Add a Serial port to the ARM9 Linkstation
From NAS-Central Buffalo - The Linkstation Wiki
Contents |
Introduction
| Note |
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| The same instructions will work for a KuroBoxPro |
What you can do with serial access on a LS Pro
At first: check serial access
In fact you can control the UBoot Bootloader.
- You can change to EM Mode at will without any dirty tricks.
- You can look at the linux system of your LS pro without having to flash any custom firmware
- You can load a kernel + ramdisk via tftp
- Hey! We connect it because we can!
Serial access isn`t that important for users, but it is very important for developers because they
exactly see what is happening while the LS Pro boots.
The kernel log tells us a little more about the hardware and it allows us to debug a newer kernel.
Without serial that is not possible.
Why it is easy to gain serial access on the LS Pro
Pinout - Ground is on the Right side
| Pin | Signal |
| 1 | Transmit (TX) |
| 2 | Receive (RX) |
| 3 | Power (3.3V)* |
| 4 | Ground (GND) |
Project of creating ready2use serial cables
Anyone who wants a cable please add his name to the lists below.
List of developers who want a prebuilt serial cable:
- georg
- jonli447
- mindbender
- ?
List of kurobox.com-contest winners that will get a prebuilt serial cable:
- russk
- tampakuro/kuroguy
- lyakh
Revogear does not respond to any mails anymore, so waite decided to use the donations to buy LS Pros for these guys instead.
List of user who want a prebuilt serial cable:
- khisanth
- cakalapati
- MichaelWeiser
- mesterS
- ?
Here some pictures from the build-process (mindbender had fun with it)
I opened all FutureDial Cables to check if all cables used the same color-coding + Profilic-Chip:
Prebuilt cables will use a heat-shrink-tube to make the cables more stable.
The Serial Converter
Buy One
The serial port signals from the processor are only 3.3V. For proper RS-232 12V signaling, an RS-232 level shifter needs to be added. These are very common in PDA serial cables also, but can be purchased: See Serial port: Buy a TTL/RS232 or TTL/USB interface
Build One
- RS232/TTL - Building a Custom Serial Interface
- USB/TTL - Use a cheap phone sync cable with the serial port
