View Full Version : USB to Serial
Our team is having some troubble finding a usb to serial adapter that works for uploading programs. Currently, we use an OLD laptop with a serial port that allows our team to program because we don't have a working adatper.
So, could anyone out there post the exact kind of usb to serial adapter they use for their programming, and where they got it? Or, if you use a serial port on your laptop to upload, what brand of laptop is yours?
Thanks
We use an old PII 333 Gateway Solo laptop. It has a serial port, as does my Acer (Celeron 333). We haven't found anything that needs more speed and very few things that even could benefit from a faster processor (PBASIC just isn't that complex).
Kyle Fenton
03-10-2002, 19:05
Refer to this post
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=88037
mtaman02
03-10-2002, 19:59
don't see the need for a usb to serial. serial is quick enough when loading such a small program. we use any computer that we can get our hands on laptops included to program our wonder bot. we use db9 to program. never saw the use to have a faster upload / download time for something so small as pbasic codes. i agree with Rbayer
Jeff Waegelin
03-10-2002, 20:27
Actually, what I think we'd really like to know is if anyone has used a USB-to-serial adapter for programming.
I'll elaborate on our situation a bit: I bought a new laptop this summer, and it didn't come with a serial port. I then bought an adapter to program, but every time I plug the laptop into the RC and reset, it gives a "Basic Init Error" and the Stamp software says "No BASIC Stamp Found".
I'd like to use the new laptop and retire our old programming laptop, as it is slow and has no battery. Mine has no serial port, and we have no other usable machines, so finding one is not an option. Any ideas on how we can fix this?
mtaman02
03-10-2002, 20:36
the reason why u get that error is partially b/c pbasic doesn't support usb. it only supports serial connection to the R.I. unless theres a newer version out there that supporst both USB and Serial.
Jeff Waegelin
03-10-2002, 20:39
The idea behind the adapter is to make the system have a serial port. What I don;t get is why mine doesn't work. Has anyone tried this before?
Kyle Fenton
03-10-2002, 22:35
Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin
The idea behind the adapter is to make the system have a serial port. What I don;t get is why mine doesn't work. Has anyone tried this before?
If I remember correctly in a PC is that you have to go into your device manager and add a dummy serial port, and have it pointing to the USB Serial adapter, also it has something to do with the Comm ports. Look on USB Serial adapters on Microsoft's website to find the proper procedure.
VanWEric
05-10-2002, 13:26
We had a similar problem with a newer laptop. ALthough it came with a built in serial port, the stamp would not boot if it was still connected. We had to connect, load, unconnect and reset to get it to work. We never got the debug function to work correctly with this set up. Good Luck
mtaman02
05-10-2002, 15:38
i still say thats almost impossible to sell a laptop w/o a com port. theres gotta be one there.
Jeff Waegelin
05-10-2002, 15:59
It's the Toshiba Satellite 5105-S501. You can check it yourself if you want. It's got bluetooth, IrDA, USB, FireWire, and Ethernet, but no serial or parallel ports.
In case it helps, the adapter I tried (unsuccessfully) to use was a Belkin USB PDA Adapter.
Have you asked Toshiba? Sometimes they sell special add-ons, but they're usually far more expensive than they need to be.
When you were using the Belkin, did a COM port ever show up in Device Manager? If not, there's probably something wrong with the drivers. If it did, but was assigned some number greater than 4, (ie COM5), that could be the problem as I don't think the editor will recognize anything over COM4. If this is the case, I can write a quick-and-dirty application to tokenize your code and send it to the RC. Contact me for details if you're interested.
Jeff Waegelin
06-10-2002, 15:17
The COM port showed up in Device Manager as COM 3. I changed it to COM 1, and still got the same problem. What is happening is when I connect the serial cable to the RC, I get a BASIC Init Error. Any thoughts on why that happens? Do you think it's an issue with my PC, the adapter, or the RC? Or is it just a software problem?
It's probably something with the RC. We have an old one lying around that anytime you plug any serial cable into the programming port it does the same thing. When I use the exact same laptop/cable combination with our newer RCs, it works just fine. Does your team have any old RCs lying around? If not, you should get the EduRobot soon, and I'd try it on that.
