Interfacing the Serial / RS232 Port V5.0


Disclaimer :While every effort has been made to make sure the information in this document is correct the author can not be liable for any damages whatsoever for loss relating to this document. Use this information at your own risk.

The Serial Port is harder to interface than the Parallel Port. In most cases, any device you connect to the serial port will need the serial transmission converted back to parallel so that it can be used. This can be done using a UART. On the software side of things, there are many more registers that you have to attend to than on a Standard Parallel Port. (SPP)

So what are the advantages of using serial data transfer rather than parallel?

1.

Serial Cables can be longer than Parallel cables. The serial port transmits a '1' as -3 to -25 volts and a '0' as +3 to +25 volts where as a parallel port transmits a '0' as 0v and a '1' as 5v. Therefore the serial port can have a maximum swing of 50V compared to the parallel port which has a maximum swing of 5 Volts. Therefore cable loss is not going to be as much of a problem for serial cables than they are for parallel.

2.

You don't need as many wires than parallel transmission. If your device needs to be mounted a far distance away from the computer then 3 core cable (Null Modem Configuration) is going to be a lot cheaper that running 19 or 25 core cable. However you must take into account the cost of the interfacing at each end.

3.

Infra Red devices have proven quite popular recently. You may of seen many electronic diaries and palmtop computers which have infra red capabilities build in. However could you imagine transmitting 8 bits of data at the one time across the room and being able to (from the devices point of view) decipher which bits are which? Therefore serial transmission is used where one bit is sent at a time. IrDA-1 (The first infra red specifications) was capable of 115.2k baud and was interfaced into a UART. The pulse length however was cut down to 3/16th of a RS232 bit length to conserve power considering these devices are mainly used on diaries, laptops and palmtops.

4.

Microcontroller's have also proven to be quite popular recently. Many of these have in built SCI (Serial Communications Interfaces) which can be used to talk to the outside world. Serial Communication reduces the pin count of these MPU's. Only two pins are commonly used, Transmit Data (TXD) and Receive Data (RXD) compared with at least 8 pins if you use a 8 bit Parallel method (You may also require a Strobe).


Table of Contents

Part 1 : Hardware (PC's)
Hardware Properties
Serial Pinouts (D25 and D9 connectors)
Pin Functions
Null Modems
Loopback Plugs
DTE/DCE Speeds
Flow Control
The UART (8250's and Compatibles)
Type of UARTS (For PC's)
Part 2 : Serial Ports' Registers (PC's)
Port Addresses and IRQ's
Table of Registers
DLAB ?
Interrupt Enable Register (IER)
Interrupt Identification Register (IIR)
First In / First Out Control Register (FCR)
Line Control Register (LCR)
Modem Control Register (MCR)
Line Status Register (LSR)
Modem Status Register (MSR)
Scratch Register
Part 3 : Programming (PC's)
Polling or Interrupt Driven?
Source Code - Termpoll.c (Polling Version)
Source Code - Buff1024.c (ISR Version)
Interrupt Vectors
Interrupt Service Routine
UART Configuration
Main Routine (Loop)
Determining the type of UART via Software
Part 4 : External Hardware - Interfacing Methods
RS-232 Waveforms
RS-232 Level Converters
Making use of the Serial Format
8250 and compatable UART's
CDP6402, AY-5-1015 / D36402R-9 etc UARTs
CDP6402 UART Examples
Interfacing Example : Analog Sampling Via Serial Port
Microcontrollers
Feedback
Feedback


Part One : Hardware (PC's)


Part Two : Serial Port's Registers (PC's)


Parts 3 and 4

Interfacing the Serial / RS232 Port - Part 3 and 4



Interfacing the PC - Homepage http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/8302
  
Information on : Parallel Ports - SPP, EPP & ECP
Serial / RS232 Ports - UARTS 16450, 16550
Interrupts and more . . . .




"Interfacing the PC : Serial / RS232 Port" V5.0 - 23rd July 1997
Copyright 1995-1997 Craig Peacock

Any errors, ideas, criticisms or problems please email the author cpeacock@senet.com.au


This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page