RS232 communication from cRIO-9057 USB port

[nweiss]

Hello,

I have a cRIO-9057 and I want to communicate with a device using RS232.

I am trying to use the USB-C port called "Device/Console" for such thing... without success.

I bought a USB-RS232 adapter from Delock which has a FTDI chipset.

I read on this forum that this chipset should work with the RT since it is natively supported by Linux.

I have installed the NI-VISA software on the cRIO (see image).

When I go to NI-MAX, under "Devices and Interfaces > ASRL1::INSTR", I click on "Open VISA Test Panel" to try to send commands to the device.

The status shows "present" (see image).

But I get this error :

Error opening resource:
visa://128.178.179.2/ASRL1::INSTR

VISA: (Hex 0xBFFF0072) The resource is valid, but VISA cannot currently access it.

Someone said that the Console Out should be disabled to be able to use the RS232. 

In my situation, it is enabled since I can read data using PUTTY, even though I am not in the "safe mode" state (see image).

The option to disable the Console Out is not available on NI-MAX ! (see image)

So this seems to be part of the problem ?!

Why is that ?

I want to say that my cRIO should be in "Run mode" state since I boot it by a power-cycle. So it should not be in "Safe mode".

My knowledge in Linux and cRIO are very basic and I have no idea what to do.

What can I try ?

Thanks

[AustinMan@NI]

While not officially supported, the USB/RS232 adaptor should work with the cRIO and NI Linux RT. Looking at your post and screenshots, the serial adaptor appears to be working.

The error message you are seeing with NI MAX is expected. NI MAX is running on your host PC (Windows) and cannot access the serial port, located on a Linux based PC, on the network.

To test the serial port on the NI Linux RT controller (cRIO), I recommend writing a test program (LabVIEW has examples you can use), or accessing the serial port from a local terminal, connected to the cRIO. As there are only 2 USB connectors, you can use a USB hub to connect a keyboard and your serial adaptor.

Run and Safe mode are 2 different Linux kernels. Safe mode is a kernel with enough functionality to boot the cRIO and install the Run mode kernel (and some other functionality).

[nweiss]

Thanks, I will try what you propose.

But I am still puzzled with the Console Out being always enabled (in both Run and Safe mode) while the user manual says it is enabled only in Safe mode.

Is it expected to not being able to disabled the Console Out on the cRIO-9057 ?

This option also disappeared from NI-MAX.

Moreover, this post says that Console Out must be disabled for the RS232 to work.

https://forums.ni.com/t5/Instrument-Control-GPIB-Serial/RS232-cRIO-9030-VISA-cannot-currently-access...

Do you have any clue why this situation differs ?

[nweiss]

So I did try to send serial data from a VI running on the RT target (see code screenshot attached).

I get the same error message as within NI-MAX :

VISA: (Hex 0xBFFF0072) The resource is valid, but VISA cannot currently access it.

So... from the previous post I sent you, I am still wondering if the Console Out is not the issue.

We should disable it, I guess... but I can't find how.

Any idea ?