No Basic Stamps Found

George99

I wanted to do a BASIC Stamp project for the first time in a couple years and realized I no longer have a computer with a serial port.

I bought a USB to serial cable based on the Prolific 2303 chip set and the BASIC Stamp editors, tried both 2.4.2 and 2.3 9, didn't even detect the com port.

I returned that cable and bought the Parallax 28030 adaptor. I tried it on my computer and it worked fine, then I tried it on my Linux laptop (Dell Mini-9, Ubuntu 8.4) with Wine and that also worked with the 2.3.9 editor (but not 2.4.2).

Finally I went back to my desktop computer and got "No Basic Stamps Found," and that's all I get. This is with either version of the editor on both the Windows and Linux computers.

The green led on the adaptor is on and both that led and the one on the Basic Stamp board (Homework Board) flicker when I click Identify.

I tried the board on a serial equipped computer at work, and it does work fine.

The battery is new, VSS to VDD is 4.99 volts.

I'm assuming the USB adaptor has failed, but is there anything else I should consider?

LoopyByteloose

Parallax sells a USB to Serial based on the FTDI chip and that has a complete set of I/O lines (3 are required to program the BasicStamp). Regrettably, some of the other brands of USB to Serial only provide 2 lines of I/O and will not work.

You don't have to buy from Parallax, others brands are using the FTDI as it is superior. But you would have to confirm that the driver software is intended to support the FTDI chip.

I don't think 4.99 VDC should be considered a low voltage worry (maybe below 4.5 you might worry) and I just suspect that the 0.01 volt is voltage drop in the wires into the digital meter. In other words, the regulator seems to be spot on.

My FTDI USB to serial works fine in Ubuntu on my EEEpc. Ubuntu already has the driver installed for it.

But, Wine will NOT support any serial port - NO RS-232, NO USB to Serial.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

Post Edited (Loopy Byteloose) : 12/10/2009 2:58:05 PM GMT

allanlane5

It's important that you install the USB driver for the device BEFORE you plug the device in. This is a common error, I don't know if it applies to you.

George99

Thanks for the quick replies, but remember:

1. I am using the Parallax FTDI based adaptor
2. It worked once on each of two computers

allanlane5

1. Even "new" batteries sometimes have problems.

2. Is there any circuitry on the BOE board? That could be pulling down the voltage.

3. Using a servo with a 9-volt battery doesn't work too well.

That's all that occurs to me at this point. Oh, are you connecting throug a USB-Hub? Also, you might need to reduce the "Latency" setting on the USB adapter.

LoopyByteloose

Unless something has greatly changed, WINE will NOT support serial ports for programing purposes. You might be able to print via a serial port, but I doubt it. That's your barrier.

To use LInux, you would have to use a Linux based IDE. I'd take a look at the WINE webpage and see if they finally have been working on providing low level serial port calls.

The Parallax Basic Stamp Editor works fine in Wine, it just won't download to a BasicStamp because there is no serial port available. The same problem exists with the Spin IDE and the SX IDE. About a year or so ago, I had all three successfully loaded on my EEEpc in WINE.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

Post Edited (Loopy Byteloose) : 12/10/2009 4:40:03 PM GMT