After installing the Serial Parallel Controller card and device driver, connect peripheral devices to your card. This chapter explains how to use the Serial Parallel Controller to connect terminals, modems, or printers to your SBus- based SPARC desktop system.
Before you begin, make sure you have a #1 Phillips screwdriver.
To connect peripheral devices, complete the following steps explained in this chapter:
You can mount your patch panel on a desktop, rack, or wall. If you wish to create a service area to stack several Serial Parallel Controller patch panels on a rack or wall, you can use the rack or wall mounting brackets. The following figure shows a service area containing several patch panels mounted to the wall with wall mounting brackets.
Figure 4-1 Serial Parallel Controller Wall Service Area
If you wish to mount your patch panel on a rack or wall instead of the desktop, follow the instructions for one of the two following mounting methods.
This prevents cables from chafing against the metal edges of the brackets.
Rack Mounting Brackets (2)
Figure 4-3 Wall Mounting Brackets (2)
The following figures show the pinouts for the serial and parallel ports on your patch panel. For more information about your device driver, see the Serial Parallel Controller Man Page, located in /usr/man/man4/spc.4s on most systems. To view the Man Page, type man spc and press the Return key.
Figure 4-4 Serial Port (Active Pins Highlighted)
Figure 4-5 Parallel Port (Active Pins Highlighted)
After mounting the patch panel, use the 96-pin shielded cable to connect the patch panel and your Serial Parallel Controller card. The following figure shows how to connect the patch panel and a card installed in SBus slot 2 on a SPARCstation 1+. You can insert your card into any available SBus slot. SBus slot 3 normally contains a frame buffer card.
To connect the patch panel and your card:
Figure 4-6 Connecting the Patch Panel and Card
The 9.84-feet (3 m) 96-pin shielded cable supplied by Sun conforms to engineering and safety standards. It is long enough to meet the needs of most users. If you have special cable length requirements for your installation, ask your Sun sales representative about alternative cables. The cable length cannot exceed 25-feet (7.6 m).
The remainder of this chapter explains how to connect terminals, modems, and printers to the Serial Parallel Controller card. Follow the instructions for the type of peripheral device you wish to connect.
Consult the manual for your particular terminal, modem, or printer for information about what it can do and how to use it. Please have the manual for your peripheral device available for reference.
The procedures explained in the remaining sections of this chapter assume you have correctly installed the following hardware and software on your system:
The Serial Parallel Controller supports SBus-based SPARC desktop systems, as well as most popular ASCII-based terminals such as Wyse-compatible terminals.
See the manual for your terminal to learn how to set it up for operation. Locate the power switch on your terminal and turn it to the off position.
Plug the cable into the serial port on your terminal. The serial port on a Wyse-compatible terminal requires a male connector. See the manual for your terminal for the location of the serial port.
For information about null modem cables, see Appendix D.
The following figure shows how to connect a terminal to your patch panel. The figure shows a patch panel connected to a card in SBus slot 2 of a SPARCstation 1+. You can insert your card into any available SBus slot. SBus slot 3 normally contains a frame buffer card.
Figure 4-7 Connecting a Terminal
Wyse-compatible terminals have a setup menu that allows you to control how your terminal operates. The setup options control features which you need to adjust only once. See the manual for your terminal to learn how to access the setup menu.
After accessing the setup menu, set the following options:
After connecting, powering up, and configuring your terminal, you must inform your system about the new device. Your device driver needs to know where to send the data that you want to display on the terminal, and where to look for the data that you want to type from the keyboard of your terminal.
Edit the /etc/ttytab file to set up the tty ports for your device driver. To edit this file, you must be superuser. Add the following lines to the file using vi or another text editor of your choice:
You must edit several other files which define the terminal to your system. To edit these files, you must also be superuser.
Edit the /usr/etc/stc/stc_defaults file using vi or another text editor of your choice. This file allows you to turn port settings on and off. Choose the port(s) to which you wish to connect your terminal. For each port, determine the device name for the port and change the default line to ttyzn:dtr_assert:soft_carrier: where n is the number of the port as in the following example.
You can change the default settings for your terminal in this file by configuring serial and parallel ports.
After editing your stc_defaults file, type /usr/etc/stc/stc_defs and press the Return key. This command applies the new settings you specify in the stc_defaults file to the serial and parallel ports controlled by your device driver. To enable login to the ports you configured, type kill -1 1 and press the Return key.
For more information about connecting terminals to your system, see System & Network Administration.
The Serial Parallel Controller supports Hayes-compatible modems. These modems respond to a special set of commands from your keyboard.
