Here are some serial tips you might find helpful...
To use zmodem with kermit, add the following to your .kermrc:
define rz !rz < /dev/ttyS3 > /dev/ttyS3
define sz !sz \%0 > /dev/ttyS3 < /dev/ttyS3
rz or sz <filename> at the kermit
prompt.
To set your terminal type automagically when you log in, add the
terminal type to the entry in /etc/inittab. If I have a
vt100 terminal on ttyS1, I would add ``vt100'' to the getty
command:
S1:456:respawn:/sbin/getty ttyS1 DT9600 vt100
Other gettys have similar options. You can also use tset, which
can establish terminal characteristics when you log in, and doesn't
depend on any defaults.
ls On Serial Connections
If ls is screwing up your terminal emulation with the color
feature, turn it off. ls --color, and ls --colour
all use the color feature. Some installations have ls set to
use color by default. Check /etc/profile and
/etc/csh.cshrc for ls aliases. You can also alias
ls to ls --no-color, if you don't want to
change the system defaults.
There is a program called vtprint, available from
ftp://ftp.sdsu.edu/pub/vtprint, and
from
http://www.sdsu.edu/~garrett.
Another program that will do this is called xprt. It can be found
at
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/printing.
Yes. If it's not already set up like this (or close to it) you may set Linux up to detect and set up the serial devices automatically on startup. If needed add the line:
/sbin/setserial /dev/ttyS3 auto_irq skip_test autoconfig
/etc/rc.d/rc.local or /etc/rc.d/rc.serial or
/etc/rc.boot/0setserial file. 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.
For board addresses, and IRQs, look at the rc.serial
or /etc/rc.boot/0setserial that comes with the setserial
program. It has a lot of detail on multiport boards, including I/O
addresses and device names.
There is an article in issue 36 of the Linux Journal,
http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue36/index.html that
explains how to use a serial console. See Text-Terminal-HOWTO.
If you are seeing slow throughput and serial port overruns on a
system with (E)IDE disk drives, you can get hdparm. This
is a utility that can modify (E)IDE parameters, including unmasking
other IRQs during a disk IRQ. This will improve responsiveness
and will help eliminate overruns. Be sure to read the man page very
carefully, since some drive/controller combinations don't like this
and may corrupt the filesystem.
Also have a look at a utility called irqtune that will change
the IRQ priority of a device, for example the serial port that your
modem is on. This may improve the serial throughput on your system.
The irqtune FAQ is at
http://www.best.com/~cae/irqtune.