The 8-port asynchronous ISA and PCI adapters are multi-channel, intelligent, serial communications features available for PowerPC computers.
The EIA 232 adapter is supported only on AIX Version 4.1 (and later) systems, and the EIA 232/422 ISA adapter is supported on AIX Version 4.2 (and later) systems.
The ISA adapters contain 128K of dual-ported high-speed Random Access Memory (RAM) used for program code and data buffering. The asynchronous ports are run by a 32-bit 16 MHz IDT 3041 processor that supports throughput speeds of 115Kbps.
The 3041 processor and dual-ported RAM help to offload much of the character processing from the system. Large blocks of data are transferred directly to the adapter, and then sent out on serial ports one character at a time.
The dual-ported RAM is accessible for read and write operations by both the adapter and the computer. The computer sees the dual ported RAM as its own memory and accesses it using the same high-speed memory referencing commands it uses for internal memory.
The 8-port EIA 232 ISA adapter supports EIA 232 devices only. This adapter requires the device package devices.isa.cxia to be installed on the system. This adapter is supported on AIX Version 4.1 and later.
The 8-port EIA 232/422 ISA adapter supports EIA 232 and EIA 422 devices. Both device types may be configured in any combination on a per-port basis. This adapter requires the device package devices.isa.pc8s to be installed on the system. This adapter is supported on AIX Version 4.2 and later.
The 8-port EIA 232/422 PCI adapter supports EIA 232 and EIA 422 devices. Both device types may be configured in any combination on a per port basis. This adapter requires the device package devices.pci.4f111100 to be installed on the system. This adapter is supported on AIX Version 4.2 and later.
All of the above packages require the devices.common.IBM.cx package.
ISA adapters cannot be autodetected by AIX and must be manually installed. PCI adapters are autodetected and installed by AIX, but can also be added later.
The following sections contain detailed information about the 8-Port asynchronous ISA/PCI adapters: