the hardware). A way to test whether or not it's a
potential interrupt conflict is to set the IRQ to 0 (polling) using
"setserial". Then if the busy message goes away, it was likely a
potential interrupt conflcit. It's not a good idea to leave it
permanently set at 0 since it will make the CPU work too hard.
17.19. "Input/output error" from setserial or stty
You may have typed "ttys" instead of "ttyS". You will see this error
message if you try to use the setserial command for any device that is
not a serial port. It also may mean that the serial port is in use
(busy or opened) and thus the attempt to get/set parameters by
setserial or stty failed. It could also mean that there isn't any
serial port at the IO address that setserial thinks your port is at.
17.20. Overrun errors on serial port
This is an overrun of the hardware FIFO buffer and you can't increase
its size. See "Higher Serial Thruput" in the Serial-HOWTO.
17.21. Modem doesn't pick up incoming calls
This paragraph is for the case where a modem is used for both dial-in
and dial-out. If the modem generates a DCD (=CD) signal, some
programs (but not mgetty) will think that the modem is busy. This
will cause a problem when you are trying to dial out with a modem and
the modem's DCD or DTR are not implemented correctly. The modem
should assert DCD only when there is an actual connection (ie someone
has dialed in), not when getty is watching the port. Check to make
sure that your modem is configured to only assert DCD when there is a
connection (&C1). DTR should be on (asserted) by the communications
program whenever something is using, or watching the line, like getty,
kermit, or some other comm program.
17.22. Port get characters only sporadically
There could be some other program running on the port. Use "top"
(provided you've set it to display the port number) or "ps -alxw".
Look at the results to see if the port is being used by another
program. Be on the lookout for the gpm mouse program which often runs
on a serial port.
17.23. Troubleshooting Tools
These are some of the programs you might want to use in
troubleshooting:
� "lsof /dev/ttyS*" will list serial ports which are open.
� "setserial" shows and sets the low-level hardware configuration of
a port (what the driver thinks it is). See ``What is Setserial''
� "stty" shows and sets the configuration of a port (except for that
handled by "setserial"). See the Serial-HOWTO section: "Stty".
� "modemstat" or "statserial" will show the current state of various
modem signal lines (such as DTR, CTS, etc.)
� "irqtune" will give serial port interrupts higher priority to
improve performance.
� "hdparm" for hard-disk tuning may help some more.
� "lspci" shows the actual IRQs, etc. of hardware on the PCI bus.
� "pnpdump --dumpregs" shows the actual IRQs, etc. of hardware for
PnP devices on the ISA bus.
� Some "files" in the /proc tree (such as ioports, interrupts, and
tty/driver/serial).
18. Flash Upgrades
Many modems can be upgraded by reprogramming their flash memories with
an upgrade program which you get from the Internet. By sending this
"program" from the PC via the serial port to the modem, the modem will
store this program in its non-volatile memory (it's still there when
the power is turned off). The instructions on installing it are
usually on how to do in under Windows so you'll need to figure out how
to do the equivalent under Linux (unless you want to install the
upgrade under Windows). Sending the program to the modem is often
called a download.
If the latest version of this HOWTO still contains this request (see
``New Versions of this HOWTO'') please send me your experiences with
installing such upgrades that will be helpful to others.
Here's the general idea of doing an upgrade. First, there may be a
command that you need to send your modem to tell it that what follows
is a flash ROM upgrade. In one case this was AT** You can do this by
starting a communications program (such as minicom) and type. First
type AT <enter> to see if your modem is there and answers "OK".
Next, you need to send an file (sometimes two files) directly to the
modem. Communication programs (such as minicom) often use zmodem or
kermit to send files to the modem (and beyond) but these put the file
into packets which append headers and you want the exact file sent to
the modem, not a modified one. But the kermit communications program
has a "transmit" command that will send the file directly (without
using the kermit packets) so this is one way to send a file directly.
Minicom didn't have this feature in 1998.
Another way to send the file(s) would be to escape from the
communications program to the shell (in minicom this is ^AJ) and then:
cat upgrade_file_name > /dev/ttyS2 (if your serial port is ttyS2).
Then go back to the communication program (type fg at the command line
prompt in minicom) to see what happened.
Here's an example session for a certain Rockwell modem (C-a is ^A):
- Run minicom
- Type AT** : see "Download initiated ..."
- C-a J
- cat FLASH.S37 > /dev/modem
- fg : see "Download flash code ..."
