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Serial ports and the Stamp — Parallax Forums

Serial ports and the Stamp

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2004-07-17 15:00 in General Discussion
Hello from Gregg C Levine
Here's a question: Does the stamp actually mind which RS232 pin I
connect its pins to, when using the device to send or receive data,
with regards to that standard? I need to control a device which uses
the RI pin for setting some data ready functions, in addition to the
usual series of flow control pins.
Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon@w...
"The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi
"Use the Force, Luke."· Obi-Wan Kenobi

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-07-16 14:23
    Hi Gregg,

    If I understand your question: The Stamp doesn't care where you use your
    serial port as long as the level is right. Port 16 (the programming port)
    has a built-in level converter to handle the +/-12V stuff, but it is
    actually stealing power from the port. That means that the port is always
    half duplex, always echoes what you send to it, and can't act as a
    transmitter only. It also may have problems with "odd" serial ports.

    Any other pin can send or receive RS232 data BUT you have to worry about the
    level conversion. One way to do that is with a MAX232 chip (for example,
    http://www.awce.com/rs1.htm). However, if you don't mind living dangerously,
    you can also connect RS232 inputs through a 22K resistor and depend on the
    Stamp's static protection diodes to sink the extra current. This works fine
    but it isn't to the RS232 spec.

    On transmit the problem is that you can only output a 0 or a 5V signal. The
    RS232 spec doesn't allow you to output 0V, but in fact, most line receivers
    (in particular, the MAX232) will accept a 0 even though it is out of spec.
    So you can often drive "real" RS232 gear directly from the Stamp. On the
    other hand, it isn't RS232 and you probably won't get long cable runs, etc.
    Plus there is always a chance you will find a piece of equipment that won't
    like it for some reason.

    You might be interested in our ASP-III development board
    (http://www.awce.com/asp3.htm) which is based on our GPMPU40 core board.
    This board will accept a 28 or 40 pin Stamp and has a MAX232 among other
    things onboard. What's nice is that the MAX's inputs and outputs are all
    uncommitted, so by adding a wire jumper, you can connect, say, RI (as you
    suggest) to the MAX232 and then jumper the logic-level output to any pin you
    like on the Stamp. The downside is that the MAX232 only has 2 inputs and 2
    outputs. So RX and RI would eat all your inputs and leave you nothing for
    handshaking. However, I've done this for remote data access by assuming the
    remote never needs to stop the Stamp from sending and using the spare
    receiver for carrier detect. Set the modem to autoanswer and when the Stamp
    sees DCD assert, it knows someone has connected on the modem.

    Of course, the ASP-III has an area for more Ics if you don't use a 40 pin
    Stamp, but not enough for another MAX232. However, with the big board edge,
    you could hook up an RS-I or your own circuit if you needed more RS232. We
    normally hook these up to a breadboard, but you can easily solder it to a
    universal-type PCB for extra real estate.

    Regards,

    Al Williams
    AWC




    Original Message
    From: Gregg C Levine [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=Dsj790pUNucCOJTTyhNpdituUUsLmcLvT9cj3rB3MFGNtFntEYHHR4sK-FjxPuAwhMjXGcb9D_-2wOzroQXYe7HnHjo]hansolofalcon@w...[/url
    Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 12:44 AM
    To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial ports and the Stamp


    Hello from Gregg C Levine
    Here's a question: Does the stamp actually mind which RS232 pin I connect
    its pins to, when using the device to send or receive data, with regards to
    that standard? I need to control a device which uses the RI pin for setting
    some data ready functions, in addition to the usual series of flow control
    pins.
    Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon@w...
    "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi
    "Use the Force, Luke."· Obi-Wan Kenobi




    To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
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  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-07-17 06:29
    Hello from Gregg C Levine
    Yes, you do Al, thank you! About your offers, I might decide to order
    either one, or all of the referenced kits. But the one I've got my
    eyes on happens to be for the PLD units, mine are all Atmel. Thinking
    about those FPGAs as well, do they work for the Atmel types?
    Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon@w...
    "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi
    "Use the Force, Luke." Obi-Wan Kenobi






