[comp.os.minix] rs232 problems

al@escom.com (Al Donaldson) (09/25/89)

I'm having problems with serial I/O on a 6 MHz AT running pure 1.3d
from Prentice Hall.  At various times I've been able to get both
kermit (Charles Hedrick's uuencoded executable) and uupc (built from 
Peter Housel's source) to run reliably for hours.  Then, other times,
neither of them work.  Kermit gives a "Can't get character - I/O error"
message and returns to the command interface.  Uupc (both hardwired
and using a modem) can't seem to read or write to /dev/tty1.
(When they're good, they're very, very good, and when they're bad...)
Incidentally, MS-Kermit on DOS works like a champ.

Friday I thought I'd found the problem.  I swapped in a new serial I/O
card and things worked...for an hour or so.  But then later that 
night neither card would work.  Another theory down the drain.

Today I tried to upgrade to 1.4a, thinking it might be a software
problem (for example, Terrence Holm's system(3) fix which seems to
be in 1.4a).  But after giving up on trying to order libc.a properly
(lorder doesn't seem to work and there's no makefile with explicit
ordering instructions for ar), I finally just gave up and rebuilt
the kernel, dcp (uupc) and whatever commands that would work.
But after all this, neither kermit nor uupc work at all.

Any ideas?  Should I jump the gun and try to install Bruce Evans'
tty implementation, or wait til 1.4b arrives on the scene?
Of course, I can always go back to booting DOS, running MS-Kermit,
writing a diskette, booting minix, dosread, etc., but I'd hoped
for something a *bit* more straightforward.  

Al Donaldson <al@escom.com>
(703) 620-4823