Provided by: plc-utils-extra_0.0.6+git20250218.cbf52f68-1_amd64 
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
open-plc-utils-0.0.3 November 2013 int6kuart(1)