- C-a J
- cat 283P1722.S37 > /dev/modem
- fg : see "Device successfully programmed"
19. Other Sources of Information
19.1. Misc
� man pages for: agetty(8), getty(1m), gettydefs(5), init(1),
isapnp(8), login(1), mgetty(8), setserial(8)
� Your modem manual (if it exists). Some modems come without
manuals.
� Serial Suite <ftp://scicom.alphacdc.com/pub/linux> by Vern Hoxie
is a collection of blurbs about the care and feeding of the Linux
serial port plus some simple programs.
� The Linux serial mailing list. To subscribe, send email to
majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu, with ``subscribe linux-serial'' in the
message body. If you send ``help'' in the message body, you get a
help message. The server also serves many other Linux lists. Send
the ``lists'' command for a list of mailing lists.
19.2. Books
I've been unable to find a good up-to-date book on modems.
� The Complete Modem Reference by Gilbert Held, 1997. Contains too
much info about obsolete topics. More up-to-date info may be found
on the Internet.
� Modems For Dummies by Tina Rathbone, 1996. (Have never seen it.)
� The Modem Technical Guide by Douglas Anderson, 1996.
� Ultimate Modem Handbook by Cass R. Lewart, 1998.
� Black, Uyless D.: Physical Layer Interfaces & Protocols, IEEE
Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 1996.
19.3. HOWTOs
� Cable-Modem mini-howto
� ISDN Howto (not a LDP Howto)
<http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/isdn.html>: drivers for ISDN
"Modems". Much related info on this is in German.
� Linux-Modem-Sharing mini-howto. Computers on a network share a
single modem for dial-out (like a shared printer).
� Modems-HOWTO: In French (Not used in creating this Modem-HOWTO)
� NET-3-4-HOWTO: all about networking, including SLIP, CSLIP, and PPP
� PPP-HOWTO: help with PPP including modem set-up
� Serial-HOWTO has info on Multiport Serial Cards used for both
terminals and banks of modems. Covers the serial port in more
detail than in the HOWTO.
� Serial-Programming-HOWTO: for some aspects of serial-port
programming
� Text-Terminal-HOWTO: (including connecting up with modems)
� UUCP-HOWTO: for information on setting up UUCP
19.4. Usenet newsgroups
� comp.os.linux.answers FAQs, How-To's, READMEs, etc. about Linux.
� comp.os.linux.hardware Hardware compatibility with the Linux
operating system.
� comp.os.linux.setup Linux installation and system administration.
� comp.dcom.modems Modems for all OS's
19.5. Web Sites
� Modem List of modems which work/don't_work under Linux
<http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html>
� Linux Serial Driver home page <http://serial.sourceforge.net/>
Includes info about support for PCI modems.
� Hayes AT modem commands Technical Reference for Hayes (tm) Modem
Users <http://www-dcg.fnal.gov/Net/HYSTRM20.TXT>
� AT Command Set and Register Summary for Analog Modem Modules
(Cisco)
<http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/access/acs_mod/cis3600/analogfw/analogat.htm>
� Controlling your Modem with AT Commands
<http://www.zoltrix.com/modem/USEMODEM.HTM>
� Modem FAQs:
Navas 28800-56K Modem FAQ <http://modemfaq.home.att.net/>
� Curt's High Speed Modem Page
<http://www.teleport.com/~curt/modems.html>
� Much info on 56k modems 56k Modem = v.Unreliable
<http://808hi.com/56k/>
� Links to modem manufacturers
<http://www.56k.com/links/Modem_Manufacturers/>
� More Links to modem manufacturers <http://modmes.rosenet.net/>
� Identifying modems by FCC ID
<http://www.sbsdirect.com/fccenter.html>
20. Appendix A: How Analog Modems Work (technical) (unfinished)
20.1. Modulation Details
20.1.1. Intro to Modulation
This part describes the modulation methods used for conventional
modems. It doesn't cover the high speed methods (modulus conversion)
sometimes used by ``56k Modems (v.90)''. But 56k modems also use the
modulation methods described here.
Modulation is the conversion of a digital signal represented by binary
binary (0 or 1) into an analog signal something like a sine wave. The
modulated signal consists pure sine wave "carrier" signal which is
modified to convey information. A pure carrier sine wave, unchanging
in frequency and voltage, provides no flow of information at all
(except that a carrier is present). To make it convey information we
modify (or modulate) this carrier. There are 3 basic types of
modulation: frequency, amplitude, and phase. They will be explained
next.
