[Oberon] RISC / PC File transfers

[Chris Burrows]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: eas lab [mailto:lab.eas at gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, 20 June 2014 5:54 AM
> To: chris at cfbsoftware.com; ETH Oberon and related systems
> Subject: Re: [Oberon] RISC / PC File transfers
> 
> But can you still buy a PC with RS232 today?

PCs are extensible. If you already have a PC you do not need to buy another one if the only extra you want is RS232 communication capability.

RS232 is still extensively used to communicate with microcontroller boards. It is simple so it is reliable. There are several ways to use RS232 with a PC for this purpose.g.

1. USB - RS232 adapter cables. Avoid cheap ones as there are counterfeits out there. I have found ones that use FTDI drivers rather than Prolific drives to be more reliable.

2. USB - RS232 breakout boards. You can see an example of how we use this to program Cortex-M3 development boards using Oberon  at:

"Programming an LPCXpresso LPC1769 via the UART"

http://www.astrobe.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=200#p418

(scroll down to the message with the photos if it does not immediately appear)

3. Both of the above approaches use USB. I experience all sorts of intermittent problems with USB so have also installed a PCI-based 2-port RS232 adapter in my main computer. This is what I use for Project Oberon RISC5 development. Google 'PCI RS232' and you will see plenty of different products available.

Regards,

Chris Burrows
CFB Software
http://www.cfbsoftware.com