Serial Port on the N900? - maemo.org

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seridyan	2010-06-01 , 02:56
Posts: 25 \| Thanked: 8 times \| Joined on Dec 2009 @ Caracas/Venezuela	#1

I would like to connect my n900 to a USB-RS232 converter and talk with a microcontroller using a serial port. I need to be able to configure the baud rate, stop bits, parity bits and data lenght.

I am not sure this can be done, since the N900 doesn't support USB OTG, thus the drivers from the converter won't work.

BTW, i dont want to use a wireless bluetooth solution.

I hope you can enlighten me!

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	clasificado	2010-06-01 , 04:28
	Posts: 466 \| Thanked: 180 times \| Joined on Feb 2010	#2

Quick answer: NO

Long Answer: Really, you cant. if you hope to plug in something in the micro usb receptacle, it works as client only, sorry

Hope Answer: Today, Host Mode is just a dream. The OTG team woking in the OTG thread isnt in a stable place yet, and even that, asking for the appropiate kernel module for your specific usb-rs232 adapter is waaaaaaaaaaaay early. so going this way is a long ahot only

Hope this helps

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jaem	2010-06-01 , 04:40
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Originally Posted by clasificado

Quick answer: NO
--SNIP--
...asking for the appropiate kernel module for your specific usb-rs232 adapter is waaaaaaaaaaaay early. so going this way is a long ahot only

Well, if it's an FTDI bridge (pretty common, and easy to get your hands on, in any case), then I'd be surprised if it wouldn't be doable. I looked into getting the FTDI driver on the N810, and I seem to remember hearing it was possible.

But yeah, I wouldn't count on OTG support, unfortunately. If you do end up resorting to the Bluetooth route, I'd be quite interested in hearing from you about how it works out. We've been working with these, and I'd be happy to share (both ways) information or feedback about those or other devices. Please PM me if you do decide to try that out.

Cheers

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seridyan	2010-06-01 , 04:53
Posts: 25 \| Thanked: 8 times \| Joined on Dec 2009 @ Caracas/Venezuela	#4

Do you know if it will be possible to do such thing in the N8 when it comes out?

I know it will have USB OTG, but i am not sure about the drivers for the converter.

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jaem	2010-06-01 , 05:15
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Originally Posted by seridyan

Do you know if it will be possible to do such thing in the N8 when it comes out?
I know it will have USB OTG, but i am not sure about the drivers for the converter.

I'm not sure, but as I said, my advice is to get something with an FTDI bridge chip in it. If you can't find out on the packaging which chipset it uses (probable), then you can always grab one from a hobbyist electronics supplier, such as SparkFun, HVWTech, or similar, since they usually use that sort. If Symbian supports any RS232 bridge chipset, I'd put my money on it being one of FTDI's. That said, you should probably ask the Symbian folks first.

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seridyan	2010-06-01 , 05:15
Posts: 25 \| Thanked: 8 times \| Joined on Dec 2009 @ Caracas/Venezuela	#6

Originally Posted by jaem

Well, if it's an FTDI bridge (pretty common, and easy to get your hands on, in any case), then I'd be surprised if it wouldn't be doable. I looked into getting the FTDI driver on the N810, and I seem to remember hearing it was possible.

But yeah, I wouldn't count on OTG support, unfortunately. If you do end up resorting to the Bluetooth route, I'd be quite interested in hearing from you about how it works out. We've been working with these, and I'd be happy to share (both ways) information or feedback about those or other devices. Please PM me if you do decide to try that out.

Cheers

I love sparkfun!

I actually want to connect my N900 to a CAN network so basically i didnt want to use an expensive bluetooth in the middle. I wanted to take advantage of the USB to power the phone/tablet and to communicate with it at the same time.

I read the post for the n810, but i think there is a hardware limitation on the N900.

I have never progammed for a mobile device, neither have used linux. At least i have scratchbox up and running and i am looking forward to learn QT. I will be happy to learn more from your implementation using bluetooth.

BTW: I worked whit another AHRS from Microstrain, but i must say that the Vectornav's looks pretty amaizing! what are you planning to do with it?

Last edited by seridyan; 2010-06-01 at 05:29.

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jaem	2010-06-01 , 06:03
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Originally Posted by seridyan

I love sparkfun! I actually want to connect my N900 to a CAN network so basically i didnt want to use an expensive bluetooth in the middle. I wanted to take advantage of the USB to power the phone/tablet and to communicate with it at the same time.

I read the post for the n810, but i think there is a hardware limitation on the N900.

That makes sense. I'm not very knowledgeable about USB, but I was under the impression that you couldn't power the "host" while under host/OTG mode; rather, only the other way around. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by seridyan

I have never progammed for a mobile device, neither have used linux. At least i have scratchbox up and running and i am looking forward to learn QT. I will be happy to learn more from your implementation using bluetooth.

If you want to start with Maemo development quickly, you will probably find the new Nokia Qt SDK much less painful than Scratchbox, but it's in Beta right now, so it's not perfect. If you decide to wait until it comes out of Beta, then at least don't be discouraged by Scratchbox. Or rather, feel free to be discouraged by it, but don't let that colour your impression of the platform - the new SDK is really nice.
As for Bluetooth, currently it's a bit painful (for me, at least), but the next drop of the Qt Mobility libraries should include some code to make things easier.

Originally Posted by seridyan

BTW: I worked whit another AHRS from Microstrain, but i must say that the Vectornav's looks pretty amaizing! what are you planning to do with it?

I haven't heard of that one. The VN-100 is quite nice, although aside from testing with the N900, that part of the work has been done by another part of the team. The company is pretty new, and their service is great. (Among other things, they sent us an internal beta of some software at some point, when the release version didn't like our setup. They're cool.) As to what we're doing with it, I shouldn't go into detail right now. It's part of some university research I'm working on.