puppyserialdetect: detects serial mouse and serial modem

[BarryK]

Since the initial test each time I run puppyserialdetect I get the two lines:

Code: Select all

Type:modem|Port:/dev/ttySn|Speed:230400 
Type:mouse|Port:/dev/ttySn

I'm puzzled that you got a different result the first time you tried it.

For the sake of completeness, would you mind exiting from X totally, then
try it? ...just in case X is interfering somehow.

It's interesting that the modem detection code is thinking your mouse is a modem
...it must be responding like a modem, maybe that's why it's called a "net genius"
I'll study the detection code, and try to get my hands on more serial mouses to test (I only tried an old 2-button Microsoft mouse).

[BarryK]

Mouse is a Logitech cordless with the receiver connected through a USB-to-PS2 adapter. There is a Xircom combination PCI serial modem and 100BaseT network interface card factory-installed inside the Thinkpad but I am using only the network half not the modem.

Probably too optimistic to expect detection of a pcmcia modem!
...besides, it may not be a real hardware modem, so it won't get detected.

OH, maybe I better spell that out, for anyone else reading this thread:
puppyserialdetect ONLY DETECTS TRUE HARDWARE MODEMS!
...not those accursed internal winmodems.

I'm curious about your configuration -- does the Thinkpad not have a ps/2
socket? Or the other way round?

[Flash]

OK, I think I figured out what I did wrong when I tried to run the program. Here's what I get now:

sh-3.00# gunzip puppyserialdetect.gz
sh-3.00# chmod 755 puppyserialdetect
sh-3.00# ./puppyserialdetect
sh-3.00#

In other words, nothing.

I don't have a serial modem, or anything else that will work in the serial port.

[Sit Heel Speak]

BarryK, O Honored sir, I humbly greet thee and my heart doth sing...

I bought this Thinkpad, used, from a Seattle computer shop about 2 years ago. It is a Pentium-III Coppermine 800 MHz in the standard factory configuration, that is, 256MB of RAM, 20GB hard disk. Main chipset is Intel BX so hard disk speed is only UDMA2 (33MBps). A nice machine, I like it a lot, except the hard disk failed about a month after I bought it. Fortunately IBM's warranty was transferrable and it was still within the warranty period so I got a new one free.

It isn't a PCMCIA modem, rather it is inside the laptop, on the laptop's mini-PCI expansion slot. I don't know whether the modem half of the Xircom combo card is a true hardware modem or not, but probably not; Windows 98SE Device Manager calls it a "Xircom MPCI+ Modem 56 WinGlobal." Its NIC chipset is 3Com 82557. I've never used the modem side of it, since I surf through a dedicated proxy server (sitting beside my desk), through the network card side of it, over a 192Kbps ADSL connection.

The Thinkpad T21 has one each on the rear, of the following:

PS2 jack
USB 1.1 jack
100BaseT CAT-5 network jack
phone line jack for the modem
external monitor jack
parallel jack
9-pin D-connector serial jack
...and another jack looking sort of like the PS2 connector but with the alignment slot horizontal not vertical, which I forget what it is.

On the left side is a 2-slot PCMCIA connector.

I am able to boot either Puppy 1.0.8 or Puppy 2 alpha 0.0.3 from a USB key (a.k.a. "jump drive"), when vmlinuz and the other files are loaded onto the key (it is a SanDisk Cruzer Mini 2GB), when the key is plugged directly into the rear USB 1.1 jack, booting via grub.exe called in c:\autoexec.bat--in short, "Boot Puppy 2 alpha 0.0.3 from disk" is a menu choice in my regular Windows 98SE config.sys. The T21's BIOS is too old to support direct booting from a USB device.

When Puppy 1.0.8 is on the key I can also boot from pakt's WakeUSB floppy. The boot2pup and wakepup floppies however do not work.

When Puppy 2 alpha 0.0.3 is on the key I can boot from grub.exe on hard disk but not from the WakeUSB floppy, even when the WakeUSB floppy's autoexec.bat is edited to adjust for the difference in names of the ramdisk image et cetera.

