AST(4)

💖 AST(4) — multiplexing serial communications interface 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel Interfaces Manual entry for ast, section 4 — it's giving vintage Unix hardware realness, and we're keeping every single detail. ✨🫶 no cap

🌸 NAME 🌸

ast — multiplexing serial communications interface 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

Here's the exact kernel-config lineup, bestie — don't touch the characters, fr fr:

ast0 at isa? port 0x1a0 irq 5
com2 at ast? slave ?
com3 at ast? slave ?
com4 at ast? slave ?
com5 at ast? slave ?

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

The ast driver provides support for boards that multiplex together up to four EIA RS-232C (CCITT V.28) communications interfaces. Apparently the original maker of hardware using this multiplexing protocol was AST. 👑 iconic origin story tbh.

Each ast device is the master device for up to four com devices. The kernel configuration specifies these com devices as slave devices of the ast device, as shown in the synopsis. 🎀

The slave ID given for each com device determines which bit in the interrupt multiplexing register is tested to find interrupts for that device. 🔥 that's the whole vibe check.

The port specification for the ast device is used to compute the base addresses for the com subdevices and the port for the interrupt multiplexing register. 💅 literally the address math, bestie.

🦋 FILES 🦋

• /dev/tty0? — the file path, periodt. 🍓

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• com(4) — go read the com manual page too, iykyk. 👑

🎀 HISTORY 🎀

The ast driver was written by Roland McGrath and placed into the public domain. slay, honestly. ✨

---

Debian · March 30, 1994 · AST(4) — cute sign-off from the manual-page group chat, bestie. 💖