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        EXAR PCIe Multiport Device Driver Ver 1.0 Installation Guide
         for Linux Kernel 2.6.16 (Tested with Suse 10.1)
			Copyright (C) 2010, EXAR.
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Content

1. Introduction
2. System Requirement
3. Installation
4. Utilities
5. Setserial
6. Troubleshooting

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1. Introduction

   The PCIe Multiport serial driver Ver. 1.0, supports following multiport
   boards.

      - XR17V358 & XR17V4354 PCIe Multiport (8 Channels) Boards
      - XR17V354 PCIe Multiport (4 Channels) Boards
      - XR17V352 PCIe Multiport (2 Channels) Boards
      - XR17V4358 & XR17V8354 PCIe Multiport (12 Channels) Boards
      - XR17V8358 PCIe Multiport (16 Channels) Boards

   This driver and installation procedure have been developed upon Linux Kernel
   2.6.16 and tested with Suse 10.1.

   All the drivers and utilities are published in form of source code under
   GNU General Public License in this version. Please refer to GNU General
   Public License announcement in each source code file for more detail.

   This version of driver can be installed as Loadable Module (Module driver)
   or built-in into kernel (Static driver). You may refer to following
   installation procedure for suitable one. Before you install the driver,
   please refer to hardware installation procedure in the User's Manual.

   We assume the user should be familiar with following documents.
   - Serial-HOWTO
   - Kernel-HOWTO

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2. System Requirement
   - Hardware platform: Intel x86
   - Kernel version: 2.6.16
   - Maximum of 256 ports can be installed in any PCIe board combination
   - This driver has only been tested with Suse 10.1 and it is
     strongly recommended that the user do a complete install of all components
     to ensure that this driver works correctly.

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3. Installation

   3.1 Hardware installation
      
      You may need to adjust IRQ usage in BIOS to avoid IRQ conflict with legacy
      ISA devices. 

   3.2 Driver files and device naming convention

       The driver file may be obtained via email. The first step, anyway, is to
       copy driver file "xr17v35x-lnx2.6.16-pak.zip" into specified
       directory. e.g. /exar. The execute commands as below.

       # cd /exar
       # unzip xr17v35x-lnx2.6.16-pak.zip
    
       You may find all the driver and utilities files in /exar.

       Dialin and callout port
       -----------------------
       This driver creates traditional serial device names, "/dev/ttyXR0" onwards.

       Device naming when multiple boards are installed
       -----------------------------------------------
       Naming convention for each multiport board is pre-defined
       as below, assuming 2 XR17V358 boards, 1 XR17V354 board and
       1 XR17V352 board.

       Board Num.	 Port Name
       1st board (358)	ttyXR0  - ttyXR7
       2nd board (358)	ttyXR8  - ttyXR15
       3rd board (354)	ttyXR16 - ttyXR19
       4th board (352)	ttyXR24 - ttyXR25

   3.3 Module driver configuration
       
	1. Find "Makefile" in /exar, then run
	  # make
	  
          The driver file "xr17v35x.ko" will be properly compiled.
	  Then run

          # insmod xr17v35x.ko

	  to activate the module driver. You may run "lsmod" to check
          if "xr17v35x.ko" is activated.

       2. This module registers Exar PCIe ports as "/dev/ttyXR0", "/dev/ttyXR1", etc. Use "minicom" or your custom serial application to test the ports
   
   3.4 Verify driver installation
       You may refer to /var/log/messages to check the latest status
       log reported by this driver whenever it's activated.

4. Troubleshooting

   The boot time error mesages and solutions are stated as clearly as
   possible. If all the possible solutions fail, please contact our technical
   support team (uarttechsupport@exar.com) to get more help.
