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NAME
int6kuart - Qualcomm Atheros Serial Line Device Manager
SYNOPSIS
int6kuart [options] [...]
DESCRIPTION
Perform powerline device management operations over serial line interface.
Serial line commands are 7-bit ASCII character strings sent to the local powerline device
over the host serial port. They can be sent using any terminal emulator but this program
will, in many cases, reduce typing and simplify scripting. It is especially useful for
downloading device parameters and uploading device parameters or firmware because those
operations involve large volumes of data. Also, this program permits decimal integer
arguments in many cases where the serial line commands require hexadecimal integer values.
See the COMMANDS section (below) for a list of supported serial line commands.
This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. See the AMP man page for
an overview and installation instructions.
COMMENTS
This program does not configure or reconfigure host serial port settings by default
because most operating systems have their own serial port configuration utility. Be sure
to configure host serial port settings before using this program because other programs
may change them before or after use. Atheros factory default settings for UART-enabled
powerline devices are 115200 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity and no flow control.
See option -b for a quick way to match host serial port settings the Qualcomm Atheros
default settings.
On Windows, use the DOS mode command. The general form of this command is
mode,baud,parity,databits,stopbits. The following example will set a Windows host to the
default serial settings used by Atheros powerline devices.
# mode com3:115200,n,8,1
On Linux, use the stty utility to inspect and set serial port parameters. The following
Linux command will configure serial device /dev/ttyS0 speed to 115200 baud with 8 data
bits, 1 stop bit, no parity bit and no flow control. Consult the stty man page for an
explanation of these and other options.
# stty -F /dev/ttyS0 115200 cs8 cstopb -parenb -ixon
On Linux, you can also use the minicom terminal emulator to communicate using the
underlying serial line commands described in the COMMANDS section. The minicom program
reads default settings from configuration file /etc/minicom/minirc.dfl if present on
startup. A basic configuration file looks like this:
pu port /dev/ttyUSB0
pu baudrate 115200
pu bits 8
pu parity N
pu stopbits 1
pu rtscts No
OPTIONS
-b Set host serial port to the default settings mentioned above. The original host
serial port settings are not restored when the program terminates. You must
restore them manually or by other means. Changing host serial port settings will
break serial communications with the local powerline device if the device is not
using the same settings.
-c command
Send a custom serial line command to the local powerline device over the host
serial interface. Argument command is sent as specified but will be terminated
with a carriage return. The command must be enclosed in quotes if it contains
spaces or special characters. This option can be used to send serial line commands
that are not supported by this program.
-C module
Commit downloaded parameters and/or firmware to NVM using the ATWNV serial line
command. Argument module is one hexadecimal octet. The low-order nibble contains
the module number. The high-order nibble contains optional control bits.
Acceptable module values are 0x01=Firmware, 0x02=Parameters, 0x10=Force Flash and
0x20=Do Not Reboot. The default value is 0x00 which has no effect. The 0x prefix
is optional.
-d Read and display the destination device address using the ATDST serial line
command. This option is similar to option -D but substitutes ? for the device
address.
-D address
Set the destination device address for Transparent Mode using the ATDST serial line
command. This address will supercede the default destination device address,
stored in the PIB, until the device is reset. Multicast address values are not
permitted by the device. Argument address is six hexadecimal octets optionally
separated by colons.
-F filename
Read the named frame description file and send it over powerline as an Atheros
vendor-specific management message using the ATM serial line command. Unlike
program efsu, only the first file frame is sent. Any subsequent frames defined in
the file are ignored.
-H Exit Command Mode and enter High Speed Command Mode using the ATHSC serial line
command.
-i Get and display network information using the ATNI serial line command. The
information includes the TEI, MAC address, receive rate and transmit rate for each
remote device on the network.
-I Get and display the PIB version and device MAC address using the ATRPM serial line
command.
-m Read and display the Network Membership Key of the local powerline device using the
ATSK serial line command. This option is similar to option -M but substitutes ?
for the membership key.
-M key Set the Network Membership Key of the local powerline device using the ATSK serial
line command. The key consists of 16 hexadecimal octets optionally separated by
colons.
-N filename
Open the named firmware file on the local host and write it to the local device
using multiple ATWPF serial line commands. There is no default filename or
extension. The file is assumed to contain a valid firmware image.
-O Exit Command Mode and enter Transparent Mode using the ATO serial line command.
Subsequent serial data will be transmitted over the powerline to the destination
device address as raw data. Use option -d to set the destination device address.
-p filename
Read the parameter block from the local powerline device and write it to the named
file on the local host using multiple ATRP serial line commands. Required length
and offset values are automatically computed for each serial line command sent.
There is no default filename or extention.
-P filename
Open the parameter file on the local host and write it to the local powerline
device using multiple ATWPF serial line commands. Required length and offset
values are automatically computed for each serial line command sent. There is no
default filename or extention. The named file is assumed to contain a valid
parameter block.
-q Suppress progress and error information on stderr.
-r Read and display the local powerline device hardware identifier and firmware
version string using the ATRV serial line command.
-R Reset the local device using the ATZ serial line command
-s tty Communicate with the local powerline device over the named serial interface on the
local host. The program default is "/dev/ttyUSB0" for Linux and "com1:" for
Windows. The program default is replaced if environment variable PLCUART is
defined. This option over-rides those default settings.
-S Place the local power line device in Power Save Mode using the ATPS serial line
command.
-t Test device using the AT serial line command. The device will respond with "OK"
when in Command Mode.
-T Restore factory defaults on the local power line device using the ATFD serial line
command. Among other things, this will restore the destination device address
stored in the factory PIB. Any destination device address previously set using
option -d will be lost.
