Open a console window in Win7

15 May 2010

Hi:

I'm wondering if "Serial pc(USBTX, USBRX);" is supposed to automatically open a window on my Win7 pc.

Is there something else I need?

Thanks

Tim

15 May 2010

No, you need to run a terminal client manually. See here.

15 May 2010

Hi Igor:

Thanks for the quick response.  My PC is not showing any com ports.  I have tried all three of the programs and none appear to find a com port.

This motherboard is USB (8).  I find this odd as when I connect two different USB devices that are interfaced to my trains, they each show a comm port connection.

The mbed is definately showing in control panel as 1 - MBED in device type - Portable Devices, 2 - MBED microcontroller USB Device in device type - Disk Drives,  and 3 - USB Mass Storage Device in type - Universal Storage Bus controllers.

I have no issues compiling and writing to the device.

I've had enough of this for one day.  I will try again in the morning.

It's listed as Microsoft Drivers controlling it. - Version 6.1.7600.16385  - 6/21/2006

Is there an mbed driver I should be using for the device?

Thanks

Tim

15 May 2010

Hi Tim,

Take a look at http://mbed.org/handbook/SerialPC; this should tell you all you need to know. The summary is for windows you need to install a windows serial driver, then open up a terminal application such as teraterm.

Hope that helps!

Simon

15 May 2010 . Edited: 15 May 2010

Hi Simon:

Thanks for your response.  As indicated in my previous post, I have tried a number of terminal programs according to the instructions.

I am trying to figure out why my PC does not show any serial ports.  I know that it does not actually have physical ports, but I have a couple of boards that are usb interface and show as serial.  Win7 then gives me the option of connecting via one of those ports.

For some reason Win7 does not see the mbed as a serial device and I do not get any ports to connect to.

I connected one of my interface boards for my trains, Win7 identified it as Com6. I connected and I can run a session.

Tim

15 May 2010

Hi Tim,

Can you confirm the mbed Windows Serial Port Installer ran ok? Did it give any error messages, or say it was successful. Perhaps try running it again to confirm it worked?

When you plug in the mbed on windows, it just comes up as a USB Mass Storage Device as you describe (so there will be no serial port visible). Running this installer adds the mbed composite and serial port drivers so it can also appear as a serial port. (Note on mac/linux, it'll work out of the box).

Simon

15 May 2010

Hi Simon:

No, the Windows Serial Port will not run on my Win7 machine.

The message is.

.....mbedWinSerial_16466.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

I am running Win7 Home Premium 64-bit

Tim

15 May 2010

Hi Simon:

I read through another post that popped up under the tag "driver".  I noticed in there that a note was made that the machine was dual boot.

My machine has multiple boot paths in case that is important to note.

Tim

15 May 2010

Hi Tim,

That'll be the blocker then; without the driver installed, it isn't going to work :)

First question to see why this isn't installing; can you check the file downloaded correctly? We've seen some people have problems where only part of the installer downloads (http://mbed.org/forum/mbed/topic/237/). From the reports, it seems to have impacted some people using IE. I thought we'd fixed it, but maybe not.

The file size as reported by windows should be 594 KB (608,768 bytes). It'd be great if you could confirm this is what you get. If you have access to another browsers than IE, please have a go with that.

If it turns out to be a problem different to this, we'll raise a support ticket and get it diagnosed.

Thanks,
Simon

15 May 2010

Hi Simon:

Sorry I didn't see that post.  I had used Explorer and the file size was 200K.

I just used Opera and got the full 594 / (608,768)

It installed without an error and I opened RealTermI2C and was able to send and get a response.  I didn't fine tune the settings, but the led blinks on the mbed and I get an echo so I'm pretty sure I'm good.

I'll do some playing now that it looks like it is working.

Thanks so very much!!!!!

Tim