[Voyage-linux] Alix 3D3 and using RTS/DTR signals on RS-232

[Rajarajan Rajamani]

I am trying to use an X10 home automation dongle (C17a, also known as
firecracker) on the serial port. This device is driven via the RTS/DTR
pins on the RS232. I have been using this dongle for many years on a
FreeBSD box and wanted to use it on the 3D3 but could not make it work
using both Voyage Linux and NanoBSD. There no errors reported and the
sequence of ioctl system calls (using strace/truss) are the same
between the working system I have (on a desktop running FreeBSD) and
the Alix 3D3 (with both Linux/FreeBSD)

Later on going over all the details of the serial protocol/pins, I
noticed that in the data sheet for the 3D3 it says that due to
limitations of the AMD CS5536 companion chip, only RXD / TXD are
available for software and handshake signals cannot be observed or
controlled.

Further it shows the RTS/DTS pins to be always active.

Does this mean (for sure) that I cannot use the pins to talk to the
CM17A device ?? Is there any workaround for this - which I doubt.

Any hints would be appreciated.