[ltp] Serial Port

[wes schreiner]

Isaque Galdino de Araujo wrote:

>On Fri, 27 Sep 2002 09:07:55 +1200
>David Grindrod <dkgrindrod@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  
>
>>See if it has been turned on in the BIOS.
>>    
>>
>
>But is that really necessary, because my com1 port is working with Windows 2000!
>  
>

Yes it is. See, Windows 2000 can turn it on, even if it is turned off in 
the BIOS. So what works and doesn't work in Windows 2000 has little 
bearing on what works in Linux. Linux assumes that if the port is 
disabled in the BIOS you really want it disabled. Windows 2000 assumes 
you don't know what the BIOS is and turns the port on (but not 
permanently). You can do the same thing in Linux with a PNP-enabled 
kernel and the setpnp tool, but it doesn't happen automatically.

The easy thing to do is make sure the serial port is enabled in the 
BIOS, then both Linux and Windows 2000 can use it and you will be happy.

wes