Serial Communication

I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
too.

Thanks.

Shaker

"V. Chandrasekhar" <shakervc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:50dd652c.0403070341.1e3b4bde@posting.google.com...
> I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
> upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
> Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
> display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
> Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
> it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
> I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
> too.

Hyperterminal (installed under Accessories, IIRC).

Regards,

Steve
http://www.fivetrees.com
http://www.sfdesign.co.uk

On 7 Mar 2004 03:41:28 -0800, the renowned shakervc@yahoo.com (V.
Chandrasekhar) wrote:

>I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
>upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
>Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
>display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
>Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
>it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
>I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
>too.

I use the Win98 terminal program (terminal.exe) under Win2K.  

Best regards, 
Spehro Pefhany
-- 
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Hi

Try this one:

www.docklight.de


I think this is the most suitable RS232 monitor program I have sen until
now.

Best regards Jens



"V. Chandrasekhar" <shakervc@yahoo.com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:50dd652c.0403070341.1e3b4bde@posting.google.com...
> I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
> upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
> Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
> display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
> Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
> it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
> I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
> too.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Shaker

I typically used RealTerm:
http://realterm.sourceforge.net/#Installing

"Tal" sells a product, that will allow you to aquire serial data in
any application, Word, Excel...etc.
http://www.taltech.com/products/winwedge.html

On 7 Mar 2004 03:41:28 -0800, shakervc@yahoo.com (V. Chandrasekhar)
wrote:
>I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
>upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
>Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
>display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
>Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
>it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
>I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
>too. Thanks. Shaker

V. Chandrasekhar wrote:
> I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
> upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
> Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
> display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
> Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
> it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
> I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
> too.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Shaker

      Your microcontroller program will have an interface via the serial 
port.  For example, perhaps 0x10 (the "0x" prefix means hex) will return 
status information.  Perhaps 0x11 will change the status information. 
You can use terminal programs like HyperTer, that comes with Windows, to 
send commands and receive the data.  The only problem is that sending 
hex directly from HyperTerm is not supported the last time I checked.
      So, what you may want to do is provide an interface that is 
character based.  For example, '1' to get the status, '2' to update the 
status, along with the status data.  This is something that HyperTerm 
can do, then it can save to file.
      Hope this helps you.  If not, let me know and I can try again.

Dennis,
-- 
If sending a reply you will need to remove "7UP".

"Steve at fivetrees" <steve@NOSPAMTAfivetrees.com> wrote in message
news:404b0cfb$0$1161$65c69314@mercury.nildram.net...
> "V. Chandrasekhar" <shakervc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:50dd652c.0403070341.1e3b4bde@posting.google.com...
> > I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
> > upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
> > Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
> > display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
> > Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
> > it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
> > I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
> > too.
>
> Hyperterminal (installed under Accessories, IIRC).
>

Why do people continue to use such an awkward and unreliable program, just
because it comes with windows?  Hyperterminal is usable when you've got
nothing else, but a few second's google searching will show dozens of freely
available terminal programs that are far better in every way.  "Tera Term
Pro" is great for most tasks, while "RealTerm" is has more advanced
features.  There are also plenty of commercial programs with even more
functionality, for those that need it.

Using Hyperterminal for testing serial communications is like using Notepad
for editing code.  It's better than nothing, but there are more alternatives
than you can count (and even more opinions as to which is best :-), and when
you find one you like you will not regret the time spend checking out the
tools.

"David Brown" <david@no.westcontrol.spam.com> wrote in message
news:c2hdpj$8u8$1@news.netpower.no...
>
> Why do people continue to use such an awkward and unreliable program, just
> because it comes with windows?  Hyperterminal is usable when you've got
> nothing else, but a few second's google searching will show dozens of
freely
> available terminal programs that are far better in every way.

Point totally taken.

(In my defense: I used to use Procomm, and later Terminate, under DOS.
Nowadays I tend to use Hyperterminal a) because it's there b) because my
serial comms needs are far more modest than they were and c) because that's
what my customers use, so I have to be able to support it. Mostly, however,
I write my own.)

Steve
http://www.fivetrees.com
http://www.sfdesign.co.uk

Steve at fivetrees wrote:

> "David Brown" <david@no.westcontrol.spam.com> wrote in message
> news:c2hdpj$8u8$1@news.netpower.no...
> >
> > Why do people continue to use such an awkward and unreliable program, just
> > because it comes with windows?  Hyperterminal is usable when you've got
> > nothing else, but a few second's google searching will show dozens of
> freely
> > available terminal programs that are far better in every way.
>
> Point totally taken.
>
> (In my defense: I used to use Procomm, and later Terminate, under DOS.
> Nowadays I tend to use Hyperterminal a) because it's there b) because my
> serial comms needs are far more modest than they were and c) because that's
> what my customers use, so I have to be able to support it. Mostly, however,
> I write my own.)
>
> Steve
> http://www.fivetrees.com
> http://www.sfdesign.co.uk

We do a lot of work with serial devices and have always needed a good
terminal program.  We solved the short term need by going out to eBay and
buying about 40 old 486 laptops, all the same model, and run PROCOMM+
under DOS on all of them.   This was a cheap remedy from the viewpoint of
cost,  but was time consuming. (Great project for a part time student)

It does however, solve our serial testing needs  for the next few years.
They aren't elegant, but they make a great tool.  When a tool works, you
really don't have any imperative to replace it.  When was the last time you
upgraded your hammer to 1/4 inch nutdriver?

"V. Chandrasekhar" <shakervc@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:50dd652c.0403070341.1e3b4bde@posting.google.com...
> I have some experience programming in C on microcontrollers. On an
> upcoming project, I will be outputting data from the micro via UART.
> Someone else will write a Visual Basic program to read this data and
> display it on a PC. It will be a while before this program is ready.
> Before this is done, is there a way I can capture my data and look at
> it from the PC side, via something like Notepad, for instance? How do
> I go about doing this? Writing to a file and looking at it later is OK
> too.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Shaker

Hey, you're that Limit guy! No wait, that was Subrahmanyan...
:-)
(sorry, couldn't resist)