Release Notes 93000375_2P for Digi Etherlite(TM) Linux Driver Package els-2.0P-2 40002090P2.rpm 03/07/00 Please reference the following number(s) when searching the Digi International web site (www.digi.com) or ftp site (ftp.digi.com) for the latest software package: RPM Part Number: 40002090_2P This Digi software package includes device drivers for the Etherlite family of adapters. It is currently supported on the following hardware platforms: * Standard i386/Pentium PC * Sun Sparc 32 bit and is currently supported on the following Linux distributions: * RedHat 6.0 or later (Intel and SPARC) * Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 (Intel) * SuSe LiNUX 6.3 (Intel) with kernel versions 2.2.12 and later. This package does not support SCSI units. To install, a root user should enter: #rpm -i 40002090P2.rpm This will install the RPM, compile and install the binaries from /usr/src/dg/els/drv/linux. See UNIT SETUP below to continue the installation. To remove the package, use rpm -q els to find the exact package name. Then use rpm -e and that package name to remove the old package. For example, rpm -e els els-2.0P-3 Changes in this release: Second pilot release. * Fixed problems referring to /sbin vs /usr/sbin. Added man pages for cdipserv, cdflush, cdmknutils, dinc, cdetherd, cdstty and define_etherlites. Added -addunit and -uninstall features to cdmknods. Fixed uninstall script used by RPM. Fixed problems in define_etherlites script (formerly define_units.) Fixed problems with units getting stuck once offline. Fixed problems with parallel ports. Fixed problems with timers not waiting long enough. Fixed problem with cdetherd timing out too quickly. Software limitations: * The maximum number of Etherlite adapters is set to 63 units. That represents a limit of 126 to 2016 serial ports, depending on the mix of 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 port units. * While some of the older Etherlite units support split baud rates, since Linux and newer Etherlite modules lack support for split baud rates, this driver doesn't support split baud rates. * The driver supports Linux kernels 2.2.10 thru 2.2.13. It has been tested on Redhat 6.0 under I386 and Sparc, and SuSE and Caldera on I386. Please let us know of your experiences on other releases. * The driver is supported as a module. No attempt has been made to test the driver as built into the kernel. * For ELS8+ units only, the driver requires that the Etherlite have version 7.2 or newer firmware. The firmware can be updated using cdipserv. * The RPM -U (Update) option does not work on this RPM. To update, remove the old version, then install the new version. Additional Notes: * The driver uses a configuration file, /etc/els.conf, to build unit and device nodes, and to start up the cdetherd daemons which are required for Ethernet communications. * Before the driver will work, the Etherlite units need an IP address. The IP address must be stored in the units, or provided when the units power up through bootp or dhcp. Because bootp is usually not set up on Linux, the cdipserv utility provides a way of setting the IP address of each unit. Or you can program the IP address into the Etherlite units through the first serial port. For details on setting up the UNITS, see UNIT SETUP below. * Also, you need to provide a file that contains the types and addresses of the Etherlite units. Run the script ./define_etherlites to add or create units to this /etc/els.conf file. This script can also generate a file of the new inittab entries for the ports if you wish. * The els driver is installed when the rpm is installed, i.e., the rpm els.spec file does a "cd /usr/src/dg/els/drv/linux" and a "make install". In order to make the driver available for use, you must cause the driver to be loaded. See the checklist at the end of this file for details on laoding the driver and starting the daemons. * NOTE that the permissions of i/o ports is set as follows: /dev/ttyN??? - normal serial ports 0664 /dev/cun??? - dialout ports 0600 /dev/lp??8 - printer ports 0600 * This package includes several support and configuration utilites: cdipserv - Can set and store IP addresses in units. cdstty - Sets baud rates, timeouts, other serial parameters dinc - A simple (no setup) barebones communications utility cdmknods - a program to create nodes and inittab add-on file cdflush - a program to remotely reset an Etherlite dtrc - a program to dump the device's trace buffer contents A copy of these release notes can be found in: /usr/src/dg/els/drv/linux/release.notes after the rpm has been installed. Known Problems: The driver registers eight "fake" tty devices /dev/ttyN0 - /dev/ttyN8 in the /proc/devices filesystem. UNIT SETUP Each Etherlite must have a stored IP address, or must get its address from a bootp or dhcp server each time it is powered up. Unless you already have a dhcp or bootp server running, you will want to store a unique IP address in each Etherlite. To store an an address, connect an Etherlite to power and to your local hub. (This may not work if the Etherlite is not on the same network segment as your Linux machine.) Next get the MAC address of the bottom of the Etherlite unit. The address is six pairs of letters and digits with dashes, for example, 00-A0-E7-00-00-09. Each Etherlite's MAC address is unique. Then enter this command as root: #cdipserv -store 00-A0-E7-??-??-?? the.new.IP.address where "the.new.IP.address" is replaced with a free IP network address good on your network. (For example, 192.168.0.32) You need to program each unit before the ports can work. So the steps to install are: 1. Install the RPM rpm -i 40002090P2.rpm 2. Either setup bootp, dhcp, or use cdipserv to store IP addresses for each unit. 3. Run the define_etherlites script load the driver, to build the unit dat database and start the cdetherd daemons that support the units. If you are updating the driver, skip this step unless you are also adding units. 4. If you need to add gettys for terminals, edit and append els.getty to your /etc/inittab file. 5. Modify your startup to load the Etherlite driver and start the driver (after Ethernet starts) every time your system boots. Here is how to do this for each Linux distribution: Red Hat: #chkconfig --add els Caldera: #ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/els /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S85els SuSe: #ln -s /etc/rc.d/init.d/els /etc/rc.d/rc2.d/S85els 6. If you have updated the driver, you can start it running: #sh /etc/rc.d/init.d/els restart Later, you can run define_etherlites to install new Etherlite units without rebooting. If you wish to change units around, you must edit the els.conf database file and reboot.