Release notes for tiser
=======================

What's new ?
------------

This driver support the Devfs (Device File System) capability which was
introduced in 2.4 kernels.
It has been submitted to the Linux Kernel Mailing List. It will not be
included in the mainstream kernel for some technical reasons (ttySx).
But, this module has an official device number now.


Summary
-------

This driver allows you to access a serial link cable thru a character
device. This avoid to be root for using a such cable. 

This version has been developped from scratch (and slightly inspired from the 
'tidev' kernel module) but is fully compatible with the 'tidev' kernel module.
It works for kernel 2.2 or 2.4.

This driver supports the new device hierarchy (devfs) so you may activate it
in your kernel (currently experimental).
 
The latest tiser version is available here:
	http://lpg.ticalc.org/prj_tidev/


Before compiling tiser
----------------------

You should know where the kernel sources are located as well as your kernel 
version. If you have a 'vanilia' kernel, the path is '/usr/src/linux'.
It may change with some other distributions or packaged kernels.

So, you may have to edit the Makefile for the right location. There are only 
1 variables to edit: KDIR := /usr/src/linux for instance. That's all !


Compiling tiser
---------------

You need configured kernel sources to compile the tiser driver.  
The driver uses some Makefile magic to compile the modules with your kernel's 
configuration (wrt. module-versions, SMP, ...).  If you already have compiled 
the kernel at least once, you probably don't have do worry about this.  If
not, go to /usr/src/linux and run at least "make (x)config".  Even
better, compile your own kernel, you'll never become a real hacker
else ;-)

For compiling tiser.o, simply type 'make clean' and next 'make'.


Installing tiser
----------------

Once compiled, you need to install the module: type "make clean; make; make 
install" for this. 
This will copy the module (tiser.o) to the correct modules directory, 
and will creates the special device files in /dev as well as links for
insuring compatibility with 'tidev' nodes. 

You may then load the module by typing the command "insmod tiser.o" 
as root or by typing 'make load'.
If you plugged your cable on your calculator, the module should be able to
auto-detect on which port your serial link is plugged.

You may have to adjust permissions on character devices...

Nodes are assigned as follow:
/dev/tiser0		0x3f8
/dev/tiser1		0x2f8
/dev/tiser2		0x3e8
/dev/tiser3		0x2e8

These values can be easily modified in the tiser.c file.

If you have enabled the automount support, the module can be automagically
loaded by the kernel whenever a program try to use it. For this, simply
add the following line in your /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modutils/arch/i386
(depending on your Linux distribution):

        alias char-major-61             tipar
        alias char-major-62             tiser
	alias char-major-180-225        tiglusb

Until I fix it, you will have to recreate the nodes in /dev/ whenever you
restart your machine. Simply do a 'make devices'.
If you have enabled devfs, you don't have to worry about this.


Options
-------

See module/Insmod-options


Limitations
-----------

You can not load simultaneously more than 1 module between tipar/tiser/tiglusb.

--
Romain Lievin, 2000-2002, <roms@lpg.ticalc.org>



