Question

Ok, so I have 3 devices.

• an AVR Butterfly microcontroller, set up with USART
• A Bifferboard, running Debian, using a custom made program for serial.
• A Desktop machine running Br@y’s.

So I’m trying to make the Bifferboard send serial to the AVR, But the AVR never receives the signal, (we’ve checked the wires). But if i connect the AVR to the desktop box, and send with Br@y’s it receives just fine.

If I connect the Bifferboard to the Desktop, Br@y’s receives just fine.

Heres the code for the Bifferboard.

#include "string2num.h" //a custom header
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <SerialStream.h>
using namespace LibSerial;
//using namespace std;



int main(int argc, char*argv[])
{
        if (argc<2)
        {
                std::cout<<argv[0]<<" requires the device name eg \'dev/tty0\' as a parameter\nterminating.\n";
                return 1;
        }

        SerialStream theSerialStream(argv[1]); //open the device
        if(!theSerialStream.IsOpen()) //did the device succesfuilly open
        {       //open faile
                std::cerr<<"Open " << argv[1] << " failed\n Terminating.\n";
                return 1; //exit failure
        }

        theSerialStream.SetVMin(0);//no min number of characters to send
        theSerialStream.SetVTime(0);// don't wait betwenn characters

        theSerialStream.SetBaudRate( SerialStreamBuf::BAUD_19200);
        theSerialStream.SetCharSize(SerialStreamBuf::CHAR_SIZE_8); //8
        theSerialStream.SetParity(SerialStreamBuf::PARITY_NONE);//   N
        theSerialStream.SetNumOfStopBits(1);//                       1

        theSerialStream.SetFlowControl(SerialStreamBuf::FLOW_CONTROL_NONE);


        std::cout<<"Ready for serial trasmission. Press Ctrl+C to quit\n";
        //insert basic instructions here

        while (1)
        {
                char input[BUFSIZ];

                std::cin>>input;

                char* values=getAllValues(input); //DECODE any formatting (this function is in the custom header)
                std::cout<<"about to transmit: " << values << "\n";

                theSerialStream << values;
                free(values);
        }
        theSerialStream.Close();
        return 0;



}

I’ve also tried using minicom from Bifferboard – it can talk to the desktop windows machine, but not the the AVR.

Answer 1

(We’ve checked the wires)

This still sounds like a cabling problem. If Br@y’s can communicate with both, then it doesn’t seem to be a configuration issue. You should throw a logic analyzer or oscilloscope on the receive pin (and probably probe other pins) of the AVR and see what’s happening electrically when yo try to send data from the Bifferboard.

I’d bet that you see the data on some other pin. But I wouldn’t bet a whole lot, because serial RS232 connectivity is such a touchy thing.