LPI Linux Certification/Configure Communication Devices

Detailed Objective
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 * Description
 * Candidates should be able to install and configure different internal and external communication devices like modems, ISDN adapters and DSL modems.


 * Key knowledge area(s):
 * Verification of compatibility requirements (such as the modem is not a "winmodem").
 * Correctly set IRQs, DMAs and I/O Ports of the cards to avoid conflicts between devices.
 * Load and configure suitable device drivers.
 * Set serial port speed.
 * Setup modem for outbound PPP connections.


 * The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
 * /proc/dma
 * /proc/interrupts
 * /proc/ioports
 * setserial

I/O Ports
To list the I/O ports the system uses, print the /proc/ioports file.

$ cat /proc/ioports 0000-001f : dma1 0020-003f : pic1 0040-005f : timer 0060-006f : keyboard 0070-007f : rtc 0080-008f : dma page reg 00a0-00bf : pic2 00c0-00df : dma2 00f0-00ff : fpu 0170-0177 : PCI device 8086:248a 0170-0177 : ide1 01f0-01f7 : PCI device 8086:248a 01f0-01f7 : ide0 02f8-02ff : serial(auto) 0376-0376 : PCI device 8086:248a 0376-0376 : ide1 0378-037a : parport0 037b-037f : parport0 03c0-03df : vesafb 03f6-03f6 : PCI device 8086:248a 03f6-03f6 : ide0

Interrupts
To list all the interrupts used by all the devices, print the /proc/interrupts file.

$ cat /proc/interrupts CPU0 0:    397517          XT-PIC  timer 1:      7544          XT-PIC  keyboard 2:         0          XT-PIC  cascade 5:         0          XT-PIC  usb-uhci, usb-uhci 8:         2          XT-PIC  rtc 10:      2024          XT-PIC  eth0, usb-uhci, PCI device 104c:ac51, PCI device 104c:ac51, Intel ICH3 12:     19502          XT-PIC  PS/2 Mouse 14:     11445          XT-PIC  ide0 15:      2770          XT-PIC  ide1 NMI:         0 ERR:         0 An optimized system will not have any interrupt lines used by more than one heavily-used device.

Remember that every ISR from every device will be executed for each interrupt.

DMA
To list all the ISA DMA (Direct Memory Access) channels in-use, print out the /proc/dma file.

$ cat /proc/dma 4: cascade

PCI
To list all the devices on the pci buses, print out the /proc/pci file.

$ cat /proc/pci PCI devices found: Bus 0, device   0, function  0: Class 0600: PCI device 8086:3575 (rev 2). Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe0000000 [0xefffffff]. Bus 0, device   1, function  0: Class 0604: PCI device 8086:3576 (rev 2). Master Capable. Latency=96. Min Gnt=12. Bus 0, device  29, function  0: Class 0c03: PCI device 8086:2482 (rev 1). IRQ 10. I/O at 0x1800 [0x181f]. Bus 0, device  29, function  1: Class 0c03: PCI device 8086:2484 (rev 1). IRQ 5. I/O at 0x1820 [0x183f]. Bus 0, device  29, function  2: Class 0c03: PCI device 8086:2487 (rev 1). IRQ 5. I/O at 0x1840 [0x185f]. Bus 0, device  30, function  0: Class 0604: PCI device 8086:2448 (rev 65). Master Capable. No bursts. Min Gnt=4.

Exercises

 * Exercises results