patch-2.0.35 linux/Documentation/networking/baycom.txt

• Lines: 132
• Date: Mon Jul 13 13:47:26 1998
• Orig file: v2.0.34/linux/Documentation/networking/baycom.txt
• Orig date: Wed Dec 31 16:00:00 1969

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+		    LINUX DRIVER FOR BAYCOM MODEMS
+
+       Thomas M. Sailer, HB9JNX/AE4WA, <sailer@ife.ee.ethz.ch>
+
+This document describes the Linux Kernel Driver for simple Baycom style
+amateur radio modems. The driver supports the following modems:
+
+ser12:  This is a very simple 1200 baud AFSK modem. The modem consists only
+        of a modulator/demodulator chip, usually a TI TCM3105. The computer
+        is responsible for regenerating the receiver bit clock, as well as
+        for handling the HDLC protocol. The modem connects to a serial port,
+        hence the name. Since the serial port is not used as an async serial
+        port, the kernel driver for serial ports cannot be used, and this
+        driver only supports standard serial hardware (8250, 16450, 16550)
+
+par96:  This is a modem for 9600 baud FSK compatible to the G3RUH standard.
+        The modem does all the filtering and regenerates the receiver clock.
+        Data is transferred from and to the PC via a shift register.
+        The shift register is filled with 16 bits and an interrupt is signalled.
+        The PC then empties the shift register in a burst. This modem connects
+        to the parallel port, hence the name. The modem leaves the 
+        implementation of the HDLC protocol and the scrambler polynomial to
+        the PC.
+
+picpar: This is a redesign of the par96 modem by Henning Rech, DF9IC. The modem
+        is protocol compatible to par96, but uses only three low power ICs
+        and can therefore be fed from the parallel port and does not require
+        an additional power supply. Furthermore, it incorporates a carrier
+        detect circuitry.
+
+All of the above modems only support half duplex communications. However,
+the driver supports the KISS (see below) fullduplex command. It then simply
+starts to send as soon as there's a packet to transmit and does not care
+about DCD, i.e. it starts to send even if there's someone else on the channel.
+This command is required by some implementations of the DAMA channel 
+access protocol.
+
+
+The Interface of the driver
+
+Unlike previous drivers, the driver is no longer a character device,
+but it is now a true kernel network interface. Installation is therefore
+simple. Once installed, four interfaces named bc[0-3] are available.
+sethdlc from the ax25 utilities may be used to set driver states etc.
+Users of userland AX.25 stacks may use the net2kiss utility (also available
+in the ax25 utilities package) to converts packets of a network interface
+to a KISS stream on a pseudo tty. There's also a patch available from
+me for WAMPES which allows attaching a kernel network interface directly.
+
+
+Configuring the driver
+
+Every time the driver is inserted into the kernel, it has to know which
+modems it should access at which ports. This can be done with the setbaycom
+utility. If you are only using one modem, you can also configure the
+driver from the insmod command line (or by means of an option line in
+/etc/conf.modules).
+
+Examples: (use either method, not both)
+  insmod baycom mode="ser12*" iobase=0x3f8 irq=4
+  sethdlc -i bc0 -p type "ser12*" io 0x3f8 irq 4
+
+Both lines configure the first port to drive a ser12 modem at the first
+serial port (COM1 under DOS). The star ('*') instructs the driver to use
+the software DCD algorithm (see below).
+
+  insmod baycom mode="par96*" iobase=0x378 irq=7
+  sethdlc -i bc0 -p type "par96*" io 0x378 irq 7
+
+Both lines configure the first port to drive a par96 or par97 modem at the
+first parallel port (LPT1 under DOS). options=1 instructs the driver to use
+the software DCD algorithm (see below).
+  
+  insmod baycom mode="par96" iobase=0x278 irq=5
+  sethdlc -i bc0 -p type "par96" io 0x278 irq 5
+
+Both lines configure the first port to drive a picpar modem at the
+second parallel port (LPT2 under DOS). The driver uses the hardware DCD
+signalled by the picpar modem (see below).
+  
+The channel access parameters can be set with sethdlc -a or kissparms.
+Note that both utilities interpret the values slightly different.
+
+
+
+Hardware DCD versus Software DCD
+
+To avoid collisions on the air, the driver must know when the channel is
+busy. This is the task of the DCD circuitry/software. The driver may either
+utilise a software DCD algorithm (a star after the mode string) or use a DCD
+signal from the hardware (no star).
+
+ser12:  if software DCD is utilised, the radio's squelch should always be
+        open. It is highly recommended to use the software DCD algorithm,
+        as it is much faster than most hardware squelch circuitry. The
+        disadvantage is a slightly higher load on the system.
+
+par96:  the software DCD algorithm for this type of modem is rather poor.
+        The modem simply does not provide enough information to implement
+        a reasonable DCD algorithm in software. Therefore, if your radio
+        feeds the DCD input of the par96 modem, the use of the hardware
+        DCD circuitry is recommended.
+
+picpar: the picpar modem features a builtin DCD hardware, which is highly
+        recommended.
+
+
+
+Compatibility with the rest of the Linux kernel
+
+The serial driver, the line printer (lp) driver and the baycom driver compete
+for the same hardware resources. Of course only one driver can access a given
+interface at a time. The serial driver grabs all interfaces it can find at
+startup time. Therefore the baycom driver subsequently won't be able to
+access a serial port. You might therefore find it necessary to release
+a port owned by the serial driver with 'setserial /dev/ttyS# uart none', where
+# is the number of the interface. The baycom driver does not reserve any
+port at startup, unless one is specified on the 'insmod' command line. Another
+method to solve the problem is to compile all three drivers as modules and
+leave it to kerneld to load the correct driver depending on the application.
+
+
+Further reading
+
+Please take a look at http://www.ife.ee.ethz.ch/~sailer/ham/linux/hdlc.html
+for further informations on the driver.
+
+
+vy 73s de
+Tom Sailer, sailer@ife.ee.ethz.ch
+Packet Radio: hb9jnx@hb9w.che.eu