From: broadley@lrdc5 (Bill Broadley) Subject: 4-port Usernet Serial II Card [REVIEW] Date: 17 Nov 1992 07:05:44 GMT
Just thought I'd give a quick review of the USENET Serial Board II.
I bought the kit, built it myself, the directions were good, all
parts are socketed, the board is a 2 layer 1/2 slot 16 bit card.
Took me about 2 hours to put it together, set it up as a standard
dos card (2 ports on 2 irq's) and booted linux. It recognized all 4 16550's,
and immediately made use of them. I tested all 4 and have no problems 8-).
The board seems very configuable allowing all ports on a single irq
(each status is or'd together), and any other number of configuations
involving irq's 2,3,4,5,10,11,12,15, and the standard I/O addresses, or a
configurable block of 24 addresses just about anywhere.
There is also a status byte for the status of all 4 16550's to make it easier
to figure out which buffer is full when they are all hooked up the same IRQ.
Manual is fairly complete, including NASA's soldering guide, 16550 complete
data specs, PAL equations, circuit schematic, cabling diagrams etc.
So basically it looks well designed, includes source code, works well,
and most importantly compatible with linux.
Now if only I could find a graphics card as well designed/documented.
Anybody out there written a driver to handle all 4 ports on a single IRQ?
Email with any additional questions.