need help configuring us robotics 5686e external modem

cowgod · n00b Joined: 31 Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Location: tucson, az

i need some help configuring a us robotics 5686e external modem on gentoo. i have used this modem on redhat before, and it will always auto-detect the new hardware when the system boots (or when i run kudzu), which will then allow me to use minicom with the modem. i do not need this modem for ISP connectivity. it is only used to dial into another modem on another linux system for a serial console. when i run minicom, it tells me "cannot open /dev/ttyS1: no such device or address". how do i configure the modem to show up as a ttyS* device so i can use minicom with it?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:48 pm Post subject:

cowgod,

Depending on where the modem is plugged in its either /dev/ttyS0 or /dev/ttyS1.
If the device doesn't exist be sure the serial ports are enabled in your BIOS and you hsve serial port support in your kernel.
The module is called 8250, if you need to modprobe it.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

cowgod · n00b Joined: 31 Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Location: tucson, az

i just verified that the serial port is activated in the bios. also, i have the following options compiled into the kernel:

Device Drivers->Network device support->
<*> PPP support
<*> PPP support for async serial ports
<*> ppp support for sync tty ports

lspci gives me this info for the serial port:

01:0a.0 Serial controller: NetMos Technology PCI 9835 Multi-I/O Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [16550])
Subsystem: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic 2S (16C550 UART)
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 3
I/O ports at a400 [size=8]
I/O ports at a800 [size=8]
I/O ports at ac00 [size=8]
I/O ports at b000 [size=8]
I/O ports at b400 [size=8]
I/O ports at b800 [size=16]

when i do ls -al /dev/ttyS* i get this:
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 64 Oct 19 09:12 /dev/ttyS0
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 65 Oct 19 09:12 /dev/ttyS1
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 66 Oct 19 09:12 /dev/ttyS2
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 67 Oct 19 09:12 /dev/ttyS3

and minicom gives me this:
minicom: cannot open /dev/ttyS0: No such device or address

it does the same thing when i configure the default to be ttyS1. do all my settings look correct? do i have the right stuff compiled into the kernel? i'm still lost here...

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:35 pm Post subject:

cowgod,

Character devices -> Serial drivers -> 8250/16550 and compatible serial support (SERIAL_8250)
Is essential too. Thats the hardware driver for the serial ports.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

cowgod · n00b Joined: 31 Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Location: tucson, az

that did the trick! thanks!

admins can modify topic to include [SOLVED]!

cowgod · n00b Joined: 31 Oct 2002 Posts: 34 Location: tucson, az

i have discovered a problem...

i want to have a single user be able to access the modem. i have read that there is a minicom.users file that can be created in the directory where minicom is installed (in my case /etc/minicom). however, this file doesn't appear to be accessed because the user configured in it doesn't have access to /dev/ttyS0.

the user that i want to access the modem has been added to the groups "uucp" and "dialout". i have changed the group of /dev/tts/0 to "dialout", but this appears to be reset to "tty" after the system is rebooted. what is the correct way to configure this on gentoo? should i just add the user to the group "tty"?