Using JP1.x Interface with a USB-to-Serial Adapter

Tommy Tyler · Post by **Tommy Tyler** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:01 am

Since communications between a JP1.x remote and the interface are standard RS232 serial format, it SHOULD be possible to use a USB-to-serial adapter with the interface. This is important, because many members do not have an available serial output on their laptops. And has been mentioned before, adapters are being sold on eBay for under $10. So I'm starting this thread to collect information related to using USB, any special requirements or procedures, known hardware successes and failures, etc., any details that might be of help to someone doing this.

On Aug 23,

aldaweb wrote:I can now confirm that the JP1.2 interface works for downloading and uploading with a USB to serial lead. The lead used was a generic lead with a Prolific PL2303 chipset using the latest Prolific driver files. Tested with a URC-7555 OFA5 remote.

Maybe aldaweb can elaborate a little on what he means by a "generic lead" and a "Prolific PL203 chipset".

On Sep 16,

tlad wrote:It doesn't work with my USB->Serial Converter but does work on the desktop which has a standard 9 pin serial port.

I've asked tlad to provide more details.

So, to the best of my knowledge these are the only two members who have reported anything so far, and the score is tied, one for the Christians and one for the lions. This is a request for anyone who has a JP1.x interface and a USB-to-serial adapter, to try the combination and tell us everything about the experience.

Tommy

johnsfine · Post by **johnsfine** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:33 am

Does the version of JP1.2 software being tested include the option to use a com port with a name other than "COM1"? And what is the name of the USB-to-Serial com prort?

tlad · Post by **tlad** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:43 am

My USB->Serial converter is one bought off Ebay so has no brand as such. From the Device Manager it is a "Huge Pine USB to Serial Ports" I have used it for other things so the cable does work

I am running Win XP (SP2).

From the test software Tommy put up I get...
"C:\Documents and Settings\XXX\My Documents\RemoteControlStuff\TestGroup>teste
r
tester version 0.00
jp12io.dll version 0.00
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Opened COM1
Unable to connect

C:\Documents and Settings\XXX\My Documents\RemoteControlStuff\TestGroup>pause

Press any key to continue . . ."

But when it runs it does cause the remote to light up.
And when I run IR.EXE it lights up the remote but I get "Failed to open JP1.2 interface"

That's all the info I have at the moment.

I tried assigning different COM ports, baud rates, flow control, etc. and all produced the same results.

Happy to try out things as they become available.

Tim.

Dilligaf · Post by **Dilligaf** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 11:11 am

It works here with a US232B adapter, the funny thing is it doesn't work on a regular serial port.

Mike

Tommy Tyler · Post by **Tommy Tyler** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:10 pm

Tommy wrote:any special requirements or procedures, known hardware successes and failures, etc., any details that might be of help to someone doing this

Dilligaf wrote:It works here with a US232B adapter

Come on, Dilligaf. Do you call that "details"?

Tommy

Dilligaf · Post by **Dilligaf** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:25 pm

No real details, just a generic USB to serial adapter, with a blue case and no markings, when I took it apart I found US232B on the board and did a Google search to find the drivers. I'm using a Comcast URC 1067 Jp1.1 remote to test, IR 7.0 works RMIR crashes, I think this is a RDF/image issue. As I said before the cable won't work with a regular serial port "no remote found" I think this is a permissions issue but I never investigated as the USB adapter works fine.

Mike

Edit: Using Win XP Sp2 and Vista Beta Rc1.

Tommy Tyler · Post by **Tommy Tyler** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:34 pm

Thanks for the additional info, Mike. Could I get you to do us a favor? Look at the second post on this page:
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewt ... &&start=15
follow the link to get the tester files, and see if your cable responds to the simple tester program when used on a regular serial port, or if it still gives the "no remote found" message. There should not be a permissions issue here, and you may be able to help us get to the bottom of it.

Tommy

Dilligaf · Post by **Dilligaf** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:09 pm

Ok, under Vista the test program finds the interface on all ports, with XP it finds it on all ports except Com 1 which is a normal por, Com 2 is a normal port and test finds the interface there. This leads me to believe that I have a problem with Com1 on my computer and it has nothing to do with the interface. Hope this helps.

Mike
Edit: interestingly the test program doesnt see Com 1, it starts probing at Com2, Com1 shows in device manager.
F:\Jp1\TestGroup>tester
tester version 0.00
jp12io.dll version 0.00
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Opened COM2
Opened COM4
Error setting comm state: Error 87: The parameter is incorrect.

Error setting comm state: Error 87: The parameter is incorrect.

