Thanks guys, I'll check that thread further. Yeah, basically, I'm trying to develop a program that will let me control the 990 from my PC. The only way that i know of to control the 990 is thorough the serial port, and I have the document that defines the protocol required for the 990.

Since our software doesn't seem to be doing anything, I thought I'd try the firmware upgrade to see if I can get anywhere with that. As you guys know, the Outlaw download tool isn't exactly the most robust tool in the world. I made roughly 20 attempts this morning with two cables, and had no luck. However, I wouldn't necessarily say that 20 failures means that it will never work; I had many, many failures when trying to download the firmware using the USB interface, and it finally worked.

So, yeah, the firmware download is just a test to see if the interface works.

The reason I don't use a regular old com port is that my PC doesn't have one. Neither do either of my laptops. I have a PC in the basement that probably has a com port, so I can drag it up and see what happens.

I believe that the RS232 protocol runs on +/-12V and the USB to serial thing is going to translate that to TTL at +/-5V. So that may be a problem. OTOH, there are lots of devices that are able to run using the USB to serial cables and that are tolerant of the voltage difference.

I also posted at AVS, so we'll see if anything comes up there. I'm also looking for a known working tool that can control the 990 -- something that someone else developed and tested. I don't necessarily want to get the source, but I could use it for verification purposes. My friend said he saw some stuff where people had done that, but I didn't find much on Google. I'll keep looking, but if someone's already done it, lemme know!

Anyway, that's it -- just trying to verify where the problem lies with my current lack of communication, and then develop a tool that will control the 990 (among other things, hopefully).

Thanks.

Thanks gonk! Looks like I'm about a year behind as usual...

That thread indicates that I may be able to see return values when using the remote. I'll look for that tonight.

I look forward to hearing what you come up with, Otto. With RS-232 disappearing from the computer world, the consumer electronics world is going to have to follow suit - the 990 starts moving in this direction, and USB-to-serial devices can provide an interim solution for a few years (assuming they can be made to work, which I agree with you should be possible), but eventually we'll probably see the interfaces that RS-232 provided migrate to USB or even ethernet.

Yeah, gonk, I agree that "com" ports are old news, and that manufacturers should migrate to USB and ethernet... I wonder how hard it would be to get the USB interface on the 990 to be able to talk with the PC for this type of control.

That aside, I can report that I was able to communicate with the Outlaw using a "real" com port. I dragged my "office" machine out to the living room, hooked up to an RS-232 port and, using my software, was able to control the 990 on the first try.

So, now I'm left wondering what's up with the USB to serial cable. I contacted the CharmedQuark guy, and asked if he'd ever used a USB to serial device in his testing. I just sent that email this morning, so we'll see what he has to say later.

I will also be contacting Steve/Scott to see if they know about this.

Sounds like a cool project, Otto. I look forward to hearing what you come up with.

Are your working on a proprietary project or is it something you can share?

Good luck on your project. Let us know how it turns out.

It's just something for me. However, my boss is working on it with me, so if it gets to that point, we'll have to see how we feel about it. We are trying to develop it with the idea of controlling more than just the 990. It's not for our work or anything like that, though... Just a personal project.

I got a message back from Steve yesterday. He didn't really discuss why, but said not to use USB to serial adapters. I asked about 12V vs 5V, but he didn't really address that. He said that some people have been able to get USB to serial devices to work, but that they're not really supported. That stinks, and I'm now on a journey to find something else. I think there are PCI to serial devices out there, but I hope I don't run into the same problem.

I'll keep working it...

I purchased a PCI to RS-232 card. I am now able to talk with the 990, just as if I had a "real" com port as part of the original machine. We will be continuing development of this program, but it will probably be somewhat slow going...