22 Sep
2014
22 Sep
'14
10:13 p.m.
On Mon, 22 Sep 2014, Chuck Guzis wrote:
My original interface was serial (RS232C async). Are
there '232 to
ethernet adapters? Are they suitable?
To be sure, there are plenty of MCUs capable of ethernet protocol, but
I'd rather see a USB connection to a suitable ethernet host to handle
that. You can choose your addressing and protocol more easily that way.
Lantronix makes a number of RS232 to ethernet device servers. Right now
Lantronix is on my shit list though after I spent the better part of an
entire day troubleshooting a printer that was using one of their print
servers. Turned out the gold plating on the print server's 36-pin
"centronics" D-connector was nothing but gold flash...and it had a major
tin oxide problem which had also transferred to the printer's own
connector (with properly plated contacts). Needless to say, it wasn't
printing very well with one or more missing bits.