To launch our serial port assistant utility, you can click on the “iTest” icon

Click on “Serial Port Assistant” and you can set up its parameters as follows:

After setup is done, click on “Connect” and if the connection is successful you will see the following messages from the serial port

To send data to the serial port, you can type your messages in the left text box and click on “send”.”Pause” pauses messages’ popping and “Clean” removes all the received messages

UART0 has been converted to RS232, and extended to COM0 via DB9. On system startup it has been set to the console terminal, so it cannot be tested via this utility. 

Connect your serial port extension board to the board’s CON2/3/4 and connect to a PC via a crossover serial cable. 

Go to the “FriendlyARM” tab and click on the “serial port assistant” icon to open the interface.

The title bar of the utility shows the default setting is “ttySAC1 115200 8N1 [C]”, and it implies the default port is:

- Serial Port Deivce: /dev/ttySAC1, it corresponds to the second port UART1(CON2)

- Bits Per Second: 115200

- Data Bits: 8

- Flow Control: None

- Stop Bits: 1

- [C]: stands for the character mode; [H] stands for Hex

There are two edit areas in the interface, the top one shows received data which cannot be edited; the bottom one shows sent data which can be edited via a USB keyboard or a soft keyboard.

Click on the “Connect” button to open “/dev/ttySAC1”, type some characters in the edit area, click on the “Send” button and it will send data to the connected serial port device. The screenshot below shows what a Windows super terminal receives (Note: the settings for this super terminal should be 115200 8N1)

 

Click on “Disconnect” to disconnect the connection. Click on “Setting…” to enter the parameter setting interface which lists some basic serial port parameters:

Comm Port: you can choose “/dev/ttySAC0,1,2” or the USB to Serial “/dev/ttyUSB0,1,2,3”. Note: in this utility, SAC0 corresponds to CON1, SAC1 corresponds to CON2 and etc.

Speed: bits per second

Data: data bits, 8 or 7, usually 8.

Hex: input and output data in Hex format.

Note: before start this program please connect the serial port your want to test to your board.

- The on board CON1, 2, 3 and 4 are CPU UART0, 1, 2 and 3. UART0 has been converted to RS232, and extended to COM0 via DB9. On system startup it has been set to the console terminal, so it cannot be tested via this utility. The other three ports CON2, 3 and 4 must be converted to RS232 before they can communicate with a PC serial port. (FriendlyARM has a “OneCom” RS232 conversion module) When connect the ports to a PC, please make sure to use a correct serial cable (cross serial line or direct serial line).

- This program also supports common USB to Serial cables. Now most laptops don’t have serial ports. For the sake of users most of our agents provide those conversion cables. Connecting a USB to Serial cable to your board, you can extend your serial ports. Its device ``` name generally is “/dev/ttyUSB0, 1, 2 and 3”, which implies you can us

e a USB hub to extend your serial ports.

Note: the Tiny210 BSP includes drivers for three standard serial ports: COM1, 2, 3 and 4. To test these three ports you need our extension board. Please hook up your extension board as follows: 

Go to “FriendlyARM” and click on “SerialPort”, you will see the following dialog 

Click on “Settings”, select COM2, set its bit rate to 115200, click on “OK” to save it. 

Meanwhile connect your extension board(COM2) to PC, set up your PC’s corresponding COM. 

In the main window, click on the “Open” button, (the button’s title will change to “Close”), type some characters in the edit area and click on the “Send” button. You will see the characters you typed received in your PC. 

In the Serial Port Assistant’s main window, click on the “Receive” button (its title will change to “Not Receive”), type some characters in the edit area of your PC’s serial port window, you will see the characters you typed received in the Assistant’s main window 

We can follow this procedure to test COM3 and COM4 too