Serial programmer on a PC with no serial port

[Green Soldier]

Hello

i got a laptop with no serial ports and a programmer that uses the serial port
wut can i do to make it work on usb
will the serial to usb link work correctly??
thanx in advance

 

[mutevaggil]

Hi Green Soldier.

You can buy an USB to RS232 converter. it is not so expensive.

regards.

 

[bbgil]

greensoldier,

word of caution on simply buying a usb-rs232 converter. most of them don't work. problems of timing and voltage pull-up high. different protocols used. try to research first on the interfacing voltage levels. Had a bad experience on this. wasted good money. just buy a usb based programmer. good luck

 

[Buriedcode]

Hi,

Depends on the 'serial programmer' in question, and the type of microcontroller you're planning on programming. Many programmers for PIC's, such as the 'JDM' programmer, use the +/- 12v from the serial port to generate the 13v+ necessary to put the micro in 'programming mode'. However, as bbgil stated, USB<->Serial cables, don't always produce a +/- 12v swing on the outputs, and therefore, do not always generate sufficient voltage for the serial port programmer to work.

That said, if you rpogrammer simply uses the 'data' from the serial port, and is powered externally, I imagine a USB/serial cable would work. Certain 'serial programmers' can be modified so that they can use external power (+15V usually) so the serial cables I/O's are buffered, so thye will work at low level, non-RS232 voltages, such as 0-5V.

Please provide more information, such as your microntroller, and the programmer.

BuriedCode.

 

[Green Soldier]

thanx for help

its a dragon 12 board for motorolla Hcs12

 

[Buriedcode]

Hi agian,

what a lovely board! currently designing one meself, and thats a cracker.

Anyway...according to this site:

**broken link removed**

The programmer is powered by 'the target board', and they are selling a USB - serial port converter with it, which they wouldn't do unless it worked. Judging by the price of it, its a generic USB-> serial adapter, nothing special (if it was designed specifically for that board, it would be waaay more expensive). So I guess the answer is YES! you can use a generic USB-serial cable with the programmer shown on that site, assuming thats the one you have

Such a cable behaves like a serial port, and should show up on your computer as a 'comm' port, jsut like serial. So, with the drivers that come with such a cable, it should appear transparent.

BuriedCode.

 

[Green Soldier]

hello buriedcode
man u have been of a greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat help thank u very much,,but u know wut
soon i ll be working on desigining my hcs12 board tooo so i think i will need more help than u can ever imagine i am sure u ll be of a great help then too
untill then thank u very much