Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): $5.00 | Rating: 10
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Kernel (uname -r):
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2.6.26
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Distribution:
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Slackware 11
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Pretty basic setup: I installed the card, then made sure that the kernel config had support for serial port(s), and specified that the kernel should initialize 3 serial ports at runtime (the card plus my built-in port).
The driver used is called 'serial', so if you have that support enabled, you should have no troubles.
Upon booting, my AMI BIOS sees the card and identifies it by name in POST, and Linux assigns ttyS1 and ttyS2 to the cards ports.
Seems to work as it should.
UPDATE MARCH 2009: Once I finally got around to setting up minicom so that I could communicate via serial between two machines here, I found that communication did not go as planned, and the serial ports on the card were acting weird; also, minicom was hanging for a long time upon exit when it tried to 'hang up'. It seems that the Linux serial driver does not drive this card as it should, at least not in my machine; I don't know why.
Eventually I had to download the Quatech driver for the card which is offered free on their website.
It is available in two linux configurations, one for Fedora and one for RedHat (as I recall), the major differences being the accompanying installation scripts included with the driver.
The scripts and accompanying files are poorly written (sloppy) and though I did convert/modify them to work on Slackware, they ultimately weren't needed anyway; nor were the little GUI tool(s) also included with the driver tarball for configuring special capabilities of the Quatech card (this card has none).
I compiled the driver (make) and copied it into my /lib/modules/kernel/serial/.. area and put some lines in my rc.local script to look for and modprobe it at boot. All has been well ever since.
Also, FWIW, the technical support/customer service offered by Quatech was pleasing.
I still recommend the card.
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