Latest revision as of 00:36, 15 August 2008

Introduction

Japan

• SCON-KIT/PRO is a serial console connection kit for KURO/BOX/PRO
• You will need a SOLDERING IRON for this kit
• The chance of a guarantee for refund is only for the first time when it does not work
• The terms of the guarantee depend on the store you bought the kit from
• No repair or support service for this kit is available
• The help page for this product is at:

HELP ME! BBS
http://kuroutoshikou.com/modules/kurobbs/?iid=992

USB Type A	<-->	USB board FTDI FT232RL	---TXD--> <--RXD---	Cable	---TXD--> <--RXD---	KuroBox Pro Daughterboard

US/Europe

The SCON-KIT would be very difficult to get in the US/Europe. You would likely have to use a different Serial Converter

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

Models other than KuroPro

If you are attaching a serial header pin onto the main board, you may want to consider: Using the header pin unit with a 90 degree bend, or you might not be able to close the case Soldering it with the pins toward the interior, rather than toward the case. This allows easier access, since if the pins face the case side they would be very close to the metal side. This would make access is so tight that one might end up taking the board out to get plug fitted on the pins.

Build your own LVTTL/RS232 or LVTTL/USB interface

• LVTTL/RS232 - Building a Custom Serial Interface
• LVTTL/USB - Use a Nokia Serial Cable on an ARM9 Linkstation
• LVTTL/USB - Use a cheap phone sync cable with the serial port

Buy your own TTL Level Shifter

• LVTTL/RS232 - MAX232 based from Futurelec - MINIRS2323V
• LVTTL/USB - FTDI chip based cable - TTL-232R-3V3

Usage considerations for the TTL-232R-3V3

TTL-232R-3V3 USB to TTL Serial Converter Cable A very similar TTL/USB converter cable that uses a chip by FTDI (the same chip is used in the SCON-KIT ) can be obtained, but the pinout at the connector end would need to be reassigned: Spec Sheet w/ pinout, wire colors & other info Mouser Part # 895-TTL-232R-3V3 $20.00 Mouser Part # 517-929400-01-04 $0.32

A working/tested pinout/wire-color scheme is: Color Pin Number Signal yellow 1 TXD orange 2 RXD unused 3 VCC black 4 GND

• Solder the 4-pin header to the board. Make sure you don't have shorts.
• You will need to switch wires on the TTL-232R-3V3 cable. Use a sharp object to lift the plastic tabs and carefully pull the wires out. Rearrange them according to the table above (black, empty, orange, yellow, empty, empty) and slide those wires back in. Tape the other wires to make sure they don't short anything.
• When plugging in the cable, make sure black aligns with GND, yellow with TXD, and orange with RXD.
• Connect the USB cable to your computer, start a terminal program with the right settings.
• Turn on the device, you should see output from the bootloader in couple seconds.

Attach a Serial Header to the Daughterboard

• Do not insert/extract or push/pull attached connector frequently
• Do not put stress on connector and base
• Do not attach connector when the power of KURO-BOX/PRO is on
• You will need terminal software

Attach Serial Header to circuit board by soldering iron make sure the AC plug is off.

• Open front panel of KURO-BOX/PRO, take the HDD daughter board out.

• Put the serial header onto UART0.

• Make sure that pin No.1 matches to TXD.

• Attach with a soldering iron from the back of the base.

• Put the daughterboard back onto the KURO-BOX/PRO

Use the SCON-KIT as a USB/TTL converter

Connection of SCON-KIT/PRO

• Connect SCON-KIT/PRO and UART0 on the sub base of KURO-BOX/PRO by using the patch cord

• Do not connect to the PC yet.

Get the appropriate COM port driver and install

• Download the appropriate COM port driver for FT232R from the URL below

    http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

• Connect the SCON-KIT/PRO to the USB port of PC. Install the driver which you downloaded.
• Open Device manager and check which COM port is used.

Set up the terminal software

• Start terminal software. Use your COM port. Use the following for serial port settings:

KURO-BOX/PRO UART Specifications

Example: the way to setup using “HyperTerminal” in WindowsXP/2000

Other OS/Terminal Emulators

Windows: PuTTY Linux: gtkterm, Minicom OSX: Zterm

• Start “HyperTerminal” and register a name for the new connection

• Connection method: the COM port which you checked before (in this case COM5)

• See KURO-BOX/ PRO UART specification and set up the port

• You should see the output in this picture when you start the KURO-BOX/PRO

Note Sometimes, you may get the junk/Trash data when you turn the power on/off or reboot, but this is not abnormal. If you cannot return to normal output, reset the terminal software or reconnect.

Kurobox Pro UBoot/Linux Console Message - bootup

References

• PDF of SCON USB serial access kit