Lab 7: UART And Serial Ports

Generated folder: labs/uart/

Lab 7 introduces serial communication through a 16550-style UART. A UART turns bytes into a stream and receives a stream back into bytes. It is simple enough to fit in a lab, but it contains the same reliability questions that appear in larger communication systems.

Register idea	Role
line control	word length, stop bits, parity, divisor access
divisor latch	baud-rate divisor
FIFO control	receive/transmit buffering
line status	data-ready and transmitter-ready bits
interrupt enable	which events raise IRQs
loopback	transmit is routed back to receive

Begin with serial protocol thinking, complete the implementation tasks, run the checks, and compare this model with modern serial links.

TIP

Loopback proves one endpoint before run-pair asks you to reason about two independent programs.