Introduction
The instructions below are designed to assist users with the software installation of WhiteHEAT USB serial adapters under a Linux platform. Although this document has been specifically written for Red Hat distributions (2.4.X kernels), it will apply for other Linux distributions as well.
NOTE: To perform the installation, please be sure you are logged in as root.
To make the installation instructions easy to follow, all commands given on the command line are written in bold text. Before beginning the software installation procedure, please be sure to carefully read the WhiteHEAT User’s Manual that came with the host adapter for hardware installation/configuration instructions.
Driver Installation
This section briefly describes what you will need to successfully install the WhiteHEAT USB multiport serial adapter in a Linux environment. There are several ways that you may obtain the necessary files for the installation:
– Linux driver CD that comes with the WhiteHEAT USB serial adapter will have all the files necessary to complete the installation.
– You can download a .tar.gz file which contains all of the necessary files from the Connect Tech website: https://connecttech.com/asp/Support/DownloadZone.asp
Before we begin the installation, you will need to copy the install package to a directory on your system. It is suggested that you copy the file to a /usr directory. You should place the files in an empty directory, or a newly created directory. The directory that you chose to copy the files to will be referenced by {direct}.
Once you have all of the files from the driver diskette will be located in the {direct} directory, you have to unzip them:
cd {direct}
tar -xzvf WH-LN24-*.tar.gz
Where * is the current release version of the driver package.
At this point, it is strongly recommended that you back up your kernel, as well as any serial source trees before applying the patch.
NOTE: The following patch was made for the 2.4.28 kernel. If any parts (hunks) of the patch fail, or if you need to use other versions which would not work, please contact Connect Tech support at [email protected]
NOTE: 2.4.11 and 2.4.15 are known to be bad. These kernels are not supported.
You should have the linux kernel source in a subdirectory. This is usually /usr/src/linux but may be different for your system. This directory will be referenced by {linux}. To patch the kernel, issue the following commands:
cd {linux}
patch -p1 < ../usbserial.patch
After you have patched your kernel, you need to replace the standard kernel WhiteHEAT driver.
cd ./drivers/usb/serial tar -xvf {direct}/WH_Driver_v*.tar
At this point all required files should be in your kernel source tree and you are ready to configure and compile your kernel.
Configuring the Kernel
We will configure the kernel to ensure that we have the appropriate settings needed to support the WhiteHEAT serial adapter on your system.
# cd {Linux}
# make mrproper
At this point, you have a choice of two configuration utilities that you can use to configure your kernel. One utility, named config, is text based, and the other, named menuconfig, has a simple GUI (Graphical User Interface). The menuconfig utility is easier to use than config, so unless you have specific reasons use the menuconfig utility.
To use the menuconfig / config utility:
make menuconfig
Or
make config
Once the configuration utility you choose is running, make sure that the following options are selected. Below shows the setting that must be enabled using the menuconfig and config utilities.
You’ll need all of the following options:
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL
(USB support -> USB Serial Converter support -> USB Serial Converter support)
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_WHITEHEAT
(USB support -> USB Serial Converter support -> USB Serial Converter support -> USB ConnectTech WhiteHEAT Serial Driver)
NOTE: You only need ONE of the following drivers.
CONFIG_USB_UHCI_ALT
(USB support -> UHCI Alternate Driver (JE) support)
CONFIG_USB_UHCI
(USB support -> UHCI (Intel PIIX4, VIA, …) support (NEW)
CONFIG_USB_OHCI
(USB support -> OHCI (Compaq, iMacs, OPTi, SiS, ALi, …) support)
After all of the options have been checked and enabled, select exit. You will be prompted to save the new kernel configuration. Select yes. After you have finished configuring your kernel, issue the two following commands:
make dep
make clean
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
Building/Installing the Kernel
The “make bzImage” step created the kernel in the subdirectory {Linux}/arch/< cpu type >/boot. If you don’t know what cpu type you’re using, you can find the new kernel by:
ls -l {Linux}/arch/*/boot/bzImage
The < cpu type > is the “*” part of the pathname of the newest kernel.
/arch/ < cpu type > /boot will be referenced by {arch}.
cp {Linux}/{arch}/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-cti
cp {Linux}/System.map /boot/System.map-cti
You may choose any postfix, -cti is a handy one