What I am ideally after is to be able to plug the SanDisk into a USB 2.0 Cardbus adapter (Hewlett-Packard PM453A) which then in turn plugs into the Thinkpad's PCMCIA slot. USB 2.0 is about 8 times faster than USB 1.1 in real-world use. Doing so should make Puppy boot on this laptop in something like 15 seconds, not the 1:45 (for Puppy 2a 0.0.3) or 2:40 (for Puppy 1.0. that it now takes to boot from the USB key, using grub.exe, when the key is plugged into the Thinkpad's rear USB 1.1 jack.

Pakt has mentioned, elsewhere, that he owns a similar, possibly identical, 2-port USB 2.0 adapter card which fits into the PCMCIA port on his laptop, and so I am hoping he will be curious enough to work with it and adapt WakeUSB and/or the Puppy kernel to enable the booting of Puppy from USB key through this adapter.

Incidentally, for comparison, it takes 47 seconds to boot Puppy 2 alpha 0.0.3 when the files are on the hard disk, using grub.exe.

The Logitech cordless mouse is several years old, bought at a PC salvage shop, and its receiver has a USB 1.1 plug. I can't stand the Trackpoint device and have been using this Logitech mouse for about a year now. Since I only bought the Hewlett-Packard USB 2.0 PCMCIA Cardbus adapter a few days ago, until last Wednesday I had only a single USB jack --a notorious shortcoming of these early T-series Thinkpads. Therefore in order to use both my Logitech cordless mouse and any other USB device, such as my printer or the SanDisk, without resorting to a hub, I'm plugging the Logitech mouse's receiver in through a USB-to-PS2 adapter, into the PS2 port. This adapter is so common (and easily breakable) that I carry a few around with me as spares, it costs U.S. $3 at my local computer shop.

I also just found out the hard way, that it is not a good idea to unplug the USB-to-PS2 adapter from the PS2 port while Puppy 2 is running. Doing so loses the mouse and I don't know how to exit the joe window manager without the mouse. Therefore I had to depress the power button, therefore losing pup_save.3fs, therefore having to set up Puppy 2 alpha 0.0.3 with the network proxy data from scratch. Which is why it took so long to post this reply!

[tedward]

I get:- QUOTE


#./puppyserialdetect
Type:modem|Port:/dev/ttySO|Speed:230400
#

Seems to work OK. I use an external 56K serial modem.

[jcoder24]

For the sake of completeness, would you mind exiting from X totally, then
try it? ...just in case X is interfering somehow.

Tried it without X running (via ctrl-alt-bksp) no difference. Since I was using an unleashed remaster, I've burnt a 'vanilla' puppy108r1 and booted it with option 4. Re-run the test and got the same result.

[Pence]

Zoom 56k serial modem model#2949L

# ./puppyserialdetect
Type:modem|Port:/dev/ttySO|Speed:38400
#

Zoom 28K serial modem V.34X-Model 470

# ./puppyserialdetect
Type:modem|Port:/dev/ttySO|Speed:230400
#

[tedward]

I get:- QUOTE


#./puppyserialdetect
Type:modem|Port:/dev/ttySO|Speed:230400
#

Seems to work OK. I use an external 56K serial modem.

UPDATE:

Coneecting an additional mouse (serial type) gives:

# ./puppyserialdetect
Type:modem|Port:/dev/ttyS0|Speed:230400
Type:mouse|Port:/dev/ttyS1
#


Works well!

[pakt]

# ./puppyserialdetect 2>/dev/null

Results:
Laptop, no serial modem, only USB devices - ~2sec delay, no ouput

Second PC, no serial modem, only ps/2 mouse - ~2sec delay, no ouput

[JustGreg]

I tried puppyserialdetect on two systems. The first is a home built using a motherboard with VIA C3 Ezra 1 GHz processor with 512 MBytes of memory. The mouse is a PS2 version. The modem is an external Supra Express one. Puppyserialdetect reports modem|Port:/dev/ttyS0|Speed:23400. The same was reported for both Puppy2 4/11/06 Alpha and Puppy 1.0.7. This is a bit high for reliable operation. I have found with the modem that 57600 bit rate must used for reliable operation. I do not know if it is the modem or serial port that is the problem.

The second system is SONY PCG-FXA53 with AMD Athlon XP1500+ processor and 256 Mbytes of memory. A US Robtics Fax Modem was used. Puppyserialdetect reports modem|Port:/dev/ttyS0|Speed:23400. Puppy 1.0.8 was used.

[BarryK]

Yes, the speed value being reported seems inconsistent.
So for now, not using it (speed) for any automatic setup..