    --- In basicstamps@yahoogroups.com, "Al Williams" <alw@a...> wrote:
    > Hi Gregg,
    >
    > If I understand your question: The Stamp doesn't care where you use
    your
    > serial port as long as the level is right. Port 16 (the programming
    port)
    > has a built-in level converter to handle the +/-12V stuff, but it is
    > actually stealing power from the port. That means that the port is
    always
    > half duplex, always echoes what you send to it, and can't act as a
    > transmitter only. It also may have problems with "odd" serial ports.
    >
    > Any other pin can send or receive RS232 data BUT you have to worry
    about the
    > level conversion. One way to do that is with a MAX232 chip (for
    example,
    > http://www.awce.com/rs1.htm). However, if you don't mind living
    dangerously,
    > you can also connect RS232 inputs through a 22K resistor and depend
    on the
    > Stamp's static protection diodes to sink the extra current. This
    works fine
    > but it isn't to the RS232 spec.
    >
    > On transmit the problem is that you can only output a 0 or a 5V
    signal. The
    > RS232 spec doesn't allow you to output 0V, but in fact, most line
    receivers
    > (in particular, the MAX232) will accept a 0 even though it is out
    of spec.
    > So you can often drive "real" RS232 gear directly from the Stamp.
    On the
    > other hand, it isn't RS232 and you probably won't get long cable
    runs, etc.
    > Plus there is always a chance you will find a piece of equipment
    that won't
    > like it for some reason.
    >
    > You might be interested in our ASP-III development board
    > (http://www.awce.com/asp3.htm) which is based on our GPMPU40 core
    board.
    > This board will accept a 28 or 40 pin Stamp and has a MAX232 among
    other
    > things onboard. What's nice is that the MAX's inputs and outputs
    are all
    > uncommitted, so by adding a wire jumper, you can connect, say, RI
    (as you
    > suggest) to the MAX232 and then jumper the logic-level output to
    any pin you
    > like on the Stamp. The downside is that the MAX232 only has 2
    inputs and 2
    > outputs. So RX and RI would eat all your inputs and leave you
    nothing for
    > handshaking. However, I've done this for remote data access by
    assuming the
    > remote never needs to stop the Stamp from sending and using the
    spare
    > receiver for carrier detect. Set the modem to autoanswer and when
    the Stamp
    > sees DCD assert, it knows someone has connected on the modem.
    >
    > Of course, the ASP-III has an area for more Ics if you don't use a
    40 pin
    > Stamp, but not enough for another MAX232. However, with the big
    board edge,
    > you could hook up an RS-I or your own circuit if you needed more
    RS232. We
    > normally hook these up to a breadboard, but you can easily solder
    it to a
    > universal-type PCB for extra real estate.
    >
    > Regards,
    >
    > Al Williams
    > AWC
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    Original Message
    > From: Gregg C Levine [noparse][[/noparse]mailto:hansolofalcon@w...]
    > Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 12:44 AM
    > To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
    > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Serial ports and the Stamp
    >
    >
    > Hello from Gregg C Levine
    > Here's a question: Does the stamp actually mind which RS232 pin I
    connect
    > its pins to, when using the device to send or receive data, with
    regards to
    > that standard? I need to control a device which uses the RI pin for
    setting
    > some data ready functions, in addition to the usual series of flow
    control
    > pins.
    >
    > Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon@w...
    >
    > "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi
    > "Use the Force, Luke."· Obi-Wan Kenobi
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
    Subject and
    > Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    > Yahoo! Groups Links
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2004-07-17 15:00
    >But the one I've got my eyes on happens to be for the PLD units, mine are
    all Atmel. Thinking about those FPGAs as well, do they work for the Atmel
    types?


    Hi Gregg,

    We should probably move PLD discussions off list. However, some of the Atmel
    PLDs are Altera compatible and thus will work with the ABX84 (see
    http://www.al-williams.com/atf15.htm). If you need more info, just contact
    me directly at alw@a... since I don't know how many folks on the
    list are interested in PLDs.

    Just to make this somewhat Stamp related, it is possible to take on the PLD
    boards and merge it with a ASP3 (Basic Stamp board) and use the PLD as a
    super Stamp peripheral. http://tutor.al-williams.com/pldx-13.htm shows how
    to use the Stamp with a Xilinx chip for I/O. You can do lots of "magic"
    things with the PLD like plenty of high-speed PWM, UARTs, etc. Great fun.

    Al Williams
    AWC
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