2.1. Getting Acquainted with the Soekris 4521

Problem

You're not familiar with these little boards, and aren't sure where to start. How do you talk to it? What do you do with it?

Solution

It's easy. You will need:

Configure Minicom, connect the two machines, power up the Soekris, and you're ready.

Here are all the steps in detail. First, find out what physical serial ports your Linux box has:

	$ setserial -g /dev/ttyS[0123]
	/dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4
	/dev/ttyS1, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3
	/dev/ttyS2, UART: unknown, Port: 0x03e8, IRQ: 4
	/dev/ttyS3, UART: unknown, Port: 0x02e8, IRQ: 3

This PC has only one, which is the one with a UART value. If you have more than one, it will probably take a bit of trial and error to figure out which one is connected to the Soekris board.

Now, set up Minicom:

	# minicom -s
	------[configuration]------
	| Filenames and paths
	| File transfer protocols
	| Serial port setup
	| Modem and dialing
	| Screen and keyboard
	| Save setup as dfl
	| Save setup as..
	| Exit
	| Exit from Minicom
	---------------------------

Select "Serial port setup." Your settings should look just like this, except you need to enter your own serial port address. Soekris boards default to "Bps/Par/Bits 19200 8N1," no flow control:

	-------------------------------------------
	| A -    Serial Device      : /dev/ttyS0
	| B - Lockfile Location     : /var/lock
	| C -   Callin Program      :
	| D -  Callout Program      :
	| E -    Bps/Par/Bits       : 19200 8N1
	| F - Hardware Flow Control : No
	| G - Software Flow Control : No
	|
	|     Change which setting?
	-------------------------------------------

Next, select the "Modem and dialing" option, and make sure the "Init string" and "Reset string" settings are blank. Finally, select "Save setup as dfl" to make this the default, and then "Exit." This takes you back to the main Minicom screen:

	Welcome to minicom 2.1

	OPTIONS: History Buffer, F-key Macros, Search History Buffer, I18n
	Compiled on Nov 5 2005, 15:45:44.

	Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys
	Now power up the Soekris, and you'll see something like this:
	comBIOS ver. 1.15 20021013 Copyright (C) 2000-2002 Soekris Engineering.

	net45xx

	0064 Mbyte Memory                      CPU 80486 133 Mhz

	PXE-M00: BootManage UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)

	Slot   Vend Dev  ClassRev Cmd  Stat CL LT HT Base1    Base2    Int
	-------------------------------------------------------------------
	0:00:0 1022 3000 06000000 0006 2280 00 00 00 00000000 00000000 00
	0:16:0 168C 0013 02000001 0116 0290 10 3C 00 A0000000 00000000 10
	0:17:0 104C AC51 06070000 0107 0210 10 3F 82 A0010000 020000A0 11
	0:17:1 104C AC51 06070000 0107 0210 10 3F 82 A0011000 020000A0 11
	0:18:0 100B 0020 02000000 0107 0290 00 3F 00 0000E101 A0012000 05
	0:19:0 100B 0020 02000000 0107 0290 00 3F 00 0000E201 A0013000 09

	4 Seconds to automatic boot.   Press Ctrl-P for entering Monitor.

Boot into the comBIOS by pressing Ctrl-P:

	comBIOS Monitor.   Press ? for help.

	>

	Go ahead and hit ? to see the Help. You'll get a list of commands:

	comBIOS Monitor Commands

	boot [drive][:partition] INT19 Boot
	reboot                   cold boot
	download                 download a file using XMODEM
	flashupdate              update flash BIOS with downloaded file
	time [HH:MM:SS]          show or set time
	date [YYYY/MM/DD]        show or set date
	d[b|w|d] [adr]           dump memory (bytes/words/dwords)
	e[b|w|d] adr value [...] enter bytes/words/dwords
	i[b|w|d] port            input from 8/16/32-bit port
	o[b|w|d] port value      output to 8/16/32-bit port
	cmosread [adr]           read CMOS RAM data
	cmoswrite adr byte [...] write CMOS RAM data
	cmoschecksum             update CMOS RAM Checksum
	set parameter=value      set system parameter to value
	show [parameter]         show one or all system parameters
	?/help                   show this help

Go ahead and set the time and date. Other than that, there's not much to do until we install the operating system.

If you do not have a CF card installed, a Soekris board will automatically boot to the comBIOS menu.

Discussion

You don't have to use a Linux machine as the serial terminal; using Hyperterminal from a Windows machine works fine, too. Other Unix serial communication programs are cu, tip, and Kermit. Kermit is fun if you want a versatile program that does everything except cook dinner. Mac OS X users might try Minicom, which is in Dar-win Ports, or ZTerm.

See Also

The documentation for your routerboard: