/dev/ttyS1 is on missing list

[Almost-retired]

Greetings all;

The last 2 reboots, possibly since updating to the 2.6.38.8-pae-bfs kernel, /dev/ttyS1 seems to be on the missing list.  /dev/ttyS0 seems to be ok, as my usp uses that port.

I use the heck out of that, as a terminal logged into another legacy machine.  I also can occasionally do the same thing over a bluetooth kit but that has a reliability problem too. The bluetooth can only be made to work, for 10-23 hours or so, after a reboot, a start of bluetoothd by hand, and some jumping through hoops with blueman-manager.  If it drops out, nothing but a reboot and a repeat of the first 2 acts of the play will re-enable it.

dmesg, and the various setserial, stty & statserial utils either do not mention ttyS1, or cannot access it.

Is this a known kernel or udev problem?

Thanks & Cheers, Gene

[wedgetail]

Almost-retired

For a start, post what you get from following, copy and paste the command below into your terminal:

Code:

[gert@localhost ~]$ setserial -g /dev/ttyS[0123]

[Almost-retired]

[root@coyote sys]# setserial -g /dev/ttyS0
/dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4
[root@coyote sys]# setserial -g /dev/ttyS1
/dev/ttyS1, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3
[root@coyote sys]# setserial -g /dev/ttyS2
/dev/ttyS2, UART: unknown, Port: 0x03e8, IRQ: 4
[root@coyote sys]# setserial -g /dev/ttyS3
/dev/ttyS3, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02e8, IRQ: 3

Someone suggested I check in the bios, and I will, but I haven't looked at the bios on months.

And I just repeated that as me, gene, with exactly the same response.

Thanks & Cheers, Gene

[wedgetail]

Almost-retired
The topic caught my interest because not many pc's these days have more than one serial port, in this case your ttyS0 is connecting to the outside world.
The test to me indicates you have no other serial port hardware on this pc.

There is 'spare' 3 more serial ports that can be used.  What I dodn't understand originally, are you saying you use or used 2 serial ports? Or only one.  By default the kernel serial konsole will grab the ttyS0 and talk to the outside world if you have the serial port hardware.

What does the netbook users do? No db9 serial port?   

[Almost-retired]

I have been using both serial ports on this asus M2N-SLI DELUXE mobo for several years, /dev/ttyS0 is connected to a CM-11a X10 controller, and a hunk of cat5 has been connected from /dev/ttyS1 to a deluxe RS-232 pack plugged into the multipack interface of a TRS-80 Color Computer 3 in the basement.  It quit working about 3 days ago now, about the same time I had rebooted after about a 3 week uptime.

I just checked in the bios and it now thinks there is only serial port 1 too, and no way to enable or disable that one, only the base address and IRQ used can be fiddled with.

Now I must be getting senile.  At 76, that is a slim but not zero chance.  The motherboard book only claims one port too!  Time to crawl under the desk and start chasing cables I guess.  This is embarrassing to say the least.  I have had a serial port sniffer, one of those gizmo's with the led's to tally line status.  Its display is normal for a port not in use.  So, fire up minicom -s, change its default serial port to /dev/ttyS0, and I have a shell prompt from the basement, and the sniffer is all green except for the rx/tx data lines.  And, while chasing cables, the cm11a is connected via an FTDI adapter to a usb port.  Duh, dumb old man at work here.  I have GOT to draw up a tree of the I/O on this box, heck the USB stuff if drawn like a tree, would be a weeping willow.

Cancel that call for the guys with the long sleeved white jackets, I'll go quietly.

So call this one solved, 100% PEBKAC.

Thanks for careing & Cheers, Gene.

[wedgetail]

Almost-retired
Ehhh, Since I am extremely interested in the use of ttyS0 at the moment, that was the bait to reply to your original post.
You can't get off that easy, you have to explain to me not far behind in years, only a bit less than decade, this is far too interesting.  

Do I understand that you have ttyS0 connected to the basement, and when you want to chat text style communicate, you use the minicom terminal program to log in 'downunder'.

Then further since you were short of serial ports you also have a USB to Serial converter gizmo connected to your ASUS mobo, linked RS232 to your CM-11a controller?  Controlling your workshop or general house hold lighting or ?  

Oh yes, congratulations and enjoy the working systems again.

[Almost-retired]

You can't get off that easy, you have to explain to me not far behind in years, only a bit less than decade, this is far too interesting.  Grin

Do I understand that you have ttyS0 connected to the basement, and when you want to chat text style communicate, you use the minicom terminal program to log in 'downunder'.

Yes, except for the gfx stuff that the terminal proggies don't do, I run it from here just as if I was sitting at its own keyboard.