20.1.2. Frequency Modulation
The simplest modulation method is frequency modulation. Frequency is
measured in cycles per second (of a sine wave). It's the count of the
number of times the sine wave shape repeats itself in a second. This
is the same as the number of times it reaches it peak value during a
second. The word "Hertz" (abbreviated Hz) is used to mean "cycles per
second".
A simple example of frequency modulation is where one frequency means
a binary 0 and another means a 1. For example, for some obsolete 300
baud modems 1070 Hz meant a binary 0 while 1270 Hz meant a binary 1.
This was called "frequency shift keying". Instead of just two
possible frequencies, more could be used to allow more information to
be transmitted. If we had 4 different frequencies (call them A, B, C,
and D) then each frequency could stand for a pair of bits. For
example, to send 00 one would use frequency A. To send 01, use
frequency B; for 10 use C; for 11 use D. In like manner, by using 8
different frequencies we could send 3 bits with each shift in
frequency. Each time we double the number of possible frequencies we
increase the number of bits it can represent by 1.
20.1.3. Amplitude Modulation
Once one understands frequency modulation example above including the
possibilities of representing a few bits by a single shift in
frequency, it's easier to understand both amplitude modulation and
phase modulation. For amplitude modulation, one just changes the
height (voltage) of the sine wave analogous to changing the frequency
of the sine wave. For a simple case there could only be 2 allowed
amplitude levels, one representing a 0-bit and another representing a
1-bit. As explained for the case of frequency modulation, having more
possible amplitudes will result in more information being transmitted
per change in amplitude.
20.1.4. Phase Modulation
To change the phase of a sine wave at a certain instant of time, we
stop sending this old sine wave and immediately begin sending a new
sine wave of the same frequency and amplitude. If we started sending
the new sine wave at the same voltage level (and slope) as existed
when we stopped sending the old sine wave, there would be no change in
phase (and no detectable change at all). But suppose that we started
up the new sine wave at a different point on the sine wave curve.
Then there would likely be a sudden voltage jump at the point in time
where the old sine wave stopped and the new sine wave began. This is
a phase shift and it's measured in degrees (deg.) A 0 deg. (or a 360
deg.) phase shift means no change at all while a 180 deg. phase shift
just reverses the voltage (and slope) of the sine wave. Put another
way, a 180 deg. phase shift just skips over a half-period (180 deg.)
at the point of transition. Of course we could just skip over say 90
deg. or 135 deg. etc. As in the example for frequency modulation, the
more possible phase shifts, the more bits a single shift in phase can
represent.
20.1.5. Combination Modulation
Instead of just selecting either frequency, amplitude, or phase
modulation, we may chose to combine modulation methods. Suppose that
we have 256 possible frequencies and thus can send a byte (8 bits) for
each shift in frequency (since 2 to the 8 power is 256). Suppose also
that we have another 256 different amplitudes so that each shift in
amplitude represents a byte. Also suppose there are 256 possible
phase shifts. Then a certain points in time we may make a shift in
all 3 things: frequency, amplitude and phase. This would send out 3
bytes for each such transition.
No modulation method in use today actually does this. It's not
practical due to the relatively long time it would take to detect all
3 types of changes. The main problem is that frequent shifts in phase
can make it appear that a shift in frequency has happened when it
actually didn't.
To avoid this difficulty one may simultaneous change only the phase
and amplitude (with no change in frequency). This is called phase-
amplitude modulation. It is also called quadrature amplitude
modulation (= QAM) since there were only 4 possible phases
(quadrature) in early versions of it. This method is used today for
the common modem speeds of 14.4k, 28.8k, and 33.6k. The only
significant case where this modulation method is not used today is for
56k modems. But even 56k modems exclusively use QAM (phase-amplitude
modulation) in the direction from your PC out the telephone line.
Sometimes even the other direction will also fall back to QAM when
line conditions are not good enough. Thus QAM (phase-amplitude
modulation) still remains the most widely used method on ordinary
telephone lines.
20.2. 56k Modems (v.90)
The "modulation" method used above 33.6k is entirely different than
the common phase-amplitude modulation. Since ordinary telephone calls
are converted to digital signals at the local offices of the telephone
company, the fastest speed that you can send digital data by an
ordinary telephone call is the same speed that the telephone company
uses over its digital portion of the phone call transmission. What is
this speed? Well, it's close to 64kbps. It would be 64k but
sometimes bits are "stolen" for signalling purposes. But if the phone
Co. knows that the link is not for voice, bits may not get stolen.
The case of 64k will be presented and then it will be explained why
the actual speed is lower (56k or less --usually significantly less).
