OK, here's some more info

1) i can view the boot msgs when i cat /dev/tts/0

2)i can connect with emptool over usb (if i force usb buffering) and it tells me i need to upgrade the player software because emptool is using a newer protocol

3)i can't connect with emptool over serial. or with upgclient over serial. It just errors out straight away, it doesn't stop and wait for me to power on the empeg. Perhaps it is having trouble opening the com port rather than reading from it? But i'm running as root so it should be able to.

4) i've tried the 2nd com port /dev/tts/1 with the same results

[root@danski empeg-car]# head /proc/tty/driver/serial
serinfo:1.0 driver:5.05c revision:2001-07-08
0: uart:16550A port:3F8 irq:4 baud:115200 tx:2119 rx:9104 fe:76 brk:5
1: uart:16550A port:2F8 irq:3 baud:9600 tx:195 rx:0
2: uart:unknown port:3E8 irq:4
3: uart:unknown port:2E8 irq:3
4: uart:unknown port:1A0 irq:9
5: uart:unknown port:1A8 irq:9
6: uart:unknown port:1B0 irq:9
7: uart:unknown port:1B8 irq:9
8: uart:unknown port:2A0 irq:5
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./emptool /dev/tts/0
4001 Failed to open device /dev/tts/0, errno:2
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./emptool /dev/ttyS0
4001 Failed to open device /dev/ttyS0, errno:17
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./emptool /dev/ttyUSB0
Unknown device character 188,0 - assuming serial buffering
4001 Failed to open device /dev/ttyUSB0, errno:17
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./emptool --usb /dev/ttyUSB0
2000 Checking connection
[Done]Protocol version of your player (4) is too old for emptool (6)
Please obtain an upgrade for your player
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./emptool /dev/usb/tts/0
Unknown device character 188,0 - assuming serial buffering
4001 Failed to open device /dev/usb/tts/0, errno:2
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./emptool --usb /dev/usb/tts/0
2000 Checking connection
[Done]Protocol version of your player (4) is too old for emptool (6)
Please obtain an upgrade for your player
[root@danski empeg-car]# ./upgclient ../car2-consumer-v2.00-beta7.upgrade
empeg-car Upgrade client.
empegupgrade: Using upgrade file '../car2-consumer-v2.00-beta7.upgrade'
to device '/dev/ttyS0' (115200 baud)
Checking upgrade file integrity
[100%]
Pumping player software
Upgrade file checked
[100%]
ERROR: 5 empeg unit not found

Upgrade failed :-(

Upgrade failed with error 0x8004004c
[root@danski empeg-car]#