Perle Dial-out Client for Linux - README file

The Perle Dial-out Client for Linux allows access to the dial-out feature
of Perle remote access server products.  When installed on a linux machine,
it communicates with a Perle server using TCP/IP.  It allows a server modem
to be used to dial out and communicate as if the modem were attached to a
local serial port.  The remote modem will be accessed as character device
/dev/ttyUx where x is the port number that is configured.

The package consists of a kernel patch and RPMs as follows:

perle-2.patches.tgz

   A gzipped tar containing kernel patches for various currently used
   kernels.  Each patch updates make and configuration files and provides
   source and documentation for a kernel driver called ussp (user space
   serial port).  This driver allows special serial ports to be controlled
   by a daemon running in user space.


perle_dialout-dynamic-x.x-x.i386.rpm
perle_dialout-static-x.x-x.i386.rpm

   (x.x-x will be replaced with the version number)

   Only one of these is required.  They contain a daemon that runs in user
   space to handle the port(s), an X program for configuration, and an X
   program that shows the state of the modem signals (like the LEDs on a
   real modem).

   The difference between the two packages is that the configurator in the
   dynamic one uses libraries from the Gnome desktop environment.  It
   should work if you have Gnome installed, or you install the required
   libraries.  The static package has the required library functions linked
   in, so it doesn't need the Gnome libraries.  The static configurator
   requires much more disk space and memory than the dynamic one, although
   memory should not be a problem because the configurator is not run
   continuously.

   The dynamic linked configurator is called perle_config.
   The static linked configurator is called perle_config-static.
   The user space daemon is called perle_dialout.
   Each of these programs will accept one optional parameter, which is the
   name of the configuration file.  If the parameter is not given the
   default file /etc/perle.cfg is used.

   The status monitor is called leds.  It requires one parameter which is
   the name of the character device. E.g.: leds /dev/ttyU0


perle_dialout-x.x-x.src.rpm

   (x.x-x will be replaced with the version number)

   The source RPM for perle_dialout-dynamic-x.x-x.i386.rpm and
   perle_dialout-static-x.x-x.i386.rpm


Usage:
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The online manual, available from the help menu of the configurator,
contains details of its use and the meaning of all of the settings.

Due to the protocol used between the linux client and the Perle server,
only one port at a time can be active between any given client/server pair
(based on their IP addresses).

In addition to patching the kernel and configuring the port(s), some special
character files need to be created. One for control:

   mknod /dev/ussp_ctl c 10 189

And one for each configured port:

   mknod /dev/ttyUx c 208 x  (replace x with the configured port number)

If the kernel driver is compiled as a loadable module it must be loaded
when required, either manually or automatically, using standard kernel
module functions.  The module will be called ussp.o

The user space daemon, perle_dialout, must be started to use the port(s).
Note that when perle_dialout is run it creates a separate process for each
configured port.  If the configuration is changed, the daemon process(es)
must be stopped and restarted so that the new configuration file will be
read and used.  The easiest way to stop them all is with the command:
killall perle_dialout

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