Thus 64k is the absolute top speed possible for an ordinary telephone
call using the digital portion of the circuit that was designed to
send digital encodings of the human voice. In order to use 64k, the
modems need to either have direct access to the digital portion of the
circuit or be able to predict the exact digital signal that generated
a received analog signal (and conversely). This task is far too error
prone if both sides of a telephone call have only an analog interface
to the telephone company. But if one side has a digital interface,
then it's possible (at least in one direction). Thus if your ISP has
a digital interface to the phone company, the ISP may send out a
certain digital signal over the phone lines toward your PC. The
digital signal from the ISP gets converted to analog at the local
telephone office near your PC's location (perhaps near your home).
Then it's your modem's task to try to figure out exactly what that
digital signal was. If it could do this then transmission at 64k (the
speed of the telephone company's digital signal) is possible in this
direction.
What method does the telephone company use to digitally encode analog
signals? It uses a method of sampling the amplitude of the analog
signal at a rate of 8000 samples per second. Each sample amplitude is
encoded as a 8-bit byte. (Note: 8 x 8000 = 64k) This is called
"Pulse Code Modulation" = PCM. These bytes are then sent digitally on
the telephone company's digital circuits where many calls share a
single circuit using a time-sharing scheme known as "time division
multiplexing". Then finally at a local telephone office near your
home, the digital signal is de-multiplexed resulting in the same
digital signal as was originally created by PCM. Then this signal is
converted back to analog and sent to your home. Each 8-bit byte
creates a certain amplitude of the analog signal. Your modem's task
is to determine just what that PCM 8-bit byte was, based on the analog
amplitude it detects.
This is (sort of) "amplitude demodulation" but not really. It's not
amplitude demodulation because there is no carrier. Actually, it's
called "modulus conversion" which is the inverse of PCM. In order to
determine the digital codes the telephone Co. used to create the
analog signal, the modem must sample this analog signal amplitude at
exactly the same points in time the phone Co. used when it created the
analog signal. To do this a timing signal is generated from a
residual 4kHz signal on the analog phone line. The creation of
amplitudes to go out to your home/office at 8k amplitudes/sec sort of
creates a 4kHz signal. Suppose every other amplitude was of opposite
polarity. Then there would be a 4kHz sine-like wave created. Each
amplitude is in a sense a 8-bit symbol and when to sample amplitudes
is known as "symbol timing".
Now the encoding of amplitudes in PCM is not linear. At low
amplitudes an increment of 1 in the PCM byte represents a much smaller
increment (delta) in analog signal amplitude than would be the case if
the amplitude being sampled were much higher. Thus for low amplitudes
it's difficult to distinguish between adjacent byte values. To make
it easier to do this (for 56k modems) certain PCM codes representing
very low amplitudes are not used. This gives a larger delta between
possible amplitudes and makes correct detection of them by your modem
easier. Thus half the amplitude levels are not used by v.90. This is
tantamount to each symbol (allowed amplitude level) representing 7
bits instead of 8. This is where 56k comes from: 7 bits/symbol x 8k
symbols/sec = 56k bps. Of course each symbol is actually generated by
8-bits but only 128 bytes of the possible 256 bytes are actually used.
There is a code table mapping these 128 8-bit bytes to 128 7-bit
bytes.
But it's a little more complicated that this. If the line conditions
are not nearly perfect, then even fewer possible levels (symbols) are
used resulting in speeds under 56k. Also due to US government rules
prohibiting high power levels on phone lines, certain high amplitudes
levels can't be used resulting in only about 53.3k at best for "56k"
modems.
Note that the digital part of the telephone network is bi-directional.
Two such circuits are used for a phone call, one in each direction.
The 56k signal is only used in one of these directions: from your ISP
to your PC. The other direction, from your home/office to the ISP,
uses the conventional phase-amplitude modulation scheme with a maximum
of 36.6kbps (and not 53.3kbps). The analog portion of the circuit
from your home/office to the nearest telephone Co. office was never
intended to be bi-directional since it's only a single twisted pair.
But due to sophisticated cancellation methods it's able to convey data
simultaneously in both directions as explained in the next subsection.
20.3. Full Duplex on One Circuit
Modern modems are able to both send and receive signals
simultaneously. One could call this "bidirectional" or "full duplex".
This was once done by using one frequency for sending and another for
receiving. Today, the same frequency is used for both sending and
receiving. How this works is not easy to comprehend.
