[GreenKeys] USBTTY experiences with Windows XP Service Pack 2

COURYHOUSE at aol.com COURYHOUSE at aol.com
Sun May 29 04:31:46 EDT 2016


OK we are  keeping a few  win 7 systems but the workstations we  were given 
this week  that have  7  are  going up to  10.  10 will have the longest  
active license  period... despite  flaws now... they have a while  to  fix 
them all!
 
Ed
 
 
In a message dated 5/29/2016 12:02:22 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
gil at baudot.net writes:

Well, winblows is what it is, though I am stuck with it for a while (only  
windows 7 though, as I have disabled MS hacks to force W10 on my  machine).


Here is the current sucky issue I have found:  pair a bluetooth  rfcomm 
device, connect and test, and un-pair.  Repeat for about a hundred  times until 
blue-screen-of-death.  I presume usb com port shit is  similar.



So, when I un-pair a bt device (using an rfcomm port, which turns into a  
win com port) I expect that the win com port has been relinquished and  
released back for use.  But no fucking way.  Win, in its infinite  wisdom, keeps 
going until com ports hit a hundred or so and then it just  pukes.


However, Ladyada (Limor Fried), of Adafruit, pink-haired engineer  
extraordinaire, posted this hack:


https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-find-hidden-com-ports/overview



You still need to right-click and delete every frickin' com port  
individually, but it works to get your machine running again.


Microsoft, you still suck at writing operating system code.   Shit.  Ain't 
that your business?



gil



gil smith, AF7EZ
greenkeys moderator
_gil at baudot.net_ (mailto:gil at baudot.net) 




-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re:  [GreenKeys] USBTTY experiences with Windows XP Service Pack
2
From:  Eric <_epvgk at limpoc.com_ (mailto:epvgk at limpoc.com) >
Date: Sat, May  28, 2016 9:39 pm
To: dave sigafoose <_davesigafoos at yahoo.com_ 
(mailto:davesigafoos at yahoo.com) >
Cc:  Greenkeys <_greenkeys at mailman.qth.net_ 
(mailto:greenkeys at mailman.qth.net) >

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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