*BSD News Article 62556


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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.mail.uucp
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!news.nkn.net!rowdy.lonestar.org!nemesis!uhclem
From: uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org (Frank Durda IV)
Subject: Re: Taylor-UUCP not running with 16550 SIO (UMC Custom Chip)
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Organization: The Big Blue Box
Message-ID: <DnEzEn.2IA@nemesis.lonestar.org>
References: <4gruu6$uhq@godzilla.zeta.org.au>
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 03:08:46 GMT
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:14667 comp.mail.uucp:15893

Bruce Evans (bde@zeta.org.au) wrote:
[5]Yes, mine loses sync if the fifo enable bit is toggled or the speed is
[5]set while part of a character has arrived.  The UART apparently syncs

If you will look at the NS16550 documentation, it states that changing
the state of the FIFO bit will cause a loss of data in the TX and RX shift
registers and in the TX and RX FIFOs.  You never change these bits after
the chip is initialized or while data is moving through the device if
you want the data to be sent/received intact. 

NS even recommends toggling the FIFO bit as a way to flush the contents of
the FIFOs to abort the transmission of data you have already given
to the UART but now don't want to send.

How this bit is treated also differs in the various clones, mainly
because Microsoft turns it on and leaves it on, and Microsoft products
are the main compatibility test the clone-16550 makers use.  

The same thing goes for changing parity, word size, stop bits, baud rate and
other parameters while data is in the UART.  What you get is not defined.

Information on the NS16550 registers can also be found in the -current
FreeBSD handbook (see uart.sgml).


Frank Durda IV <uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org>|"The Knights who say "LETNi"
or uhclem%nemesis@rwsystr.nkn.net           | demand...  A SEGMENT REGISTER!!!"
					    |"A what?"
or ...letni!rwsys!nemesis!uhclem	    |"LETNi! LETNi! LETNi!"  - 1983