Most of the telephone system "main lines" are digital with two
channels in use when you make a telephone call. What you say goes
over one digital channel and what the other person says goes over the
other (reverse) digital channel. Unfortunately, the part of the
telephone system which goes to homes (and many offices) is not digital
but only a single analog channel. If both modems were directly
connected to the digital part of the phone system then bidirectional
communication (sending and receiving at the same time) would be no
problem because two channels would be available.
But the end portion of the signal path goes over just one circuit.
How can there be two-way communication on it simultaneously? It works
something like this. Suppose your modem is receiving a signal from
the other modem and is not transmitting. Then there's no problem.
But if your modem were to start transmitting (with the other received
signal still flowing into your modem) it would drown out the received
signal. If the transmitted signal was a "solid" voltage wave applied
to the end of the line then there is no way any received signal could
be present at that point.
But the transmitter has "internal impedance" and the transmitted
signal applied to the end of the line is not solid (or strong enough)
to completely eliminate the received signal coming from the other end.
Thus while the voltage at the end of the line is mostly the stronger
transmitted signal a small part of it is the desired received signal.
All that is needed is to filter out this stronger transmitted signal
and then what remains will be the signal from the other end which we
want. To do this, one only needs to get the pure transmitted signal
directly from the transmitter (before it's applied to the line)
amplify it a determined amount, and then subtract it from the total
signal present at the end of the line. Doing this in the receiver
circuits leaves a signal which mostly came from the other end of the
line.
20.4. Echo Cancellation
An analog signal traveling down a line in one direction may encounter
changes in the line that will cause part of the signal to echo back in
the opposite direction. Since the same circuit is used for bi-
directional flow of data such echos will result in garbled reception.
One way to ameliorate this problem is to send training signals once in
a while to determine the echo characteristic of the line. This will
enable one to predict the echos that will be generated by any given
signal. Then this prediction method is used to predict what echos the
transmitted signal will cause. Then this predicted echo signal is
subtracted from the received signal. This cancels out the echoes.
21. Appendix B: Digital Modem Signal Processing (not done)
22. Appendix C: "baud" vs. "bps"
22.1. A simple example
``baud'' and ``bps'' are perhaps one of the most misused terms in the
computing and telecommunications field. Many people use these terms
interchangeably, when in fact they are not! bps is simply the number
of bits transmitted per second. The baud rate is a measure of how
many times per second a signal changes (or could change). For a
typical serial port a 1-bit is -12 volts and a 0-bit is +12 v (volts).
If the bps is 38,400 a sequence of 010101... would also be 38,400 baud
since the voltage shifts back and forth from positive to negative to
positive, etc. and there are 38,400 shifts per second. For another
sequence say 111000111... there will be fewer shifts of voltage since
for three 1's in sequence the voltage just stays at -12 volts yet we
say that its still 38,400 baud since there is a possibility that the
number of changes per second will be that high.
Looked at another way, put an imaginary tic mark separating each bit
(even though the voltage may not change). 38,400 baud then means
38,400 tic marks per second. The tic marks at at the instants of
permitted change and are actually marked by a synchronized clock
signal generated in the hardware but not sent over the external cable.
Suppose that a "change" may have more than the two possible outcomes
of the previous example (of +- 12 v). Suppose it has 4 possible
outcomes, each represented by a unique voltage level. Each level may
represent a pair of bits (such as 01). For example, -12v could be 00,
-6v 01, +6v 10 and +12v 11. Here the bit rate is double the baud
rate. For example, 3000 changes per second will generate 2 bits for
each change resulting in 6000 bits per second (bps). In other words
3000 baud results in 6000 bps.
22.2. Real examples
The above example is overly simple. Real examples are more
complicated but based on the same idea. This explains how a modem
running at 2400 baud, can send 14400 bps (or higher). The modem
achieves a bps rate greater than baud rate by encoding many bits in
each signal change (or transition). Thus, when 2 or more bits are
encoded per baud, the bps rate exceeds the baud rate. If your modem-
to-modem connection is at 14400 bps, it's going to be sending 6 bits
per signal transition (or symbol) at 2400 baud. A speed of 28800 bps
is obtained by 3200 baud at 9 bits/baud. When people misuse the word
baud, they may mean the modem speed (such as 33.6k).
