Linux-Hams archive - January 1997: Re: How to make real CW on Linux ?

Re: How to make real CW on Linux ?

Thomas Sailer (zglj.wauyeku@dot.net.au)
Thu, 09 Jan 1997 09:50:32 +0100


> Here comes my questions:
> - TX output:
> How to control individual output pins on RS-232 PC interface
> with good timing control ?
> - TX timing:
> CW TX program should execute at least every milisecond or
> have good timing control. One dot is really short when
> QRQing at 200 LPM.
> - TX key input:
> It had to be scanned every milisecond, or IRQ driven with good
> time info.

The problem here is that the timing requirements are in a difficult
range. The timing is too slow to do busy waiting, but too fast to
do anything from user space. I'd recommend you do the following:

Use the baud rate generator of the rs232 interface to generate
the required interrupt rate (yes, quite like the baycom ser12 stuff),
such as 1k ints/s and then control the output port via
inb/outb. This really isn't so hard, don't be afraid, it's easier
than under DOS...

Interrupt latency differs from setup to setup. If you have an
IDE disk and do not enable interrupts with hdparm, interrupt
latency sucks hard, but otherwise it's good (less than 100us)

73s
Tom