MaxLinear 8-Bit/VLIO UARTs

The MaxLinear 2-channel 8-bit UART family integrates 2 UARTs into a single package and simplifies the hardware design by eliminating redundant external components. In the “Intel” mode, there is a chip select and interrupt pin per channel. In the “Motorola” mode, there is only one chip select and one interrupt pin. Most UARTs in this family are software-compatible with the industry-standard 16550 UART, allowing them to be compatible with the standard serial port drivers in most operating systems. Some products in this family also have a parallel port (ST16C452/452PS/552/552A) that works with standard parallel port drivers.

The 4-channel and 8-channel product families integrate 4 and 8 UARTs into a single package. In addition, the XR16L784 and XR16xx98 families also support a single chip select and single interrupt pin in both the Intel and Motorola modes to simplify the hardware design. These devices also have a global interrupt status register so the software can quickly determine which UART generated the interrupt without checking the status of all of the individual UART channels. Almost all of these UARTs are based on the industry-standard 16550 UART and are compatible with standard serial port drivers. However, some driver customization may be required.