Common modem bps rates were formerly 50, 75, 110, 300, 1200, 2400,
9600. These were also the bps rates over the serial_port-to-modem
cables. Today the bps modem-to-modem (maximum) rates are 14.4k,
28.8k, 33.6k, and 56k, but the common rates over the serialPort-to-
modem cables are not the same but are: 19.2k, 38.4k, 57.6k, 115.2k,
230.4k. The high speed of 230.4k is (as of late 2000) unfortunately
not provided by most new (and old) hardware. Using modems with
V.42bis compression (max 4:1 compression), rates up to 115.2k bps are
possible for 33.6k modems. 203.2k (4 x 53.3k) is possible for 56k
modems.
Except for 56k modems, most modems run at 2400, 3000, or 3200 baud.
Even the 56k modems use these bauds for transmission and sometimes
fall back to them for reception. Because of the bandwidth limitations
on voice-grade phone lines, baud rates greater than 2400 are harder to
achieve, and only work under conditions of good phone line quality.
How did this confusion between bps and baud start? Well, back when
antique low speed modems were high speed modems, the bps rate actually
did equal the baud rate. One bit would be encoded per phase change.
People would use bps and baud interchangeably, because they were the
same number. For example, a 300 bps modem also had a baud rate of
300. This all changed when faster modems came around, and the bit rate
exceeded the baud rate. ``baud'' is named after Emile Baudot, the
inventor of the asynchronous telegraph printer. One way this problem
gets resolved is to use the term "symbol rate" instead of "baud" and
thus avoid using the term "baud". However when talking about the
"speeds" between the modem and the serial port (DTE speed) baud and
the symbol rate are the same. And even "speed" is a misnomer since we
really mean flow rate.
23. Appendix D: Terminal Server Connection
This section was adapted from Text-Terminal-HOWTO.
A terminal server is something like an intelligent switch that can
connect many modems (or terminals) to one or more computers. It's not
a mechanical switch so it may change the speeds and protocols of the
streams of data that go thru it. A number of companies make terminal
servers: Xyplex, Cisco, 3Com, Computone, Livingston, etc. There are
many different types and capabilities. Another HOWTO is needed to
compare and describe them (including the possibility of creating your
own terminal server with a Linux PC). Most are used for modem
connections rather than directly connected terminals.
One use for them is to connect many modems (or terminals) to a high
speed network which connects to host computers. Of course the
terminal server must have the computing power and software to run
network protocols so it is in some ways like a computer. The terminal
server may interact with the user and ask what computer to connect to,
etc. or it may connect without asking. One may sometimes send jobs to
a printer thru a terminal server.
A PC today has enough computing power to act like a terminal server
except that each serial port should have its own hardware interrupt.
PC's only have a few spare interrupts for this purpose and since they
are hard-wired you can't create more by software. A solution is to
use an advanced multiport serial card which has its own system of
interrupts (or on lower cost models, shares one of the PC's interrupts
between a number of ports). See Serial-HOWTO for more info. If such
a PC runs Linux with getty running on many serial ports it might be
thought of as a terminal server. It is in effect a terminal server if
it's linked to other PC's over a network and if its job is mainly to
pass thru data and handle the serial port interrupts every 14 (or so)
bytes. Software called "radius" is sometimes used.
Today real terminal servers serve more than just terminals. They also
serve PC's which emulate terminals, and are sometimes connected to a
bank of modems connected to phone lines. Some even include built-in
modems. If a terminal (or PC emulating one) is connected directly to
a modem, the modem at the other end of the line could be connected to
a terminal server. In some cases the terminal server by default
expects the callers to use PPP packets, something that real text
terminals don't generate.
24. Appendix E: Other Types of Modems
This HOWTO currently only deals with the common type of modem used to
connect PC's to ordinary analog telephone lines. There are various
other types of modems, including devices called modems that are not
really modems.
24.1. Digital-to-Digital "Modems"
The standard definition of a modem is sometimes broadened to include
"digital" modems. Today direct digital service is now being provided
to many homes and offices so a computer there sends out digital
signals directly (well almost) into the telephone lines. But a device
is still needed to convert the computer digital signal into the type
allowed on telephone circuits and this device is sometimes called a
modem. This HOWTO doesn't cover such modems but some links to
documents that do may be found at the start of this HOWTO. The next 3
sections: ISDN, DSL and 56k, concern digital-to-digital "modems".
24.2. ISDN "Modems"
Such a "modem" is really a Terminal Adapter (TA). Support for some
of them can be built into the kernel 2.4 or added as a module. The
kernel documentation has an isdn section. Configuration might use
"isdn-config" GUI. A Debian package "isdnutils" is available. There
is a ISDN Howto in German with an English translation:
<http://sdb.suse.de/sdb/en/html/isdn.html>. It's put out by the SuSE
distribution of Linux and likely is about drivers available in that
distribution. There is an isdn4linux package and a newsgroup:
de.alt.comm.isdn4linux. Many of the postings are in German. You
might try using a search engine (such as DejaNews) to find
"isdn4linux".
