=============================================================================

        EXAR PCI-ISA 18x Device Driver Ver 1.0 Installation Guide
         for Linux Kernel 2.6.18 (Tested with openSuse 10.2)
			Copyright (C) 2007, EXAR.
=============================================================================
Content

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction

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

      - 181 - Vendor ID:0x13a9 Device ID: 0x181 - Number of ports 1 - 16550 based UART
      - 182 - Vendor ID:0x13a9 Device ID: 0x182 - Number of ports 2 - 16550 based UART

   This driver and installation procedure have been developed upon Linux Kernel
   2.6.18 and tested with Suse 10.2

   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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. System Requirement
   - Hardware platform: Intel x86
   - Kernel version: 2.6.18
   - This driver has only been tested with openSuse 10.2 and it is
     strongly recommended that the user do a complete install of all components
     to ensure that this driver works correctly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 "xrpci18x-lnx2.6.18-pak.tar.gz" into specified
       directory. e.g. /exar. The execute commands as below.

       # cd /exar
       # tar -zxvpf  xrpci18x-lnx2.6.18-pak.tar.gz
    
       You may find all the driver and utilities files in /exar.

       Dialin and callout port
       -----------------------
       This driver remains traditional serial device properties. There're
       two special file name for each serial port.

       Device naming when multiple boards are installed
       -----------------------------------------------
       Naming convention for each multiport board is pre-defined
       as below, assuming XRPCI182 and XRPCI181 boards

       Board Num.	 Port Name
       1st board (182)	ttyXR0  - ttyXR1
       2nd board (181)	ttyXR2


   3.3 Module driver configuration
       
	1. Find "Makefile" in /exar, then run
	  # make
	  
	  Install the object file in the appropriate directory by running the
	  following command:
	   
	 # insmod xrpci18x.ko

	  to activate the module driver. You may run "lsmod" to check
          if "xrpci18x.ko" is activated.

       2. Check if xrpci18x.ko has been activated, by issuing the
	  "lsmod" command.


   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.


   3.5 Verify the ports
       Use a test application like 'minicom' to test the ports.

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.
