Standard PC serial boards (COM1 - COM4) can be used to, to connect
external serial devices (modems, serial mice, etc...). Since PC's no
longer come with them (but have the chips for this purpose mounted on
the motherboard), they are hard to find in retail stores. An internal
modem for the ISA bus may include a built-in serial port.
Note: due to address conflicts, you cannot use COM4 and IBM8514 video
board (or clones) simultaneously. This is due to a bug in the IBM8514
board.
Sealevel Systems
COMM-2 (2 ports), COMM-4 (4 ports) and COMM-8 (8 ports)
SIIG I/O Expander 2S IO1812 (4 ports)
STB-4COM (4 ports)
Twincom ACI/550
Usenet Serial Board II (4 ports) *
In general, Linux will support any serial board which uses a 8250,
16450, 16550, 16550A, 16650 (or compatible) UART, or an
internal modem which emulates one of the above UARTs.
Note: the BB-1004 and BB-1008 do not support DCD and
RI lines, and thus are not usable for dialin modems. They will
work fine for all other purposes. Hayes ESP is supported after
kernel version 2.1.15.
Computone IntelliPort II (16MHz 80186; 4, 8, or 16 ports),
IntelliPort II EXpandable (20MHz 80186; 16 - 64 ports)
contact: Michael H. Warfield,
driver status: pre-ALPHA
Cyclades Cyclom-Y (Cirrus Logic CD1400 UARTs; 8 - 32 ports),
Cyclom-Z (25MHz MIPS R3000; 8 - 128 ports)
contact: or
http://www.cyclades.com
driver status: supported by Cyclades
driver location: ftp://ftp.cyclades.com/pub/cyclades and included in Linux
kernel since version 1.1.75
Digi PC/Xi (12.5MHz 80186; 4, 8, or 16 ports),
PC/Xe (12.5/16MHz 80186; 2, 4, or 8 ports),
PC/Xr (16MHz IDT3041; 4 or 8 ports),
PC/Xem (20MHz IDT3051; 8 - 64 ports)
contact: or http://www.dgii.com
driver status: supported by Digi
driver location: ftp://ftp.dgii.com/drivers/linux and
included in Linux kernel since version 2.0
Digi COM/Xi (10MHz 80188; 4 or 8 ports)
contact: Simon Park,
driver status: ALPHA
note: Simon is often away from email for months at a time due to
his job. Mark Hatle, has graciously
volunteered to make the driver available if you need it. Mark
is not maintaining or supporting the driver.
Hayes ESP (COM-bic; 1 - 8 ports)
contact: Andrew J. Robinson, or
http://www.nyx.net/~arobinso
driver status: Will be supported by Linux kernel (1998). Also supported
by author
driver location: http://www.nyx.net/~arobinso and included in Linux
kernel since version 2.1.15. Setserial 2.15+ supports.
Stallion EasyIO-4 (4 ports), EasyIO-8 (8 ports), and
EasyConnection (8 - 32 ports) - each with
Cirrus Logic CD1400 UARTs,
Stallion (8MHz 80186 CPU; 8 or 16 ports),
Brumby (10/12 MHz 80186 CPU; 4, 8 or 16 ports),
ONboard (16MHz 80186 CPU; 4, 8, 12, 16 or 32 ports),
EasyConnection 8/64 (25MHz 80186 CPU; 8 - 64 ports)
contact: or
http://www.stallion.com
driver status: supported by Stallion
driver location: ftp://ftp.stallion.com/drivers/ata5/Linux and
included in linux kernel since 1.3.27
A review of Comtrol, Cyclades, Digi, and Stallion products was printed
in the June 1995 issue of the Linux Journal. The article is
available at http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue14.