24.3. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
DSL uses the existing twisted pair line from your home (etc.) to the
local telephone office. This can be used if your telephone line can
accept significantly higher speeds than an ordinary modem would use.
It replaces the analog-to-digital converter at the local telephone
office with a converter which can accept a much faster flow of data
(in a different format of course). The device which converts the
digital signals from your computer to the signal used to represent
digital data on the local telephone line is also called a modem.
24.4. 56k Digital-Modems
For any 56k modem to work as a 56k modem in your home or office, the
other end must be connected directly to the digital system of the
telephone company. Thus ISPs at the other end of the line must obtain
special digital modems to provide customers with 56k service. There's
more to it than this since banks of many modems are multiplexed onto a
high capacity telephone cable that transports a large number of phone
calls simultaneously (such as a T1, E1, ISDN PRI, or better line).
This requires a concentrator or "remote access server". This has
usually been done by stand-alone units (like PC's but they cost much
more and have proprietary OSs). Now there are some cards one may
insert into a PC's PCI bus to do this.
24.5. Leased Line Modems
These are analog and not digital modems. These special modems are
used on lines leased from the telephone company or sometimes on just a
long direct wire hookup. Ordinary modems for a telephone line will
not normally work on such a line. An ordinary telephone line has
about 40-50 volts (known as the "battery) on it when not in use and
the conventional modem uses this voltage for transmission.
Furthermore, the telephone company has special signals indicating a
ring, line busy, etc. Conventional modems expect and respond to these
signals. Connecting two such modems by a long cable will not provide
the telephone signals on the cable and thus the modems will not work.
A common type of leased line used two pairs of wires (one for each
direction) using V.29 modulation at 9600 baud. Some brands of leased
line modems are incompatible with other brands.
25. Appendix F: Fax pixels (dots)
Here's some info on the bloated bandwidth required for standard fax
including the dot density. You can of course send a fax via your
modem if you dial the real telephone number of the recipient.
A4 paper: 216mm (horizontal) * 297mm (vertical)
normal mode 8dots/mm * 3.85dots/mm
fine mode * 7.7dots/mm
extra fine mode *15.4dots/mm
Each dot is either white or black and thus 1 bit. One sheet of A4
paper using fine mode is (216*8) * (297*7.7) = about 4 million dots.
With a compression ratio of 8:1 it takes about 50 seconds at 9600bps
for transmission.
26. Appendix G: Antique Modems
26.1. Obsolete CCITT (ITU) and Bell Protocols
This section compares the antique modems with the modern ones. You
should read it if you are interested in modem history or are intending
to actually use an antique modem.
� Bell 103 300 bps; frequency shift keying = FSK
� v.21 300 bps; frequency shift keying (used a different
frequency than Bell 103)
� v.23 1200/75 bps and 600/75 bps asymmetric; 75 bps is the
reverse channel; frequency shift keying = FSK
� Bell 212A 1200 bps; quadrature differential phase shift keying =
QDPSK = DPSK
� v.22 1200 bps; fallback to 600 bps ; QDPSK = DPSK
� v.22bis 2400 bps; QAM
� v.32 9600 bps; QAM (1988)
� v.32bis 14400 bps; QAM
QAM= Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. The word "Quadrature" is
short for "quadrature differential phase shift keying" =QDPSK
26.2. Overview
Before v.32 modems typically had speeds of 300 to 2400 bps. Some
super fast ones had much higher speeds (such as 19.2k bps) and used
non-standard protocols. To utilize these "fast" ones, both modems for
a connection usually needed to be of the same brand.
Prior to the v.42 standard for error correction and the v.42bis (1990)
standard for data compression, the MNP standards were usually used for
both error correction and data compression. An X.PC error correction
standard was used on some commercial data networks. Compression and
error correction were available on some 2400 bps modems.
Around 1980 many modems only had a speed of 300 bps (which was also
300 baud). This is only 0.3kbps. Modern modems are over 100 times
faster. Some old-slow modems are still in use so they are not really
"antique" quite yet.
26.3. Autobauding
26.3.1. Various meanings
This term has a few different meanings. In general it means the
automatic adjustment of modem-to-modem speed or modem-to-serial_port
speed.
