> > I was considering buying the StarTech TC-200-S6 for my Linux box,
> but when
> > I looked in the serial driver for how to set the speed to 230Kb, I
> noticed
> > the following comment on line 1244 of linux-2.0/drivers/char/serial.c
> >
> > * On the 16650, we disable the FIFOs altogether
> > * because of a design bug in how the implement
> > * things. We could support it by completely changing
> > * how we handle the interrupt driver, but not today....
>
> The first release 16550 was well, buggy to say the least. the ONLY way
> you could get around this is by disabling the FIFO, or well, replacing
> it with a 16550A.
16-six-50 not 16550. It's supposed to have a 32-byte FIFO, which I guess
could reduce the number of interrupts necessary to service a high-speed data
stream.
> Hmm, I 'haul ass' at 115K tho :-)
Well, I have a 16550A (on some rinky-dink card that came with a Broca
modem) which I plug my BSPro into. The best I get is 9.1KB/sec FTPs. My
friend with a CISCO gets 14KB FTPs. Hell, I hooked my two linux boxes
back-to-back and got 4KB/sec at 115.2KB DTE.
I'm not quite sure whether to blame my serial port or my kernel (2.0.20).
Given that the serial port performs worse when talking to another Linux box,
I'm blaming the kernel today.
I don't feel like ordering a $42 card just to play motherboard slot
roulette, find out it doesn't help, and then bother the poor vendor with an
"unsatisfied" return. It's not even worth that much hassle to annoy a
vendor I hate.