RoboRio and Serial Data

[stu54]

I have been trying to hook up a MaxSonar range finder to my RoboRio using the ASCII output of the MaxSonar rather than the analog output. I tried both the RS-232 port (using a TTL-to-RS-232 converter) and the MXP port. My programming language is Java for the WPIlib but that should not matter.

It seems like the syntax of the MaxSonar somehow violates the VISA format
that the RoboRIO expects so I get Java crashes when I try to read the serial
port. I don't know anything about the VISA format - I was just trying to read
the simple ASCII string from the MaxSonar. I know if I just use a loopback
to test my code I can read and write the serial ports but that's probably
because everything is using the VISA format deeper in the libraries.

Does anyone have experience with general ASCII devices on the RoboRIO
or would I have to use a device that put out the VISA format (which I
could only do if I passed the data from the MaxSonar though an Arduino
to re-format it for VISA, and that's a lot more trouble than just using the
analog input).

Thanks for any help.