See the manual for your modem to learn how to set it up for operation. Locate the power switch on your modem and turn it to the off position.
The default switch settings for Hayes-compatible modems are compatible with the SPARCstation 1+. If you have a Hayes-compatible modem, the switches might not correspond exactly to the switches on the Hayes modem. You can emulate the Hayes standards on Hayes-compatible modems by using the following standard switch settings:
Plug the male end of the modem cable into the serial port of your modem. See the manual for your modem for the location of the serial port.
For information about modem cables, see Appendix D.
The following figure shows how to connect a modem to your patch panel. The figure shows a patch panel connected to a card in SBus slot 2 of a SPARCstation 1+. You can insert your card into any available SBus slot. SBus slot 3 normally contains a frame buffer card.
Figure 4-8 Connecting a Modem
After connecting and powering up your modem, you must inform your system about the new device. The device driver needs to know where to send the data that travels over the telephone lines.
To do so, add an entry for your new modem to the /etc/remote file. This file contains an entry for each system with which you wish to communicate using your modem.
You must also edit several other files which define the modem to your system. To edit these files, you must be superuser.
Edit the /usr/etc/stc/stc_defaults file using vi or another text editor of your choice. This file allows you to turn modem control settings on and off. Choose the port(s) to which you wish to connect your modem. For each port, determine the device name for the port and change the default line to ttyzn:dtr_assert: where n is the number of the port as in the following example:
You can change the default settings for your modem in this file by configuring serial and parallel ports.
After editing your stc_defaults file, type /usr/etc/stc/stc_defs and press the Return key. This command applies the new settings you specify in the stc_defaults file to the serial and parallel ports controlled by your device driver. To enable login to the ports you configured, type kill -1 1 and press the Return key.
Add a line describing your modem to the /etc/remote file. The following example shows an entry for a 2400 baud modem on port 0 of the first Serial Parallel Controller card in your system:
Now set up a tip connection to determine whether your modem is connected. Type tip ttyzn (where n is the number of the port you wish to test) and press the Return key. If your modem is connected, your system displays the connected message:
After you see the connected message, set up your modem by typing commands in the tip window. For information about which commands to type, see System & Network Administration. After setting up your modem, type ~. and press the Return key to exit the tip window.
You need to edit additional files to set up the tty ports for the device driver to enable logins on your modem(s).
Add the following line(s) to the /etc/ttytab file:
The Serial Parallel Controller supports a variety of laser printers, such as the Sun LaserWriter and the HP LaserJet. Connecting non-PostScript printers to the Serial Parallel Controller is different from connecting PostScript printers. Follow the instructions for your type of printer.
See the manual for your printer to learn how to set it up for operation. Locate the power switch on your printer and turn it to the off position.
Plug the male end of the cable into the serial port on your printer. See the manual for your printer for the location of the serial port.
For information about null modem cables, see Appendix D.
The following figure shows how to connect a PostScript printer to your patch panel. The figure shows a patch panel connected to a card in SBus slot 2 of a SPARCstation 1+. You can insert your card into any available SBus slot. SBus slot 3 normally contains a frame buffer card.
The location of the power cord and serial port might be different for your printer.
Figure 4-9 Connecting a PostScript Printer
See the manual for your printer for information about setting options. Set the switch settings on your printer to the following parameters:
After connecting, powering up, and configuring your printer, you must inform your system about the new device. Your device driver needs to know where to send data that you want to output on your printer. For information about defining a PostScript-compatible printer to your device driver, see System & Network Administration.
See the manual for your printer to learn how to set it up for operation. Locate the power switch on your printer and turn it to the off position.
Plug the Centronix end of the cable into the parallel port on your printer. See the manual for your printer for the location of the parallel port.
The following figure shows how to connect a non-PostScript printer to your patch panel. The figure shows a patch panel connected to a card in SBus slot 2 of a SPARCstation 1+. You can insert your card into any available SBus slot. SBus slot 3 normally contains a frame buffer card.
The location of the power cord and parallel port might be different for your printer.
Figure 4-10 Connecting a Non-PostScript Printer
After connecting and powering up your printer, you must inform your system about the new device. Your device driver needs to know where to send data that you want to output on your printer.
You need to add an entry for your new printer to the /etc/printcap file. This file contains an entry for each printer connected to your system. To edit this file, you must be superuser. You can edit the file using vi or another text editor of your choice.
The following examples show common printcap entries for printers connected to a serial port and a parallel port.
This example shows a printcap entry for a printer connected to a serial port:
This example shows a printcap entry for a printer connected to a parallel port:
For more information about the printcap file and connecting printers to your system, see System & Network Administration or the printcap(5)Man Page.