I use it mostly for the outside lights, I'm your typical redneck, the Christmas lights never come down.  The cm11a has its own built in timer and a very limited amount of memory, but its enough to contain a few macro's to turn those lights on at about (sundown time adjusted) dusk, leave then on for a couple of hours except on Thursdays when the missus is later getting in from bowling.  There are a couple other things I could control, but since I retired in 2002, my schedule is now quite randomized, so that is more of an on demand operation now.

You can see a little of what tries to keep me out of the bars at <http://gene.homelinux.net:85/gene>.  I think its safe to say I have too many hobbies. Synopsis: Iowa style 8th grade education, 1st phone ticket since '62, a C.E.T. since '72, Chief Engineer and often only engineer at WDTV-5 from '84-02.  Been chasing electrons for a living since I quit school in '48.  Its been quite an interesting ride at times.  Apparently they still think I'm pretty good, my phone still rings & I get in my pickup and go put out the fires, but it is becoming a chore as my health deteriorates with age & diabetes.  Fairly close to a JOAT as can be seen on my web page.  That BTW, is this machine, not some ISP's server, which should explain the :85 in the URL.  Bypassing the incoming port 80 blockade most ISP's do so you are forced to use their servers and they can load your web page up with commercials.

Cheers, Gene.

[wedgetail]

Almost-retired
Ok, you are allowed off now, most interesting little visit to your place. 

I am not sure but I don't think I saw the mold for your blocks, sounds like the size I am going to make.  Have not quite figured out if they should hollow neither the locking system.   

[Almost-retired]

I need to run down some pix of that and make it available, I do have some.  They aren't hollow. weigh about 55 lbs each, are slightly wedge shaped, narrower at the back.  The back face is sloped, and has about a 1x1" hangdown so they can't slide forward as it hooks over the back edge of the one below. Std landscaping block, but bigger & heavier.  When I made the mold, I made it 6 blocks long and it split lengthwise to allow the finished blocks to be removed.  Starting out with 3/4" plywood for the top & bottom surfaces, I quickly found I would need to stiffen it up as it warped, so it got a grid of 1.5" square steel tubing welded up and bolted to it, and lined with alu flashing to try to keep the moisture away from the plywood.  I also put wheels & a tongue on it so I could wheel it around, putting it under the carport roof while they got a 1 day cure before opening it up and stacking them in front of the house for use.  There are around 300 of them.  Actually they got maybe an 18 hour cure time as it took me about 6 hours to open the mold, remove 6 blocks, clean and re-grease the mold, screw it back together with about 60 3.5" deck screws, run two loads of mix in a $190 HF electric mixer, pour it and place the decorator rocks in the face up blocks.  That was, as far as I was concerned, a full days work and definitely beer-thirty by the time I was done.  The steel grid work was a good excuse to make some legs to hold it a little higher when it was tipped over to open it up, so one side has a pair of legs welded on, cross braced at the bottom so I could roll that 400+ lb puppy over.  Much easier on the ancient back that way.  I've made a link to that dir on my web page, but haven't yet run jigl on it, brb.  Done.  The gizmo with the handle laying above & right of that coil of garden hose in the last pix, is a block carrier that works by gripping the front and back faces of the still tender block so I can lift it out of the open molds pocket.  You can click on a thumbnail several times, eventually getting to the huge, right out of the camera images.

I've been needing to do that for quite a while, but these pix predate my building the web page.  Thanks for the nudge.  But I need to start specing colors I guess, FF5's choices suck dead toads thru soda straws.  Gotta read up some more on how to do that in html. ;-)

Cheers, Gene.

[wedgetail]

Almost-retired
thanks, got a couple of ideas from the pictures, I think I will have to restrict myself to 3 or 4 and a bit smaller, not a flat landscape here. I can see this will be a long job for me, though I have only about 16 m / 50ft to go.  

[Almost-retired]

Chuckle, it isn't flat here either, this is still WV, where any flat land was made that way with a bulldozer and lots of #2 diesel.  And then we stlll have to worry about slips in this largely yellow/red clay soil.  The entrance road into here had the county hauling away about 10 yards of hill that slid across the road back in early May.

Just on my lot there is a good 12-15 feet of fall from the upper fence to the lower one.

I finally bought a used rider for mowing duties last summer, but quickly found I had to spend another $50 on tire chains so it could climb back up the hill.  And those chains can be pretty hard on what we try to pass off as grass when it starts scratching.  It was an old (20+ years) 38", 12.5 HP Craftsman that had an engine whose balancer was breaking up & eventually spit out too many pieces for the pan & had to be replaced, but that vibration had converted all the body sheet metal into lots of cracks like an old china bowl, so my mig welder got a few hours of exercise, but its running fairly well now.  It has a halogen aftermarket driving light sitting on top of the hood that works well these days, the original lamps having long since been destroyed, and the lenses so far gone you had to light a match to see if they were lit.  Now I need to find a snow blade, and perhaps 200 pounds to hang on the hitch ball for traction when plowing snow and I'll be set.

Cheers, Gene.