speakup_dectlk broken on Linux kernel 2.6.38 and greater

[Devon Stewart]

Hello list!

At the recommendation of Kirk Reiser, I'm bringing my problem to this list. A blind friend of mine has a Dectalk USB, and it functions quite well in serial mode. Unfortunately, something changed in the kernel between 2.6.32 and 2.6.38, and now the speakup_dectlk module produces the following cryptic error on boot:

> FATAL: Error inserting speakup_dectlk (/lib/modules/3.2.0-1-686-pae/kernel/drivers/staging/speakup/speakup_dectlk.ko): No such device

I've looked at the difference in the module source between the two kernel versions, and have found that nothing substantial has changed, mostly formatting changes. Kirk informed me that there was a change in how serial ports are allocated, and that there is a one-line fix that can be made in the probing code. I'm more than willing to do this, but I lack the knowledge to locate the fix, additionally I don't know how to recompile just a single kernel module, and recompiling the whole kernel seems overkill. Additionally, this fix should be pushed to the kernel source, so all may benefit.

He has been fine using 2.6.32, but as someone who maintains his machine, it is apparent to me that at some point this is going to become a real emergency, instead of just a "nice-to-have".

Help would be greatly appreciated, thank you for your time,
-Devon