On Thursday 26 February 2009 11:34, William L. Maltby wrote: > On Thu, 2009-02-26 at 06:14 -0500, Phil Schaffner wrote: > > On Thu, 2009-02-26 at 10:17 +0000, Anne Wilson wrote: > > ><snip> > > > > > > There is just one serial connector on the computer, so I set it to > > > monitor /dev/ttyS0. Either that is wrong, or communication is > > > failing. I've been told to try minicom to monitor it, but I'm not > > > familiar with minicom (or any similar app), so again, I may be wrong in > > > the way I'm trying to use that. I was told that unconnecting the > > > device, then re-connecting it should give me a raft of output to the > > > terminal - I saw nothing. > > > > > > Could someone please give me idiot-level instructions on how to tell > > > whether I'm connecting to the correct port, or whatever other > > > information I need? > > > > Anne, > > > > Are you sure the cable is correct? I recall in the past having trouble > > with an APC UPS that required an oddball RS-232 serial cable before it > > would communicate. There were different variants available and only one > > would work. Posting details of the brand/model of UPS involved might > > get better help. > > OTOH, if the manufacturer has any common sense, at worst they'll require > a "standard" (NOT!) null-modem cable. At best, they'll have > circuitry/software on-board that accepts either a straight-through or > null and adapts itself. > > Being an _old_ telecom guy from way back, I prefer what was called a > symmetrical null modem fully configured. From memory (and therefore > suspect) > > Pin---->Pin > 2 3 > 3 2 > 4 4 > 6 6 > 7 7 > 8 20 > 20 8 > > Some also do 5 to 5. > > However, a 2-3 cross and DTR and DCD high is all that really is needed. > > Google for RS-232 will get you a ton of stuff. > > As to the OP original question, check BIOS settings and make sure your > serial is enabled. Set it to COM 3 and IRQ 4 should work. This would > equate to "0" in an *IX system. > Yes, it says COM Port 1 3F8/IRQ4 It's a long time since I did anything with com ports, and I wasn't expert, then, but that looks right. > Look in your /var/log/messages file. At boot, you should see the device > recognized. > Feb 26 12:12:25 borg2 kernel: serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A Feb 26 12:12:25 borg2 kernel: serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A Feb 26 12:12:25 borg2 kernel: 00:05: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A Is this what I'm looking for? I don't see anything else. > Also, Minicom is _easy_ to use and understand. Give it a try. Even the > man pages are not difficult. > Easy when you know how, eh? :-) I did try it. I changed it to monitor /dev/ttyS0. Apart from that, I hadn't a clue what to do. I did look at the man page, too, but not knowing what I was looking for didn't help. Anne