26.3.2. Modem-to-modem speed
Modern modems negotiate the modem-to-modem speed and protocol when
they first connect to each other. If one side can't negotiate, the
other side should accept whatever speed and protocol that the antique
modem has available. Sometimes this is called "autobauding". When
both modems automatically lower their speed due to a noisy line it's
called "fallback". Thus users of modern modems (or computer programs
in your PC) don't need to deal with this (unless the S37 register has
been set so as to disable autobauding).
But many old modems didn't have such autobauding (although many had
fallback). If you have such a modem, it will likely work OK if the
other modem you connect to is a modern one that can adjust it's speed
and protocol to yours. But a problem arises if both modems which want
to communicate with each other are both antique and don't support
autobauding. How was this done?
In olden days, a computer dial-in site might have a number of phone
lines, each of which would have a specific speed modem on it. For
example, if you had a 1200 bps modem then you simply only dialed in to
certain telephone numbers that supported that speed. Once a site
obtained modems that could support various speeds on the same modem
and automatically detect the callers speed (do autobauding) then
people could call in using modems that didn't do this autobauding
(providing that their speed and protocol was supported).
26.3.3. Modem-to-serial_port speed
When a modem modem is sent an init string (or a dial command), the
modem detects the speed of the serial port and sets it's modem-to-
serial_port speed to this value. It does this by sensing the speed of
the "AT" at the beginning of the string.
Old modems couldn't do this and one would need to set the computer's
serial port speed (with stty or the like) to the same exact value as
the modem-to-modem speed (such as 1200 bps). If the modem had a
choice of speeds one could use the AT register S37 to select one. But
for dial-in when there was a choice of speeds (via autobauding), if a
connection was made at say 2400 bps, then the modem-to-serial_port
speed would change to 2400 bps. Then one would need to start getty at
2400 bps. Thus getty needed to adjust to whatever speed was coming
from the modem.
One way for getty to determine this speed was to read the "CONNECT"
message (provided the modem had been configured for CONNECT to show
the modem-to-modem speed). The modem might send this CONNECT message
to the serial port at whatever modem-to-serial_port speed had been set
(as detected by the "AT" sent to the modem). This enabled getty to
read the CONNECT message. But after the connect message, this speed
would immediately switch to the modem-to-modem speed. Then getty
could change the serial port speed to this and the connection would
work OK.
Another way to try to set the serial port speed to match was to try
out different speeds. The original getty program configuration file
/etc/gettydefs has an optional autobauding feature (see "next-label"
in the manual) which will change the speed of the serial port. The
agetty program has a similar baud rate detection feature. This was
used to adjust the speed of the serial port to the modem-to-modem
speed of an incoming dial-in call.
In Linux, there's a problem if the speed is set to a speed not
supported by Linux's serial port (for example 7200 bps). You may dial
out and connect at 7200 bps (both modem-to-modem and modem-to-
serial_port speed) but you only see garbage since Linux doesn't
support 7200 on the serial port. Once you connect there is no simple
way to hang up because even the +++ escape sequence can't be sent to
the modem over a 7200 baud interface.
To dial out by the antique method using a modern modem set &Q0 N0 and
S17=5 (if you want 1200 bps). Some of the S17 settings vary with the
make of modem except that S17=0 is the default that connects the
modern way at the highest speed supported.
Modern modems can use almost any serial port speed and it doesn't
depend at all on modem-to-modem speed. To do this they employ speed
buffering and flow control. Speed buffering means that modems have
buffers so that there can be a difference between the modem-to-modem
speed and the modem-to-serial_port speed. If the flow entering the
modem is faster than the flow exiting it, the excess flow is simply
stored in a buffer in the modem. Then to prevent the buffer from
overflowing, the modem sends a flow control signal to stop the input
flow to the modem. This is true for either direction of flow. See
``Flow Control'' for more details.
26.4. Before AT Commands
Hayes introduced the AT command set and other modem manufacturers
adopted it as a standard. Before the AT commands, many modems used
dip switches to configure the modem. Another command set is the CCITT
V.25bis command set. Some modems supported both CCITT and AT
commands. The CCITT V.25bis also specifies how Synchronous modem-to-
serial_port communication is to take place using either the ASCII or
8-bit EBCDIC character sets.
26.5. Data Compression and Error Correction
MNP 2, 3, or 4 were used for error correction. MNP 5 was compression.
Modern modems generally use V42 (error correction) and V42bis
(compression). Many modems support both MNP and V42.
END OF Modem-HOWTO