speakup and serial stuff

[raul at asmodean.net]

Hi gang.  I'm having some speakout troubles with speakup v.0.09 and 2.2.16
kernel off a slackware 7.1 installation.

1.  I have working copies of the boot and root images with speakout
compiled into the 2.2.16 kernel.

2.  I've verified the disks are working by booting them off from another
computer.

3.  new computer I'm trying to get working is a tosheba tecra t8100

4.  If I boot a dos floppy and issue the command 'mode com1:9600,n,8,1'
and then boot the slackware disks and pass the kernel parameter
'speakup_ser=0' the speakout is found.

5.  If I skip step 4 and just boot off the linux floppies the speakout
times out whether I pass the boot parameter or not.

6.  This might not be related however I'm adding it in however.  I was
able to install slackware 7.1 but occasionally I get segmentation fault
erors when doing simple tasks such as run lilo or route commands.

I don't know if that last one is related but I'm starting to wonder if I
have flaky hardware.

Any ideas?