E Administering Specific Hardware Devices

E.1 Introduction

This appendix describes the procedures for adding and configuring certain hardware devices. Current supported devices are:

PCMCIA cards
CalComp graphics tablet

E.2 PCMCIA Support

PCMCIA (PC Card) support is limited to the following capabilities:

Support of selected ISA to PCMCIA bridge adapters
Support on the following platforms:
- AlphaStation 255
- AlphaStation 200
- AlphaStation 400
- AlphaStation 600
- AlphaServer 1000
One modem card, specifically Megahertz XJ2288 (28.8kpbs)
Hot swap capability of PC Cards

E.2.1 Restrictions

The following restrictions apply in this release.

No support is provided for loadable device drivers for PC Cards.
If the system does not have enough available IRQ (interrupt) numbers to assign to the PCMCIA devices, PCMCIA devices cannot be configured. To support one PCMCIA adapter the system must have at least three unused IRQ numbers available. One IRQ is for the adapter and the other two are for each PCMCIA socket.
Digital UNIX can support two PCMCIA adapters in a system provided that the necessary resources are available. In some systems, availability of interrupt lines will prohibit the use of multiple adapters. If you have sufficient resources and are going to support two adapters, the second adapter should be configured to use the I/O address 3E2.
To use fax functions in a fax/modem PC card, a commercial UNIX fax application software program is required.
The Megahertz XJ2288 is the only modem card fully qualified on Digital UNIX. However, other modem cards of similar type (both 14.4kpbs and 28.8kpbs) may work. The following is the list of modem cards that are known to work:
- Model XJ2288, from MEGAHERTZ
- Model XJ1144, from MEGAHERTZ
- KeepInTouch Cardcard from AT&T Paradyne
- PCMCIA V.32bis 14,400 Fax from Digital Equipment Corporation
The selected ISA to PCMCIA bridge adapters are from SCM Microsystems. The SWAPBOX CLASSIC X2 Model MMCD-D2 which has the following features:
- 3.5 inch front access
- Two slots (type II + type III) PC card socket
- Standard PC-AT 16-bit ISA bus interface
- PCMCIA Revision 2.X and ExCA compliant
The SWAPBOX PREMIUM COMBO Model MMCD-FC2 has the following features:
- 3.5 inch, 1.44 Mbyte Floppy Drive Support.
- One Type I, II, or III front-access PC card socket
- One Type I, II, or III rear-access PC card socket
- Standard PC-AT 16-bit ISA bus interface
- PCMCIA Revision 2.X and ExCA compliant

However, other ISA to PCMCIA bridge adapters using the Intel i82365SL or a compatible device may also work.

E.2.2 Configuring the PCMCIA Adapter Board from the Console

Before inserting the PCMCIA adapter board into your system, make sure to read the manual that came with the adapter from the adapter vendor and follow the instructions on how to connect the cables and install the board. Check your system documentation to find out what kind of bus is available in your system and use the appropriate ISA or EISA instructions in this section.

E.2.2.1 Configuring on an ISA Bus System

If the system is an ISA bus system, the isacfg utility from the console must be used to configure the PCMCIA adapter.
After the PCMCIA adapter board is inserted to an ISA slot in the system, turn on the system.
To add an PCMCIA option to the platforms with an ISA bus, issue the following ISA option card configuration command at the console. The following example uses an AlphaStation 200 platform, but the commands should be the same in all three ISA bus platforms.
```
>>> isacfg -slot 1 -etyp 1 -dev 0 -mk -iobase0 3e0 \
-irq0 14 -enadev 1 -handle PCIC-PCMCIA
```
If the system is already using slot 1, select and unused slot number.
The IRQ (interrupt) number must not conflict with interrupt numbers that are assigned to other default devices on the system. The system hardware manual usually indicates which IRQ numbers are assigned to default devices.
The recommended IRQ number for the PCMCIA adapter is 14 (decimal).
If IRQ 14 is already used, the next best choice is IRQ 10, if it is not already used by other devices.
When you issue the above isacfgcommand, the console should print out the following line or something similar:
```
type >>>init to use these changes
```
After reinitializing the console, you can verify that you configured the PCMCIA adapter correctly by issuing the following command:
```
>>>isacfg -slot 1
```

You should see the following screen display:

=============================================================
handle: PCIC-PCMCIA
etyp: 1
slot: 1  dev: 0
enadev: 1
totdev: 1
iobase0: 3e0  membase0: 8000000000000000
iobase1: 8000000000000000  memlen0: 8000000000000000
iobase2: 8000000000000000  membase1: 8000000000000000
iobase3: 8000000000000000  memlen1: 8000000000000000
iobase4: 8000000000000000  membase2: 8000000000000000
iobase5: 8000000000000000  memlen2: 8000000000000000
rombase: 8000000000000000
romlen: 8000000000000000
dmamode0/chan0: 80000000 irq0: 14
dmamode1/chan1: 80000000 irq1: 80000000
dmamode2/chan2: 80000000 irq2: 80000000
dmamode3/chan3: 80000000 irq3: 80000000

=============================================================
>>>

E.2.2.2 Configuring on an EISA Bus System

If you are installing the PCMCIA adapter on an EISA bus system, use the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU) to configure it. Invoke the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU), and specify that the PCMCIA adapter is present. Next, provide a pointer to the aisa3000.cfg configuration file.

