                      Release Notes PN 93000511_A

               Digi DGAP (EPCA) PCI Driver Package for Linux
                            dgap-1.1-1.i386.rpm

                       Tested Linux Distributions:
                    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3
                       Red Hat Linux 7.2, 7.3, 8, 9
                           Fedora Core 1, Core 2
                       Mandrake 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2
                            SuSE 8.1, 8.2, 9.0
                               Debian 3.0.r1

                         Linux Kernels supported:
                            2.4.x (UP and SMP)
                            2.6.x (UP and SMP)

                       RPM Part Number 40002347_A

                              04/14/2004


  CONTENTS
                    
  Section    Description
  1          Introduction
  2          Supported Products
  3          Enhancements
  4          Bug Fixes
  5          Known Limitations
  6          Additional Information
  7          History


  1. INTRODUCTION

     This Digi software package includes device drivers for the
     Acceleport Xr PCI, Acceleport Xr 920 PCI, Acceleport Xem PCI,
     Acceleport C/X PCI, and Acceleport EPC/X PCI families of adapters.

     It is currently supported on the following hardware platforms:

     o Standard i386/i486 and Pentium PC (x86 32bit)
     o x86 64bit

     and is currently supported on the following Linux distributions:

     o Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3
     o Red Hat Linux 7.2, 7.3, 8, 9
     o Fedora Core 1, Core 2
     o Mandrake 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2
     o SuSE 8.1, 8.2, 9.0
     o Debian 3.0.r1

     NOTE: Because of the rapid rate of releases from each respective
           Vendor, the tested/supported list above quickly becomes
           out of date.

           This driver package has been tested and verified working
           for kernels up to and including version 2.4.26 and
           2.6.5 from kernel.org.

           It is anticipated that this driver will work with Vendor
           kernel releases of up to 2.4.26 and 2.6.5,
           but cannot be guarenteed because each respective Vendor can,
           and does, add their own various changes/patches to the stock
           kernel.org kernel.

           These additional Vendor patches to the stock kernel.org
           linux kernel can cause unforeseen incompatibilities with
           this driver.

     Please reference the following number(s) when searching the Digi
     International web site (www.digi.com) or ftp site (ftp.digi.com)
     for the latest software package:

     RPM Part Number: 40002347_A


  2. SUPPORTED PRODUCTS
     
     Card Model               Number of Ports      Interface
     ----------------------------------------------------------------
     Acceleport Xem           4 - 64              (EIA232 & EIA422)
     Acceleport Xr            4 & 8               (EIA232)
     Acceleport Xr 920        4 & 8               (EIA232)
     Acceleport C/X           8 - 128             (EIA232)
     Acceleport EPC/X         8 - 224             (EIA232)
     Acceleport Xr/422        4 & 8               (EIA422)
     Acceleport 2r/920        2                   (EIA232)
     Acceleport 4r/920        4                   (EIA232)
     Acceleport 8r/920        8                   (EIA232)
    
     IBM 8-Port Asynchronous PCI Adapter          (EIA232)
     IBM 128-Port Asynchronous PCI Adapter        (EIA232 & EIA422)


  3. ENHANCEMENTS

     o Initial Release.


  4. BUG FIXES

     o Initial Release.


  5. KNOWN LIMITATIONS
     
     o The driver currently supports a maximum of 32 adapters.

     o To build the dgap driver you must have first loaded the
       kernel source tree for your target kernel.

       To verify that you have matching kernel source, run
       "/bin/uname -r" and check to make sure the /usr/src
       directory has the corresponding linux-<version> directory.

       If you are running a prebuilt kernel from a packaged
       distribution, this typically involves loading the
       kernel sources from your distribution CD to your system,
       then using the following commands to do the following:

       1. cd /usr/src/linux-<your_version_of_the_kernel>
       2. make mrproper           Clean up any old version files.
       3. make oldconfig          Make a configuration file to match
                                  your running kernel.
       4. make dep                Create the dependency and version
                                  files.

       Now you can load and build the dgap driver package.


  6.   ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
       
     o The tty naming convention for this driver has changed
       from the old "epca" version of this driver.

       The new naming convention is the following:

            /dev/dg/dgap/tty<x><yy>
            /dev/tty<x><yy>

                 where <x> is the tty letter or prefix that was
                 selected during initial configuration, and <yy> is
                 the port number, starting at "01", and moves upwards.
       
     o This driver is distributed both as a source RPM and as a
       compressed tar file of the source.

     o If you install the source RPM version of the source, it is
       usually as easy as running the following:

           1. rpmbuild --rebuild 40002347_A.srpm
           2. rpm -i dgap-1.1-1.i386.rpm

     o If you install the compresed tar version of the source, it is
       usually as easy as running the following:

           1. tar xvfz 40002347_A.tgz
           2. cd ./dgap-1.1
           3. ./configure
           4. make all
           5. make install
           6. make postinstall

     o Occasionally, a Linux Vendor will ship a kernel that simply
       cannot be autodetected to add the various changes that might
       be required for that specific kernel.
       Because of this, there is an option that can be used for both
       the srpm and tgz to tell the driver package exactly what
       distribution you have.

       Currently, the only needed and recognized option is for
       Red Hat AS/ES/WS 3 and Red Hat Fedora (Red Hat 10)
       The flags are:
            REDHAT_AS_3 / REDHAT_ES_3 / REDHAT_WS_3
            FEDORA

       Examples:

       To tell the srpm that you have Red Hat AS 3, run this command instead:

            o rpmbuild --rebuild --define DISTRO=REDHAT_AS_3 40002347_A.srpm

       To tell the tgz that you have Red Hat AS 3, run this during the
       "configure" phase: 
       
            o ./configure DISTRO=REDHAT_AS_3

     o In order to make the driver available for use, users must
       cause the driver to be loaded.
       This can be accomplished on Red Hat distributions by doing a
       "chkconfig --add dgap" to enable the driver rc scripts for
       start and stop at system reboot and shutdown.
       On other distributions, users should link the
       /etc/rc.d/init.d/dgap script as appropriate.

     o Once the above step is done, to load the driver either run
       the script manually ("/etc/rc.d/init.d/dgap start")
       or reboot the system.

     o This package includes several support utilites:

            o dinc                  - a cu/tip replacement.
            o ditty                 - an stty replacement.
            o dpa.dgap              - a Curses-based port
                                      monitoring/testing utility.

    o A copy of these release notes can be found in
          /etc/dgap/relnotes.txt after the package is installed.

    o When upgrading this driver, be sure to remove the old driver
      package first.
      If using the RPM based install, "rpm -e dgap" can be used.
      If using the compressed tar version of the driver,
      run "make uninstall" if the original source tree still exists.


  7. HISTORY

     o Initial Release.
