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Date:      Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:58:14 -0800
From:      Jeremy Chadwick <freebsd@jdc.parodius.com>
To:        freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: PUC Serial I/O problem - copy of gnats-filed bug report (as discussed previously)
Message-ID:  <20091129205814.GB77530@icarus.home.lan>
In-Reply-To: <4B11EDDD.8060108@denninger.net>
References:  <4B100262.6000900@denninger.net> <4B102059.6040003@denninger.net> <20091127190319.GA12437@icarus.home.lan> <4B102C41.6040205@denninger.net> <4B11EDDD.8060108@denninger.net>

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On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 09:43:25PM -0600, Karl Denninger wrote:
> Karl Denninger wrote:
> > Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
> >   
> >> On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 12:54:17PM -0600, Karl Denninger wrote:
> >>   
> >>     
> >>> For what its worth, USB-based serial adapters also fail in the same way,
> >>> but faster (they have NEVER been reliable in this regard, and this
> >>> hasn't improved)
> >>>     
> >>>       
> >> There must be a regression of some kind, given that some FreeBSD
> >> developers have stated in the past that FTDI-based USB serial adapters
> >> work great:
> >>
> >> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2008-March/041615.html
> >>
> >> Original thread:
> >>
> >> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2008-March/041610.html
> >>   
> >>     
> > I don't know where "works great" has come from.  Certainly not my
> > experience in "heavy" use.
> >
> > For non-modem-control heavy use, it works ok.  I use an 8-port fanout on
> > 7.x to drive process control and it's stable.
> >
> > However, for heavy modem use (e.g. Hylafax) it has NEVER been stable -
> > although in 8.x it won't even manage to send ONE 10-page fax most of the
> > time, where under 7.x it would randomly fail in that use.  Then again
> > the puc() driver based serial I/O was completely stable under 7.x and
> > now, with the "new architecture" it will get one or two jobs through it
> > before it blows up.
> >
> > -- Karl
> >   
> FYI I downgraded back to 7.2-STABLE (it was a bit hairy but I got it to
> work after a small amount of screwing around) via sources
> and again the machine and those serial ports are 100% stable with the
> old driver infrastructure.
> 
> The uart() infrastructure in 8.x has to be considered broken and
> unusable for modems at this point folks.  I recognize that nobody
> flagged it until just before the release (I hadn't tried it until RC2,
> and thus didn't know) but this is a literal dagger in the heart of
> anyone who needs to put an actual modem on an 8.x box using the common
> cards out there, and I assume it will bite just as hard for things like
> a dial-in console as it will for a fax server.

Karl,

I agree with you in this regard.  However, I'm not sure what to
recommend to you with regards to getting this issue the proper attention
it needs.  I fully agree with the Severity (serious) and Priority
(high) of the PR:

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=i386/140947

Ed Schouten appears to be giving this attention, but I'd recommend that
Email communication include marcel@FreeBSD.org, "just in case" it turns
out that puc(4) needs some changes.  I'm certain Ed will do his best to
assist tracking this one down.  :-)

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                   jdc@parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |



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