Unable to connect

Tommy Tyler · Post by **Tommy Tyler** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:26 pm

Thanks, that helps. And I agree the problem seems to be unique to your situation. As I recall, tester does try all COM ports in sequence in an effort to connect. But I don't believe it generates the error message "Error setting comm state: Error 87: The parameter is incorrect." That is strictly your computer talking.

At least you upped the score 2 to 1 in favor of USB ports working versus not working.

Tommy

jetskier · Post by **jetskier** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:34 pm

Tommy Tyler wrote:At least you upped the score 2 to 1 in favor of USB ports working versus not working.

Tommy,

Is this testing working toward a USB JP1.x cable with a new circuit design??

Tommy Tyler · Post by **Tommy Tyler** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:20 pm

Not by me! It's too easy to just buy a $5 adapter. Who wants to go through all the problems we had with USB on JP1.

Tommy

jetskier · Post by **jetskier** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:25 pm

I couldn't agree with you more. That's why I asked.

roberto.fagagnini · Post by **roberto.fagagnini** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:23 am

HI all.
It's a couple of week that I'm trying to have a JP1.2 interface working.
With USB->Serial Prolific interface I can see that remote blinks when trying to access, but I have the following results :

C:\Downloads\TestGroup>tester
tester version 0.00
jp12io.dll version 0.00
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Opened COM5
Error setting comm state: Error 87: Parametro non corretto.

Error setting comm state: Error 87: Parametro non corretto.

Unable to connect

This is the same behaviour that you receive when the interface is not connected.

I'm rebuilding the interface in order to ensure that I should not make the same error twice.

Anyway thanks to TLAD's suggestions in this and also in other threads, I hope that I'll be able to make things work.

P.S. With direct serial connection... No blinks, no functionality.

Roberto

Tommy Tyler · Post by **Tommy Tyler** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:58 am

Roberto wrote:I have the following results :

C:\Downloads\TestGroup>tester
tester version 0.00
jp12io.dll version 0.00
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Opened COM5
Error setting comm state: Error 87: Parametro non corretto.
Error setting comm state: Error 87: Parametro non corretto.
Unable to connect

This is the same behaviour that you receive when the interface is not connected.

Roberto, when my interface is not connected, my screen says only::

C:\Downloads\TestGroup>tester
tester version 0.00
jp12io.dll version 0.00
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Opened COM5
Unable to connect.

I hope you can find the source of the "Error 87" message and what it means.

Tommy

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:07 am

Error setting comm state: Error 87:...

means that the serial port doesn't support the combination of serial parameters used by JP1.X.

Here's what JP1.x uses:

BaudRate = 38400;
ByteSize = 8;
StopBits = TWOSTOPBITS;
Parity = NOPARITY;

These seem like a perfectly ordinary combination that any serial port should be able to handle.

Tester.exe only explicitly sets the above parameters when configuring the serial port. It might be possible that some PCs have ports with unusual default configurations that aren't compatible with these settings, and that is causing this problem. In order to try to figure that out, I've created a special debug version of tester.exe that displays the entire serial port configuration block.

Maybe we could get some users who are not having problems and some users who are to post this new information so we can try to figure out what is going on.

Here's my results:

Code: Select all

tester version 0.01
jp12io.dll version 0.00
Parsing command list file tester.dat
Openning COM1
DCB paramaters:
  DCBlength=28
  BaudRate=38400
  fBinary=1
  fParity=0
  fOutxCtsFlow=0
  fOutxDsrFlow=0
  fDtrControl=1
  fDsrSensitivity=0
  fTXContinueOnXoff=0
  fOutX=0
  fInX=0
  fErrorChar=0
  fNull=0
  fRtsControl=1
  fAbortOnError=0
  fDummy2=0
  wReserved=0
  XonLim=2048
  XoffLim=512
  ByteSize=8
  Parity=0
  StopBits=2
  XonChar=17
  XoffChar=19
  ErrorChar=0
  EofChar=0
  EvtChar=0
  wReserved1=0
Openning COM2
DCB paramaters:
  DCBlength=28
  BaudRate=38400
  fBinary=1
  fParity=0
  fOutxCtsFlow=0
  fOutxDsrFlow=0
  fDtrControl=1
  fDsrSensitivity=0
  fTXContinueOnXoff=0
  fOutX=0
  fInX=0
  fErrorChar=0
  fNull=0
  fRtsControl=1
  fAbortOnError=0
  fDummy2=0
  wReserved=0
  XonLim=2048
  XoffLim=512
  ByteSize=8
  Parity=0
  StopBits=2
  XonChar=17
  XoffChar=19
  ErrorChar=0
  EofChar=0
  EvtChar=0
  wReserved1=0
JP1.2 remote found!