the pcl-858 series interface cards provide eight rs-232 serial communication ports. each port can be configured individually using on-board jumpers. the pcl-858a/858b cards each have two 16c554 uarts, which make serial i/o more reliable. the pcl-858 series cards support automatic addressing for all eight ports. all channels share the same interrupt (irq), and an interrupt status register can be used to determine the interrupt source. when an on-board interrupt occurs the interrupt status register (vector address) indicates which port generated it. the shared interrupt can be set to most common (extended) at interrupts. this simplifies programming, speeds up interrupt processing and frees up interrupts for other devices.