How to verify and test if USB to serial cable is connected correctly to Beagleboard Rev C4

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1

Hi Folks,

I recently got my Beagle Board Rev C4 and I am following the instructions given at http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard/wiki/BeagleboardRevCValidationv2 to bring up my board. My Dell laptop doesn’t really have a DB9 port, so what I have is: IDC10 to DB9M cable ( taken from an old pc ) connected to DB9F to DB9F cable which is in turn connected to DB9M to USB cable. In the dmesg logs, I can see device file ttyUSB0 etc but I can’t seem to figure out how to make sure if I am really connected as the console simply doesn’t display anything though the settings are right (BAUD RATE - 115200, DATA - 8 bit, PARITY- none, STOP - 1bit, FLOW CONTROL - none ). I have tried this using two different programs ( minicom ) and another GUI application available on Ubuntu Linux in vain ( My Dell laptop has Ubuntu Linux on it ) Any help to debug this issue will be deeply appreciated.

Also,the other problem is: I am not really sure if the files given in the link above are right as many of them are named as RevC3 which is an older version. Can somebody please share latest binaries for Rev C4.

Thanks and regards,
Ravi Shankar Konduri

2

if you can, try a different serial/USB converter. i wasted hours
trying to figure out why the one i was using was producing no output
at all. switched to another one and suddenly all was well.

  minicom works fine for me.

rday

p.s. there's a null modem cable in there somewhere, right?

3

Use the files from this page for rev C4. Worked for my rev C4 board:

http://code.google.com/p/beagleboard/wiki/BeagleboardRevCValidationv3

To test the RS232-USB converter, connect DB9 pins 2 and 3 together. If
this is done, all characters typed are echoed back through serial.

IMPORTANT: if you have a straight through IDC10 to DB9 cable, you must
also put a NULL modem cable in between to USB and IDC converters. A
straight through IDC to DB9 cable has IDC pin1 -> DB9 pin1, IDC pin2
-> DB9 pin2, etc.

To work with the beagle you need serial cross-over because both PC
(USB converter) and beagle are DTE. A NULL modem cable does this task.