Jeff Waegelin
06-10-2002, 15:57
I'll give that a try tomorrow. Hopefully it's just the RC. It's our OCCRA RC, so I won't be able to do anything with my laptop this fall, but if it works on others, at least I don't have to drag out my old laptop for FIRST, too. I'll let you know how it goes.
Jeff Waegelin
07-10-2002, 17:24
So, I gave all the suggestions a try, and I think I've narrowed it down a bit. I tried the new laptop (with the adapter) on the one RC, as well as our 2002 FIRST RC. Neither worked. I still got a "No BASIC Stamps Found" message. I tried the old laptop on the OCCRA RC, and it worked just fine. This leads me to believe it is either an adapter problem or a problem with my laptop. Any ideas on this?
Has this problem been resolved yet?
I ask because yesterday 810 bought a nice new Toshiba laptop (1905 - Sxxx, the one with xp home). it's an amazing machine, except for the fact that the battery is a bit small for the computer :p, and the fact that there is no serial port. i was hoping to use a USB --> Serial adapter, but if that doesn't seem to be working, would a parallel --> serial work? we also have a firewire port, but beyond ipods, i've never seen firewire used :).
Another possible solution would be to simple replace the rs-232 ports on the RC/OI with USB ports, as all current laptops have USB. granted, if your's doesn't, this presents another problem, but it seems more and more people have USB, not serial (i don't care about the speed advantage, just to be able to program the robot). i'm not sure how well that would work, but we can hope, no?
The problem with USB on the RC is that the BASIC stamp doesn't understand USB signalling. The programming port (I think) interfaces DIRECTLY to the BS2sx via pin 16(?). This is why the same port can be used for both debugging and programming. If InnovationFIRST moved to USB, they would need to put a USB->Serial adapter in there anyway and the entire PBASIC IDE from Parallax would have to be redone. I'd offer to do it, but I don't have any knowledge of USB programming under any environment. Besides, there are still a lot of teams out there with Win95, which doesn't support USB (and don't say OSR2, as even that only sometimes works!).
Yes, it would be cool. Unfortunately, I don't see it happening any time soon. But then again, InnovationFIRST did take down all the regular RC documentation...
seanwitte
18-12-2002, 13:16
Go to parallax.com and search for USB. They sell an adapter, which they claim works, for $23.00. Whether it will work with the IFI controllers, who knows.
Greg Ross
18-12-2002, 14:01
Originally posted by seanwitte
Whether it will work with the IFI controllers, who knows.
Since the programming port on the RC goes directly to the (Parallax) BS2SX's pin 16, Parallax's USB/RS232 adapter SHOULD work.
D.J. Fluck
18-12-2002, 16:30
For the people w/o serial ports, Radio Shack (used to at least) sell this adapter that plugs into the printer port and then you can plug a serial cable into the end of it.
well, my dad found a website that sells an adapter for 20 bucks (i don't have it on me at the moment). would that work, or would i have to fork over the extra three bucks and get the parallax one? :p
VanWEric
18-12-2002, 17:42
Icky. My guess is that the laptop won't work after the adapter is bought. I have no solid ground to stand on, but Toshiba's track record aint good around here. I used one to code last year, and something was wrong with its serial port so that i would have to unplug the RC after I loaded the program. It was a small nuisance until I needed to debug... Also, my dad's toshiba (different from previous computer i complained of) had an odd problem with it. Occassionally it would BSOD and wouldnt reboot unless i pulled the power and took the battery out. My dad was teaching a group of toshiba engineers ( he does statistics for businesses ) and they told him that his particular model had 2 clocks, which may have been a fraction of a cycle out of sync, causing a processor level fubar-ing. Sorry if i offended any toshiba fans, but I just wanted to give a heads up from my experiences.
Jeff Waegelin
19-12-2002, 15:05
I still haven't solved my problem. Let me know what you come up with. I've got a few things I'm going to try after Christmas, but I probably won't have any answers until then.
try looking at this (top item)
http://www.parallax.com/search_results.asp?txtsearchParamTxt=usb&txtsearchParamCat=ALL&txtsearchParamType=ALL&iLevel=1&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&btnSearch.x=1&btnSearch.y=13
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