These installation notes describe the procedure for activating the NetMos Technology 9835CV Multi-IO card on an HP Pavilion 2960 computer system, running Mandrake Linux.

In these notes, you are assumed to be competent enough to discover what to do from these brief instructions. You are also assumed to be using one of the graphical interfaces such as KDE, GNOME, or suchlike.

Rationale

Hewlett-Packard delivered the Pavilion 2960 with the Microsoft Windows ME operating system installed. Each model 2960 is factory equipped with a single serial port accessible from the front of the machine and one parallel port at the rear.

Replacement of Windows ME with the Mandrake distribution of GNU-Linux became desirable for reasons of stability and security. Since the Pavilion 2960 is delivered equipped with an internal WinMODEM, it is necessary to replace this with an external serial MODEM. It is possible to get the WinMODEM to work with Linux, but since a WinMODEM relies on software for at least half its functions, we decided to save CPU cycles by installing a MODEM that has a complete hardware controller. Since we are changing the MODEM, we might as well use an external unit that is more likely to work with Linux, and is easy to replace should it fail due to some electrical surge on the telephone line or other problem.

Having decided to use an external MODEM, we found it unsatisfactory to have it connected permanently to the front of the Pavilion 2960, hence our need to install additional serial ports. Since we are installing new serial ports, we might as well have an additional parallel port. Multi input-output (Multi-IO) cards are available from several manufacturers; we went to our local computer store and bought what was available to us—a NetMos PCI I/O Controller, part number: PCI-IO9835-2S1P.

NetMos I/O Card Installation

It is a bit tricky removing the covers of the 2960, yet easy once you know how. Release the screws at the rear of the case. Slide the end-cap forward, then slide the side-cover to the rear, then lift the side-cover from the computer to expose the interior.

Remove the WinMODEM card and install the Nm9835CV card in the two vacant PCI slots. One slot is filled by the two additional serial ports, and one by the additional parallel port. Be careful to avoid static-electricity discharges between you and the electronic components, which will weaken or destroy them. Replace the covers and prepare to configure the software.

System Preparation

Configuration of the serial ports requires that you use setserial, a basic system utility for displaying or setting serial port information. Setserial can reveal and allow you to alter the I/O port and IRQ that a particular serial device is using, and more.

Check that setserial is installed by typing the command:

setserial -V

You should receive version information similar to this:

setserial version 2.17, 27-Jan-2000

If not, you need to install the setserial utility from your distribution disks.

Identifying Serial Ports

Hewlett Packard’s original serial port is logically connected to /dev/ttyS0.

Open a terminal window, change to Super-User, then give the command:

setserial /dev/ttyS0

Response should be:

/dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4

We are adding two new serial ports that will be logically connected to:

/dev/ttyS1 and

/dev/ttyS2

Giving these commands:

setserial /dev/ttyS1

setserial /dev/ttyS2

should produce these responses:

/dev/ttyS1, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3

/dev/ttyS2, UART: unknown, Port: 0x03e8, IRQ: 4

Activate New Serial Ports

Find the PCI card that you installed by giving this command:

more /proc/pci

Press the space bar until you find this block of text:

Bus 1, device 13, function 0:

   Class 0780: PCI device 9710:9835 (rev 1).

      IRQ 9.

      Master Capable. Latency=64.

      I/O at 0x2430 [0x2437].

      I/O at 0x2428 [0x242f].

      I/O at 0x2420 [0x2427].

      I/O at 0x2418 [0x241f].

      I/O at 0x2410 [0x2417].

      I/O at 0x2400 [0x240f].

which is the memory map of the NetMos card that you installed. Addresses of the two serial ports are 0x2430 and 0x2428. Activate the ports by logically connecting them to ttyS1 and ttyS2; do this by adding the following lines to the bottom of the script file /etc/rc.local :

#

# These lines enable the NetMos Nm9835CV Multi-IO serial ports

#

setserial /dev/ttyS1 port 0x2430 UART 16550A irq 9 Baud_base 115200

setserial /dev/ttyS2 port 0x2428 UART 16550A irq 9 Baud_base
115200

Now reboot your machine. Log-in and check that the ports are active.

Checking New Serial Ports

Check that your new ports are active by giving these commands:

setserial /dev/ttyS1

setserial /dev/ttyS2

for these results:

/dev/ttyS1, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x2430, IRQ: 2

/dev/ttyS2, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x2428, IRQ: 2