Only internal cards that plug into an ISA or PCI slot are
supported. ISA Plug&Play cards are also supported, but need some additional
manual configuration by means of the isapnptools. For details on the
configuration see question
config_general_pnp
.
Right now there is a driver for all passive card with certain Siemens
chipsets (HiSax driver). Have a look at the README.HiSax that comes with
the driver for the most up to date information on supported cards.
Here the latest status (8th June 1999):
A few active cards that are also supported, see next question.
An active ISDN card handles most of the ISDN connection protocols (dialing, accepting calls, etc.) itself. The card includes a kind of minicomputer with its own software (firmware). With a passive card, the computer in which the card is installed has to perform these functions.
In principle, both types are supported by isdn4linux. However, since active cards have non-standard interfaces, a driver can only be made when the producer publishes the interface. Also, the card's firmware needs to be made freely available. In contrast, many passive cards share the same chipset. Therefore many passive cards can be supported once a driver supports this one chipset.
These active cards are currently supported by an individual driver:
The developers suggest to use ELSA cards. ELSA has made their specifications available to the developers, and provided a lot of support, resulting in an excellent driver. Also, their cards are certified for usage in Germany, see question country_certified .
No, but it doesn't need to. Terminal adapters are designed to behave either like a modem or like a network card. Linux already supports both modems and network cards without isdn4linux - so no special ISDN driver is necessary (which usually greatly simplifies the configuration).
On many PCI boards, interrupt 12 is often used by a PS/2 mouse (even though you may not have any or the IRQ is not activated for it). It may be used even when you have no PS/2 port. Interrupt 15 is also often used by the second IDE bus (even when you are not using it or the IRQ is not activated for it). Even though one thinks that some IRQs are available they are still somehow reserved by the BIOS. Good IRQs to try are always IRQ 5 and IRQ 9. Without mice or modems you could also try 4 and 3, which works even on very exotic boards.
Yes, most cards should run with isdn4linux on a DEC Alpha. Many cards have been reported to work with the HiSax driver. Also the active ICN card has been reported to work.
It depends on the availability of slots, interrupts/IO addresses in your computer as well as the possibilities of the ISDN card. Most passive cards are limited by the supported IO addresses (e.g.: Teles 16.x: only 3 addresses are legally possible), and the total usage of interrupts (every card needs one).
To use more cards, the ICN card may be your choice. It has no interrupts, a more flexible port configuration and the driver places the shared memory area of all ICN cards at the same address. The card memory is shown only as needed. Therefore, one can use as many cards are there are slots.
Telesī business practices are very customer- and developer-unfriendly when compared to those of other companies. Naturally, the developers give priority to cards for which support is available, and where the specifications are freely available.
So far, Teles has had a very unfriendly attitude towards the i4l developers. No support has ever been received from them, and they donīt publish any information about how to access their card. The developers have invested a lot of private effort into getting this card to work from the beginning without receiving any support. The driver has been a complete private effort. Yet, Teles has bragged on their web site that their cards run under Linux, without giving proper credit.
Even companies that buy Teles cards and resell them under their own name have not been able to improve the support. This has lead to the situation where a re-branding company (!) itself had to go through the effort of obtaining approval to legally use i4l in Germany on a Teles card.
From a customer point of view, check out the prices for their hotline before you buy any hardware from them! The author of the FAQ refuses to use any hotline that charges 216,- DM per hour. Reports about quality and waiting time have not always been favorable.
Warning: Teles has often changed their cards without notice, while still using the same name. When you buy a Teles card, you may find out that your brand-new card can not be supported by i4l!
The developers will try to support new Teles cards when information about how to access it becomes available, and when they have no other priorities. Of course you can always send a patch.
This was the first active card supported by isdn4linux. The manufacturer has
always supported i4l developers (
http://www.think.de/).
The ICN does not need any interrupt (polling), therefore a PC can be equipped
with many of them without any interrupt conflicts. The newest firmware should
be available at
ftp://ftp.think.de/pub/isdn4linux/firmware/.
Unfortunately, the ICN is not produced any more.
During booting a message "kernel: HSCX version A:5 B:5" and "kernel: channels 2" should appear. A:4 B:4 is also okay. Other values (in particular A:0 B:0 or A:f B:f) mean the card is not recognized correctly.
This behavior is typical for a cable with confused a/b wiring. Some NT from Quante had a wrong labeling. They caused exactly the mentioned behavior if the PBX was connected to the plug of the NT and the ISDN card to the pins of the NT. As soon as some device activates the bus the other one can no longer get through.
These blinking LEDS are often caused by a bad cable or a too long or unterminated SO bus.
Gernot Zander
hifi@scorpio.in-berlin.de wrote on 21 Jan 1997:
But only if for all devices a/b or a2/b2 are incorrect. When the
devices work individually, then the order of the receiving/
sending pair is correct.
Karsten Keil
keil@temic-ech.spacenet.de wrote on 21 Jan 1997:
I simply start with the Western plug: 4 lines are used:
| | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4Then I can try to switch 14 or 23 or both. Never switch the outer with the inner lines . (That would cross the RX and TX lines and nothing will work - Ed.)
Gernot Zander
hifi@scorpio.in-berlin.de added on 21 Jan 1997:
I'm assuming that you have connected the Teles not with the RJ45, but rather with a bus line attached to the NT. (?) Then open it up and switch a1 and b1. Try it out. If it doesn't work, put them back and switch a2 and b2. If it still doesn't work, try switching them both, although then I'd suspect that the RJ45 cable from the Telekom is crossed (which would then switch _both_). As long as {a|b}1 and {a|b}2 are kept, nothing can break. If you want to be sure, before plugging it in measure between pins 4 and 5 and between Pins 2 and 6 on the socket; there should be no current, but between 3 and 4 and between 6 and 5 should be 40 V, 6 and 3 positive
If both devices are attached via RJ45, then one of the cables has been twisted. That usually happens if one of the RJ45 plugs has been attached upside-down (a1/b1 are inside, a2/b2 are outside, so the order of the sending/receiving pairs is maintained), then you just need a new plug and of course pliers for the RJ45, old plug off, and new plug (in the right direction) on.
drauf.
Of course you can check the Cable FAQ and simply test everything with a multimeter.