[GreenKeys] USBTTY experiences with Windows XP Service Pack 2

Sun May 29 00:39:58 EDT 2016

Dave -- 

Thanks for the detailed write-up. I'll add your observations to the
notes I have online for setup. On Windows, it seems like having some
other program trying to occupy the COM# device is an occasional problem.

A quick note, in "notranslate" mode the device is basically a
transparent passthru, so other settings (like unshift on space) won't
have any effect, since the adapter isn't keeping track of shifts in that
mode. It does no harm to have it set, of course. 

Sorry about the tight clearances on the mounting holes. I only tried it
with nylon spacers. 

Oh, and in heavymetal you could try editing the heavymetal.cfg file and
removing "TTY.1.BaudRate" and it might not be so insistent on trying to
set up the serial port parameters, which aren't needed for this board. I
forget if it'll allow you to do that. Also if you want to enable
unshift-on-space you could do it in the heavymetal config, since that's
where the shifts are being kept track of when set up this way - use
"-TTY.1.UnshiftOnSpace=1" in the config file. 

eric 

On 05/28/2016 1:43 pm, dave sigafoose via GreenKeys wrote: 

> Received the new USBTTY board a couple of weeks ago and finally had some time to install it, with Heavy Iron as the software. 
> 
> First, decided to put it a small plastic case. There are 4 mounting holes on the PC board that accept 4-40 steel hardware. Decided to use ¼" standoffs / spacers to lift the board off of the case as the soldering for the 60 ma current loop set screws extend well off the underside of the circuit board. But when I tried to mount the standoffs, one was very close to the current loop solder point, and one of the others covered one of the PC board traces. 
> 
> In retrospect, I should have used nylon screws and standoffs, but, as a simpler solution, which works just as well, I chose to attach the PC board to the case with 2 small pieces of velcro hook and loop. 
> 
> To connect the USB cable, I bought a 12" USB converter from mini USB to standard USB, and then used a 10" USB M/F extension cable. 
> 
> Following the directions was easy. Downloaded the .INF file, right click, and Install. 
> 
> Plugged in the USBTTY USB port and Windows recognized the new hardware USB Teletype, and proceeded to look for software. Said 'NO' to the option to search the internet for drivers and let XP search for the drivers, which it found and soon got a message that my new hardware had been successfully installed and was ready to use. 
> 
> So, first had to find the COM port that Windows had assigned. Start, Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager, Ports COM & LPT. Found it listed as Teletype interface COM3. 
> 
> Now to configure the interface. Start, all programs, accessories, communications, Hyperterminal. Hyperterminal wanted a name for the connect, so I just entered TTY. Hyperterminal then asked me for my area code and wouldn't let me continue until I entered it. Entered the area code and took the defaults for the bit rate, etc., and selected COM3 as the associated port. 
> 
> Typed a few characters and saw the LED light on the USB TYY board flicker. Pressed the reset button and up came the USBTTY configuration menu. Issued the following commands: 
> 
> BAUD 75 - set the baud rate 
> USOS - set unshift on space to match my hardware 
> NOTRANSLATE - since using Heavymetal, 
> no translation to ASCII 
> SAVE - saved the new configuration 
> SHOW - look at the configuration 
> 
> As everything was working, decided to hook up the tty current loop to the PC board. Unplugged the USB cable and, with a rather small Phillips screwdriver, hooked up the Teletype current loop. Turned on my Teletype and immediately got chatter from the tty as the USBTTY PC board, when not powered, opens the current loop. 
> 
> Plugged back in the USB cable and typed on HYPERTERM, but nothing was getting through to the PC board. Closed and reopened Hyperterm with no success. Logged off of the Windows XP user and relogged on with no success. Stared Heavy Metal, but was unable to select COM3. At this point, realized that COM3 was still reserved for some other program. So, had to shut down Windows XP and reboot the system. Started Hyperterm and easily selected COM3. Typed a couple of characters, but what was printed was not correct as no one was translating from Baudot to ASCII. 
> 
> Closed down Hyperterm and started HeavyMetal. I was running Ver 1.27 from 2006. Selected CONFIG and it immediately complained: 
> 
> "failed setting word size" 
> "failed setting stop bits" 
> "failed setting baud rate" 
> 
> Not just one, but a total of 9 times I had to answer OK to get past the problem. 
> 
> Typed a few characters and everything worked in both directions. 
> 
> Ran the Quick Brown test and RY test and everything worked perfectly. Also ran the UP latest news at it also printed with no problem. 
> 
> So, everything is working and would highly recommend this interface board, as it works and is very easy to configure. Going to update my Heavy Metal program as soon as I have some time. 
> 
> Dave - N2CZB 
> 
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