Refer to your system hardware documentation for complete instructions on how to run the ECU program.

E.2.3 Configuring and Using a PCMCIA Modem PC Card

Since a PC Card is a dynamic device (i.e. not a static device that is present all the time in the system hardware), and the serial-line device driver is a static device driver, when the system is installed initially, there will not be a corresponding acex entry created automatically by the doconfig of the target system. This is due to the fact that the system does not know when it is being installed that there will be a fax/modem card for PCMCIA since the card is not in the system yet.

If you want the system to automatically create the acex entry for your PCMCIA fax/modem card, before you start installing the system, make sure that you have the PCMCIA adapter configured in the console and that the PCMCIA fax/modem card is inserted into the slot. If you have a fax/modem card in the slot 0, for example, when the system is installed and the target kernel is built, the system kernel configuration file built will have the following entry:

controller ace2   at pcmcia0  slot 0 vector aceintr

The installation will also create the device special file for this fax/modem card in the directory named /dev.

# ls -gl tty02

crw-rw-rw-   1 root     system    35,  2 Oct 16 13:22 tty02

If you did not have the PCMCIA fax/modem card inserted in the slot when the system was installed, then you need to add the following line to your system kernel configuration file, (/sys/conf/HOSTNAME where HOSTNAME is the name of your system):

controller              ace2    at *    slot ? vector aceintr

If you plan to use two modem cards simultaneously, add the following lines to your system configuration file:

controller              ace2    at *    slot ? vector aceintr
controller              ace3    at *    slot ? vector aceintr

Once the system configuration file is modified, use the following command to rebuild the new kernel and reboot the system.

# doconfig -c

E.2.4 Creating a Device Special File for the Modem Card

Normally the system installation creates the following two default tty0x device special files in the directory /dev:

crw-rw-rw-   1 root     system    35,  0 Oct 16 13:22 tty00
crw-rw-rw-   1 root     system    35,  1 Oct 16 13:22 tty01

This is because most systems have two embedded serial lines. A system with a single embedded serial line creates only onetty00 entry in the /dev directory.

To create additional device special files for the PCMCIA modem cards, use the MAKEDEV utility in the /dev directory. For example:

# ./MAKEDEV ace2

MAKEDEV: special file(s) for ace2:
tty02

The generated special file should look like this:

crw-rw-rw-   1 root     system    35,  2 Oct 27 14:02 tty02

If you intend to have two PCMCIA modem cards working simultaneously, create device special files for each card. For example:

# ./MAKEDEV ace2 ace3

MAKEDEV: special file(s) for ace2:
tty02
MAKEDEV: special file(s) for ace3:
tty03

The generated special files should look like this:

crw-rw-rw-   1 root     system    35,  2 Oct 27 14:02 tty02
crw-rw-rw-   1 root     system    35,  3 Oct 27 14:02 tty03

E.2.5 /etc/remote File

You must edit the /etc/remote file must be modified to add new access line definitions for the PCMCIA modem cards to be used. If you have a 28.8kpb modem card and will be using the full speed, the baud rate (br) in the /etc/remote file should be set to 38400.

For example, add the following line to the /etc/remote file:

line2:dv=/dev/tty02:br#38400:pa=none:

Note that line2 can be any name you determine to be used with the tip command to establish a connection.

Once the PCMCIA modem card is inserted correctly and the system configures the card, the card can be used the same as any other modem devices.

E.2.6 Inserting a PCMCIA Modem Card

To use a PCMCIA modem card, insert the card to one of the PC Card slots in the PCMCIA adapter. Depending on the adapter type, there may be two front access card slots or one front access and one rear access card slot. When you insert the card into the slot 0, you should see the following message on the console terminal (or the Console Log window of the graphics head).

# PCMCIA socket 0: card manufacturer: MEGAHERTZ
product name: XJ2288
Configured: serial unit 2, type=16550A
ace2 at pcmcia0

This example used the MEGAHERTZ XJ2288 fax/modem card.

When a modem card is inserted, an error message such as the following may appear on the Console Log window:

socket 0: card manufacturer: MEGAHERTZ, unknown modem card inserted

Using generic modem driver for this PC Card.

PCMCIA socket 0: card manufacturer: MEGAHERTZ

product name: XJ1144

socket 0: Couldn't find usable config. for this card.
Please eject this PC Card.

This error occurs if the card requires I/O resources that are already in use by other components in the system. If this error message is seen, the card should be ejected, because it is not configured. A possible solution is to remove some other ISA/EISA devices in the system and reboot the system, freeing I/O resources that may be required.

E.2.7 Removing a PCMCIA Modem Card

Once you are finished using the modem card, push the button next to the card slot to eject it. You should see the following message on the console terminal or console Log window.

