Society of Robots - Robot Forum

Software => Software => Topic started by: Jugglerguy on May 27, 2008, 12:40:45 PM

Title: Im new here, a quick question.
Post by: Jugglerguy on May 27, 2008, 12:40:45 PM
Hi im trying to get into building robots and im using the build a robot for $50 tutorial, and im new to it so I was wondering, at the part where you have to program the robot it says I need a Serial Port. What is it and where would I probably find it on my computer?
Title: Re: Im new here, a quick question.
Post by: Steve Joblin on May 27, 2008, 12:50:35 PM
It should look like this... http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ladyada.net/images/minipov3/Serial_port.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ladyada.net/make/minipov3/software.html&h=982&w=1310&sz=280&hl=en&start=9&sig2=iXoHnBuwZolnELYdXOEpLg&um=1&tbnid=EKmhMBs37z1EkM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=150&ei=Xlc8SP3YKajmigHsl_nECA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpc%2Bserial%2Bport%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ladyada.net/images/minipov3/Serial_port.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ladyada.net/make/minipov3/software.html&h=982&w=1310&sz=280&hl=en&start=9&sig2=iXoHnBuwZolnELYdXOEpLg&um=1&tbnid=EKmhMBs37z1EkM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=150&ei=Xlc8SP3YKajmigHsl_nECA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpc%2Bserial%2Bport%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us%26sa%3DN)

If you are using a laptop, or newer PC, it may not have one as they are becoming obsolete due to USB.  If you don't have one, you can always use a USB-Serial Cable which will allow you to use your USB port as a serial port.

Title: Re: Im new here, a quick question.
Post by: Jugglerguy on May 27, 2008, 12:52:32 PM
Yeah I don't have one of those. Where would I be able to get a Usb-Serial converter cord?
Title: Re: Im new here, a quick question.
Post by: Steve Joblin on May 27, 2008, 02:20:13 PM
go to www.google.com  (http://www.google.com) and type "usb to serial" and press the "Google Search" button.
Title: Re: Im new here, a quick question.
Post by: benji on May 27, 2008, 02:24:31 PM
by the way
once a friend of mine baught a "usb to COM" card for his laptop and it worked with a serial mouse but couldnt program a microcontroller using ponyprog
Title: Re: Im new here, a quick question.
Post by: Steve Joblin on May 27, 2008, 03:23:13 PM
It is possible... there are many devices out there with lots of different drivers... best thing to do is some research as to success that others have had (same operating system, same IDE, same microcontroller etc.