>Well, the compiler is going to pad it out regardless, and just treat it
>as an int...

Thats why I left it as an int.

>I would say - "Use whatever type the COM registers are"... that would
>mean u_int8_t, not u_char :-)

OK to change all the softc char fields for COM registers to u_int_8_t
while I'm in there?  otherwise I'd sooner leave it all as-is.