-u Force default host port settings to match the default setting for UART-enabled
Atheros powerline devices. The setting are 115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity
bits and 1 stop bit. These settings will remain active when the program terminates
and will not change unless changed by some other means, perhaps by another
application. This option is an easy means of establishg an initial serial
connection with a powerline device, unless it's settings have been changed.
-v Display actual serial line commands and responses on stdout.
-w Place the local powerline device in Command Mode using the +++ serial line command.
The device will remain in command mode until it is reset or forced into
Transparaent Mode or High Speed Command Mode.
-W timeout
Set the Transparent Mode aggregation timeout using the ATTO serial line command.
The timeout is expressed in decimal milliseconds. Valid values are 1 through 2000.
-z Get the Transparent Mode buffer size using the ATBSZ serial line command. This
option is similar to option -B but substitutes ? for the buffer size.
-Z size
Set the Transparent Mode buffer size using the ATBSZ serial line command. The size
in bytes is specified in decimal here and converted to hexadecimal for
transmission. Valid values range from 46 to 1500. The default is 500 bytes.
-?,--help
Print program help summary on stdout. This option takes precedence over other
options on the command line.
-!,--version
Print program version information on stdout. This option takes precedence over
other options on the command line. Use this option when sending screen dumps to
Atheros Technical Support so that they know exactly which version of the Linux
Toolkit you are using.
ARGUMENTS
None.
COMMANDS
This section lists serial line commands recognized by local powerline devices when in
Command Mode. Commands can be issued interactively using a terminal emulator, like minicom
on Linux or HyperTerminal on Windows or stored as text and copied to the serial port using
system utilities, like cat on Linux or type on Windows. This program merely converts the
command line options and arguments described above into one or more of the serial line
commands shown below.
+++ Exit Transparent Mode and enter Command Mode. See option -w above.
AT Test for Command Mode by doing nothing, successfully. See option -t above.
ATBRmode,baudrate,databits,parity,stopbits,flowctrl
Set serial line parameters on the local powerline device. Beware that this will
break the existing serial connection when the new parameters differ from those of
the local host.
ATBSZ? Get Transparent Mode buffer size. See option -z above.
ATBSZsize
Set Transparent Mode buffer size. See option -Z above.
ATDST? Get Transparent Mode destination device address. See option -d above.
ATDSTaddress
Set Transparent Mode destination device address. See option -D above.
ATFD Reset local device to factory defaults. See option -T above.
ATHSC Exit Command Mode and enter High Speed Command Mode. Once the OK response is
received, the local host should send commands to the device at successively higher
speeds until a valid response is received.
ATMmessage
Send an Atheros vendor-specific management message over powerline. The message is
expressed as a series of hexadecimal digits.
ATNI? Read nework information and store the information internally. Return the number of
associated stations and information about the first associated station. The
information includes the peer station device address, TX rate and RX rate.
ATNIstation
Extract and display previously stored network information for a specific peer
station. The information returned is that previosly stored using a ATNI serial line
command query.
ATO Exit Command Mode and enter Transparent Mode. Successful switch requires a valid
destination MAC address, buffer size and aggregation timeout value. Use serial line
commands ATDST and ATBSZ to get and/or set the first two values. Use serial line
command ATTO to set the timeout value.
ATPStime
Place the device in Power Save Mode for a specified time in seconds. Valid values
are 1 to 384 seconds. The default time is A seconds.
ATRPlength,offset
Read and display a parameter block segment where length is the number of bytes read
and offset is the relative position, in bytes, from the start of the parameter
block. Valid length values are 0 through 400 hexadecimal. See option -p above to
read and save an entire parameter block.
ATRPM Get PIB version and device MAC address.
ATRV Get hardware and firmware revision. See option -r above.
ATSK? Get device Network Membership Key. See option -m above.
ATSKkey
Set device Network Membership Key. See option -M above.
ATTO? Get the Transparent Mode aggregation timeout in milliseconds.
ATTOtimeout
Set the Transparent Mode aggregation timeout in milliseconds. See option -W above.
ATWNVmodule
Update NVM with PIB and/or Firmware module. See option -C above.
ATWPFmodule,length,offset,checksum,data
Write a parameter block or firmware segment to the local powerline device where
module is the module identifier, length is the number of bytes to write, offset is
the relative position from the start of the module, checksum is the 1's complement
of the data and data is the data to be written. Valid module identifiers are 1=FW
and 2=PIB. Valid length values are 0 up to 400 hexadecimal. See options -N and -P
above to write an entire parameter block or firmware images.
ATZ Reset device. See option -R above.
REFERENCES
See the Qualcomm Atheros HomePlug AV Firmware Technical Reference Manual for more
information.
DISCLAIMER
Atheros serial line commands are proprietary to Qualcomm Atheros, Ocala FL USA.
Consequently, public information is not available. Qualcomm Atheros reserves the right to
modify command line syntax or command functionality in future firmware releases without
any obligation to notify or compensate product or program users.
EXAMPLES
The following example places the device in Command Mode (wakeup). Serial line commands
are ignored unless the device is in this mode so this is often the first command issued.
# int6kuart -w
The next example sets the destination device address on the local powerline device to
00B052BABE12. The destination device can be any remote powerline device on the same
logical network as the local device.
# int6kuart -D 00:B0:52:BA:BE:12
The next example places the device in Transparent Mode where serial line output is sent
over powerline to the destination powerline device and forwarded the remote host connected
to it.
# int6kuart -O
The next example sends the serial line command "ATSK?" to the local powerline device.
# int6kuart -c "ATSK?"
SEE ALSO
amp(1), int6kbaud(1), ttysig(1)
CREDITS
Charles Maier