The easiest way to reliably use Serial port within the local network is to use RS-232/422/485 NPort Device Server produced by Moxa company. I will shortly describe how to install NPort 5110 (1-port RS-232 serial device server) on Debian Wheezy.
Step 1
Connect device to the network, change default device IP address (192.168.127.254) and operation mode to the Real COM mode.
Step 2
Identify device model, open product web-page NPort 5110, then click Drivers and Software link and download NPort Real TTY Driver for Linux.
Step 3
Extract downloaded source code.
$ tar xfvz npreal2_1.18_Build_12020919.tgz
Carefully read manual text file.
$ less tmp/moxa/README.TXT
Change working directory.
$ cd tmp/moxa
Build and install software.
$ sudo ./mxinst =============================================================================== Copyright (C) 2002-2012 Moxa Inc. All Rights Reserved. MOXA NPort Server Real TTY Driver V1.18 Installation. System Information: Kernel 3.2.0-4-amd64; Machine x86_64. =============================================================================== Tar files, please wait ... OK! Building driver... If you want to use secure communication with target, you might choose [y] to enable the SSL function. Note: This function support RealCOM with secure mode only. Do you want to enable secure function? [y/N]. make -C /lib/modules/3.2.0-4-amd64/build SUBDIRS=/home/milosz/tmp/moxa modules make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-4-amd64' CC [M] /home/milosz/tmp/moxa/npreal2.o Building modules, stage 2. MODPOST 1 modules CC /home/milosz/tmp/moxa/npreal2.mod.o LD [M] /home/milosz/tmp/moxa/npreal2.ko make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-4-amd64' cp -p npreal2.ko /lib/modules/3.2.0-4-amd64/kernel/drivers/char/ depmod -a cc -c npreal2d.c cc npreal2d.o -o npreal2d strip npreal2d cc -c redund_main.c cc -c redund.c cc redund_main.o redund.o -lpthread -o npreal2d_redund strip npreal2d_redund cc -o mxaddsvr mxaddsvr.c strip mxaddsvr cc -o mxdelsvr mxdelsvr.c strip mxdelsvr cc -o mxcfmat mxcfmat.c strip mxcfmat cc -o mxloadsvr mxloadsvr.c strip mxloadsvr cc -o mxsetsec mxsetsec.c strip mxsetsec Check Driver... Copying configurations files ... OK! Copying driver files ... OK! Load driver... OK! Loading TTY Driver... update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing Complete. =============================================================================== Installation process is completed. The all driver files are installed on /usr/lib/npreal2/driver. Now you can cd /usr/lib/npreal2/driver and run ./mxaddsvr to add tty port. ===============================================================================
You will find similar entry in dmesg output.
[ 1563.248831] MOXA Async/NPort server family Real TTY driver ttymajor 33 calloutmajor 38 verbose 1 (1.18 Build 12020919)
Step 4
To add first serial port on the 192.168.1.228 NPort device execute the following command.
$ sudo /usr/lib/npreal2/driver/mxaddsvr 192.168.1.228 1 Adding Server... ttyr00, cur00 Added RealCom server: ip : 192.168.1.228 mknod -m 666 ttyr00 c 33 0 mknod -m 666 cur00 c 38 0 update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing Complete.
Now you can use /dev/ttyr00 device.
Potential problems
I have encountered problem with init script on Debian Wheezy but it can be quickly solved by executing /etc/init.d/npreals script from the /etc/rc.local shell script or by modifying mxloadsrv source code to create proper init script.
Notes
Configuration file is stored in the /usr/lib/npreal2/driver/npreal2d.cf text file.
$ cat /usr/lib/npreal2/driver/npreal2d.cf #=========================================================# # This configuration file is created by Moxa NPort # # Administrator Program automatically, please do not # # modify this file by yourself. # #=========================================================# ttymajor=3 calloutmajor=38 #[Minor] [ServerIP] [data] [cmd] [FIFO] [SSL] [ttyName] [coutName] [interface][mode][BackIP] 0 192.168.1.228 950 966 1 0 ttyr00 cur00 0 0 (null)
To remove server use mxdelsrv command.
$ sudo /usr/lib/npreal2/driver/mxdelsvr 192.168.1.228 Delete Server ... rm -f /dev/ttyr00 rm -f /dev/cur00 update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing Deleted server: 192.168.1.228 update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing Complete.
To uninstall driver use mxuinst command.
$ sudo /usr/lib/npreal2/driver/mxuninst Driver Removal ... update-rc.d: using dependency based boot sequencing Complete
It is worth to note that Moxa provides also wide range of different products for industrial networking and automation.
Important note – 2015/08/19
Please contact your local Moxa distributor for an updated driver.
You will receive current (some kind of beta version, not official) driver, but it will work on Debian Jessie kernel 3.16.