# stray interrupt on unit=2, intr_id=0
PCMCIA socket 0: PC Card removed

This message is not always displayed when you eject the card. It only happens if the serial line driver generates an interrupt when the card got ejected.

E.3 CalComp Graphics Tablet

This section provides information about how configure a CalComp DrawingBoard III tablet, an input device supported by the Xinput extension to the Xserver. Once the software for the tablet is installed on your system, you can configure it to emulate a system mouse.

E.3.1 Configuring the CalComp DrawingBoard III Tablet

If you intend to use the CalComp DrawingBoard III tablet software, you must edit the file /usr/var/X11/Xserver.conf to turn on support for the X Input extension. To do this, remove the comment characters surrounding the following lines:

input <
<_dec_xi_db3  lib_dec_xi_db3.so  XiDb3Init /dev/tty00:1:12:12:16:\
1:8:1000:1:1 >
>

The backslash in this example indicates line continuation and is not in the actual display.

You should also review these lines to ensure that the options specified for the tablet are correct, especially that the tty that is specified as the serial port where the tablet is connected to your system.

The last line of this file has the following syntax:

device:mode:tabletWidth:tabletHeight:numbtns:corePointer:mouseScale:\
resolution:Xincrement:Yincrement

The backslash in this example indicates line continuation and is not in the actual display.

Table E-1 can help you determine how to set up the entries for the tablet in the /usr/var/X11/Xserver.conf file.

Table E-1: CalComp DrawingBoard III Tablet Configuration Options and Values
Option	Description
device	The port (`tty`) to which the device is connected. The default is tty00.
mode	This should be set to 1 for absolute motion.
tabletWidth	Width of the active tablet area in inches, not the physical size. The default is 12.
tabletHeight	Height of the active tablet area in inches, not the physical size. The default is 12.
numbtns	Number of buttons on the puck or pen. The maximum number is 16 and the default is 16.
corePointer	0 indicates a native tablet mode (no system mouse). 1 indicates emulate core pointer (the mouse and tablet are both core pointer devices. The default is 1 (emulate core pointer).
mouseScale	1 to 50 scaling factor in relative mode. Determines the speed of the cursor; the higher the number, the slower the cursor moves. The default is 8.
resolution	1 to 2540 lines per inch (lpi). The default is 1000.
Xincrement	How much the X axis must be incremented to cause the tablet to send new coordinates to the Xserver. The range is 0 to 65536. The default is 1.
Yincrement	How much the Y axis must be incremented to cause the tablet to send new coordinates to the Xserver. The range is 0 to 65536. The default is 1.

The device option is required and specifies which tty device should be associated with the tablet. By default, the installation software assigns the CalComp DrawingBoard III tablet to tty00, which you may want to change if that tty is already allocated. For information on how to determine which serial port your tablet is connected to, see the hardware documentation that was shipped with your processor.

Note that when the stylus or puck is moved as far as the minimum Xincrement or Yincrement value, the value of the corresponding axis is updated. For example, if the Xincrement value is set to 10 and the tablet is moved 10 units along the X axis, the value of the Y axis will also be updated simultaneously with the X axis, even if the Yincrement value has not been reached. Keep this in mind when setting the Xincrement and Yincrement options.

After you have configured the /usr/var/X11/Xserver.conf file, you must follow these steps to turn on support for the tablet in the Xserver:

Plug the tablet into your system and turn it on.

Enter the following command to restart the Xserver so that the Xinput extension can recognize the tablet:

# /usr/sbin/shutdown -r +5 \
"Turning on support for the Calcomp Drawingboard III tablet"

(The backslash in this example indicates line continuation and is not in the actual display.) When the system comes back up, the tablet will be configured into the Xserver and ready to use.

When the Xserver first accesses the tablet, it performs some hardware-specific initialization that can be saved in the on-board memory of the tablet. To save these settings, follow these steps:

Press the EXIT CONFIG button on the tablet's menu.

Under the SAVE button, press the DEFAULT button.

Press the EXIT CONFIG button to save the settings.

E.3.2 Notes and Restrictions

The following notes and restrictions apply to the CalComp DrawingBoard III tablet:

If the puck or stylus is not used within a 5 minute period, the tablet will automatically shut off. To reactivate it, press any button on the puck or stylus while they are in close proximity to the tablet.
If you configure the tablet as the system's core pointer, moving the puck and the system mouse simultaneously will cause the cursor to move in an unpredictable fashion.
Use only one puck or stylus at a time. If you try to use both input devices simultaneously, you will encounter unpredictable behavior.
Digital UNIX does not support manual configuration of the tablet via the tablet buttons. If you try to use these buttons to configure the tablet, the Xserver will malfunction and may even crash. If you need to reconfigure the tablet, edit the /usr/var/X11/Xserver.conf file and then reboot the Xserver.
You can modify some parts of the tablet setup by programming the Xinput extension. For more information on how to do this, see the XInput specification provided by the X Consortium.