JP1 Remotes

Version 0.16 of jp12serial.dll

This new version of jp12serial.dll makes two significant additions to version 0.14. These are:

1. It supports the JP1 EEPROM Programming Adaptor designed by Kevin Timmerman and marketed by Tommy Tyler. This adaptor enables JP1 remotes to be programmed through a JP1.2/3 interface, and since JP1.2/3 interfaces are supported by 64-bit versions of Windows operating systems, this enables JP1 remotes to be programmed in such systems.

2. It shortens the time that the DLL takes to locate the correct COM port before an upload or download commences.

Version 0.15 of the DLL included the first of these two additions but it did not support either Java or Windows 2000. It was issued only as part of the package for the JP1 Programming Adaptor. This is the first full version to support that adaptor.

The second addition has two components. It remembers the COM port used within a single session of use, so regardless of the time taken to locate the correct COM port on the first upload or download of a session, subsequent uploads or downloads will start immediately. In most circumstances it will also speed up the first upload or download, by giving priority in the search to those virtual COM ports, if any, that are actually USB ports connected to an FTDI RS232 chip (other than an IR Widget). In a typical setup that contains a USB JP1.2/3 interface and possibly also a Tommy Tyler IR Widget but no other devices with FTDI chips then the first upload or download will also start immediately.

For ports connected to FTDI chips to be given priority in this way, the FTDI driver must be version 2.04.06, issued March 13 2008, or any later version. Information about updating the FTDI driver, if necessary, is given in the ReadMe that is included in the package.

The source code for this version is available here.
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Graham

Kevin has notified me of a bug that would cause a crash if a remote was not found. The DLL and source files have now both been corrected.
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Graham

Thanks to Kevin, version 0.16 of jp12serial.dll allows you to view, live, its search for the remote. All you need to do is to have dbgview.exe open while using jp12serial.dll. The search progress will be shown in its window.

Dbgview.exe is freeware from Microsoft. I have uploaded it here.

By way of explanation of what you will see, version 0.16 first identifies COM ports that are actually USB ports with connected FTDI RS232 chips. Of those ports, it also identifies which, if any, are Tommy Tyler IR Widgets (so they won't also be JP1.x interfaces). It moves Widgets to the tail of the search order and other FTDI ports to the head of the search. These moves are reported in dbgview.exe, followed by its progress as it tries the ports in the final search order.
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Graham