Terminals are usually configured for software (Xon/Xoff) flow control. While the following procedure is sufficient for most cases, it may be necessary to take additional steps to properly configure your terminal or to set up the OS for a specific application.
Software flow control can usually be accomplished with a 4 wire cable in most cases. The cable specification below is recommended to allow interchangeability of cables between terminals and printers, and to allow easy migration to hardware flow control if this proves necessary for a given terminal or application.
1) The Cable
Use the Standard Terminal Cable as diagrammed in The Digi Standard Cable FAQ
2) The AIX Server
To get to the smit menu type the following from a root prompt:
# smit
Select the following menu options:
Devices
TTY
Add a TTY
Select RS323
Select the appropriate sa device
TTY interface [rs232]
Description [Asynchronous Terminal]
Parent adapter [sa3] <-Adapter assignment
PORT number [16] <-Actual port number on Concentrator
Enable LOGIN [enable]
BAUD rate [9600] <-Appropriate baud rate
PARITY [none] <-Appropriate parity
BITS per character [8] <-Appropriate character bits
Number of STOP BITS [1] <-Appropriate stop bits
FLOW CONTROL to be used [xon/xoff] <-Flow control (should match the terminal flow setting)
Force Carrier: [enable] <-Force DCD
Press Enter twice to save settings.
3) Troubleshooting a Port
If a terminal is not working correctly, the first step in determining what the problem is is to do a loopback test on the port:
- Plug in the Digi Loopback plug, if you do no have one, loop send and receive (a phillips head screwdriver between pins
2+3 of a DB25 or strip and twist the center two wires together on an RJ45 or RJ12 plug).
- pdisable tty## [where ## is the number of the tty being tested]
- cat < /dev/tty## &
- date > /dev/tty##
- cat /etc/termcap > /dev/tty##
- kill 0
- penable tty##
If the date appears on the screen, the port is working, recheck your port settings.