ISOW7841: Regarding linux driver support

Hi Ganesh,

Thank you for reaching out.

ISOW7841 is a digital isolator with integrated power. This device operates similar to a buffer where the output follows the input. Therefore, this device is going to be transparent to the OS and doesn't need to be talked to. If you are using a transceiver (like CAN, RS-485) in your system then you might need driver for those transceivers. The processor you are using should most likely have all the drivers you need to talk to relevant devices. If you do not, then I recommend reaching out to the processors team for driver support.

Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks.

Regards,
Koteshwar Rao

I’m currently seeking information regarding driver support for RS-232/RS-485/RS-422 in Linux, as I understand these protocols may require specific drivers depending on the transceivers used in the system. Could you provide guidance on recommended Linux drivers for these protocols and any specific kernel configurations needed? I appreciate your help, and please let me know if you need any further details.

Most transceivers work only on the electrical level, so they are not directly accessed from software.

You would connect the transceivers to certain I/O pins of your MCU (UART or something else), and it is that UART (or something else) module that must be programmed from software.

I’m looking for information regarding Linux driver support for the ISOW7841DWER, specifically in relation to microprocessors. Is there an existing Linux driver for this part number? Additionally, if anyone has experience in developing a driver for the ISOW7841, I would greatly appreciate any guidance or resources. I’m particularly interested in how the driver interacts with the transceiver at the microprocessor level, the necessary initialization steps, and how data handling and interrupt management are implemented within the driver context. Examples or best practices for integrating the transceiver into the Device Tree would also be very helpful. Thank you for your assistance!

This device does not need a driver. Your microprocessor needs a driver.

Hi Ganesh,

As Clemens stated, transceivers form the physical layer and do not require any drivers. Drivers are required for higher layers at protocol level and those are specific to the driver and not necessarily to the transceiver.

I would also like to mention that ISOW7841 is a not a transceiver, it doesn't converter signals from one level to another. It simply isolates the signal without altering voltage levels. Therefore, this device doesn't require a driver.

If you still not clear, I would suggest you to remove ISOW7841 from schematic and connect input/output lines directly and then test the product. If the product works fine with this, then add ISOW7841 and test again. Adding ISOW7841 doesn't affect the operation of your product, it continues to work fine. ISOW7841 only adds isolation.

Let me know if you have any further questions, thanks.

Regards,
Koteshwar Rao