shj@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Steve Jay) (05/06/89)
There have been several queries in Sun-Spots recently about printers on serial lines not working in OS 4. There are major bugs in the drivers for serial ports in OS 4 and 4.0.1. Among other things, XON/XOFF doesn't work, and modem control signal (DTR, etc.) handling is wrong. For us, this meant that our Postscript printer, an HP Plotter, a 2400 baud Hayes modem, and a Trailblazer modem didn't work. The solution is to get the "serial patch tape" from Sun. You should be able to get it by calling 800-USA-4SUN. Ours was labeled "yapt 5.4", for "yet another patch tape 5.4", and we later got "yapt 5.5". Either one fixed all of our observed problems. I'm told the patch tape is also available electronically via "uunet", but I have no knowledge of how that works. A temporary solution is to drive your important serial devices off of CPU serial ports (ttya & ttyb). Under 4.0.1, the CPU serial ports seem to handle XON/XOFF correctly, allowing printers to work. However, even the CPU serial ports didn't handle DTR correctly until we installed "yapt 5.4", so we couldn't dial into a modem connected to a CPU serial port (dialing out worked). Steve Jay domain: shj@ultra.com Ultra Network Technologies Internet: ultra!shj@ames.arc.nasa.gov 101 Daggett Drive uucp: ...ames!ultra!shj San Jose, CA 95134 408-922-0100 [[ There are Sun fixes on uunet, but I don't see anything that fits your description. Those on the Internet can anonymous FTP to "uunet.uu.net" and cd to "sun-fixes". Then retrieve the ASCII file "README". It's all explained there. --wnl ]]
jeff@tc.fluke.com (Jeff Stearns) (05/19/89)
In article <8904272108.AA01957@macduff.ultra.com> ultra!shj@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Steve Jay) writes:
: X-Sun-Spots-Digest: Volume 7, Issue 271, message 6 of 18
:
: There have been several queries in Sun-Spots recently about printers on
: serial lines not working in OS 4.
: ...
: The solution is to get the "serial patch tape" from Sun. You should be
: able to get it by calling 800-USA-4SUN. Ours was labeled "yapt 5.4", for
: "yet another patch tape 5.4", and we later got "yapt 5.5". Either one
: fixed all of our observed problems.
Don't I wish. The "Serial Patch Tape" improves the 4.0.1 serial port
situation from horrible to merely buggy.
Ttya and ttyb still occasionally get their kickers in a knot and there are
still problems when the system tries to buffer up more than about 100
bytes of incoming data. This shows up especially when we use tip to
download files to standalone computers via the ~> command.
Something that helps: avoid those 3-wire connections on ttya or ttyb
promoted in Chapter 11 (figure 11-1) of the System Administrator's Manual.
Our Sun-3/60's become very unhappy if the CTS line is toggled rapidly or
rings; this is a possiblity if pin 5 is left disconnected.
Jeff Stearns John Fluke Mfg. Co, Inc. (206) 356-5064
jeff@tc.fluke.COM {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff
PS - Calling all users of the Vitalink TransLAN IV Ethernet bridge! Please
drop me a line.