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Linux support for ES devices

It is possible to communicate with the ES range of devices from Linux for both configuration and communicating with attached devices using standard serial port applications. This is achieved by using the Cyclades Serial Client application.

Third-Party Software

The Cyclades Serial Client application is open source software, which is not owned or distributed by Brainboxes. Brainboxes cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage incurred from using this software.

Configuring the ES device from Linux​

  • To configure the device, you will need to know the device's IP address. You should be able to get this information from your network administrator. If this is not possible, you can search for the ES device from a Linux machine using upnp_search.pl. This can be found on the CD in the directory Product Support/Utilities/Linux Tools and requires Perl to be installed along with the Net::UPnP Perl module.

  • Configuration of all the options on the device can be done using the Web page interface. This can be done from any OS, using any modern browser (e.g Mozilla Firefox, Konqueror, Opera, etc) See the Web Configuration section.

Static IP Recommended

The Cyclades Serial Client will not be able to track changes in the IP address of an ES product on the network. It is for this reason that we recommend setting the device to a static IP address on the ES device when used with Linux.

Using Cyclades Serial Client to communicate with ES device ports​

  • The Cyclades serial client can be downloaded as an rpm, or can be installed from the standard package repositories of many popular flavours of Linux, including Debian and Ubuntu.

  • After installation, the correct details for the Brainboxes ES ports will need to be added to the /etc/cyclades-devices file. You will require one configuration line for each port, which contains the following details in a colon separated format:

    • devname - the device node in /dev, e.g. /dev/ttyS0
    • rastype - this is just set to Brainboxes
    • rasname - the IP address of the ES device on your network
    • physport - port number on the device
    • type - communications protocol. Set to rfc2217
    • options - further device specific options -p 9000 -d 0

Example lines for an ES-357 device are given below:

/dev/ttyS8:Brainboxes:192.168.0.223:1:rfc2217:-p 9000 -d 0
/dev/ttyS9:Brainboxes:192.168.0.223:2:rfc2217:-p 9000 -d 0

See man cyclades-devices and also text within /etc/cyclades-devices for more information.

  • After the ES product port information has been added to the /etc/cyclades-devices file, the cyclades device server should be started and stopped using the commands (as root):

    • cyclades-serial-client start
    • cyclades-serial-client stop

These should be integrated into your rc.d scripts so that the ES devices are initiated and stopped on your system startup and halt.